Conductor and violinist Joji Hattori has brought Shiki to life: an unparalleled Japanese restaurant. He spoke to L’Officiel Austria about authentic cuisine, vegan dishes and a healthy lifestyle.

You were born with music. Your mother was a famous violinist. How did you get into gastronomy?

I was born a gourmet, but my mother is not a cook. My father often went out to eat with us. I developed a passion for good food during my childhood. For my 15th birthday, I asked for Werner Matt&rsquo;s cookbook and cooked every recipe from front to back. I was actually much more than just an amateur when it came to cooking. In my spare time, I cooked for my friends at least as often as I performed concerts for an audience.

So it was only a matter of time until you had our own restaurant. Which philosophy is behind the &ldquo;Shiki&rdquo; concept?

It consists of two pillars. One is uncompromising quality. The other is customer focus. For example, I could say we would adhere to Japanese customs so that the guests would have to take off their shoes before they come inside. How successful&nbsp;would such a restaurant be in Vienna? There is no culture for it. If I wanted to create the most successful Japanese restaurant in Austria, it would mean not enforcing all the customs here. It&rsquo;s about how I could make Austrians happy with Japanese products and Japanese culture. Taking off shoes would certainly not have been the way forward (laughs).

And the food?

The food must be authentically Japanese, meaning that the important philosophies of Japanese cuisine could not be broken. For example, we do not serve bread. Instead, we serve edamame, a Japanese appetizer.

Is authenticity important to you?

Authentic does not mean traditional. The two are often confused. Authentic means&nbsp;loyal to a certain philosophy. The &ldquo;Steirereck&rdquo; can say of itself that it is an authentic Austrian restaurant, but not a traditional one. It does not serve Schnitzel,&nbsp;Zwiebelrostbraten or Germkn&ouml;del. One must not confuse the word authentic with traditional. With our cuisine, we do exactly what the &ldquo;Steirereck&rdquo; or chef Lukas Mraz has done with Austrian cuisine.

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Japanese food is very trendy as it is one of the healthiest in the world.

We now have about 70,000 centenarians that are over the age of one hundred in Japan. This is certainly not due to our stressfree life, or because we work so little or due to our healthy air. It must be the diet as people eat more vegetables overall. No matter what meal it is, it usually consists of only 10 percent meat or fish, and otherwise vegetables and carbohydrates. The vegetarian food in Japan is also almost always vegan because hardly any dairy products are used for cooking. We have many lactose-intolerant people, including me.

You offer many vegan dishes and even a 7-course fine dining menu.

The hardest part about it is replicating the umami taste. This is possible without butter. I see the topinambur as a luxury potato, for example. We serve them stewed, with soy-marinated umeboshi plums and umeboshi espuma and light miso cream.

You yourself are not vegan. Why do you still offer such a wide selection of vegan dishes?

There are so many great products from Japan that are meatless or vegan: natto beans, soy, tofu, etc. and I wanted to show the entire spectrum. With Japanese cuisine, I can offer so many great dishes both for meat-eaters and vegans at &ldquo;Shiki&rdquo; - where do you find that in Europe? I even met my wife thanks to this. She is a gourmet and has been vegan for a while. She was so excited about &ldquo;Shiki&rdquo; because the vegan selection is unique. So, strictly speaking, she fell in love with my restaurant first (laughs).

Photos: Je Mangione, Irina Thalhammer (4)

Culinary Performance

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