Junichiro Horie is the first Japanese chef to receive a star in the Italian version of Michelin. As he marks 25 years as a chef and the 10th anniversary of Ristorante I Lunga, we spoke to him about his passion for cooking.
Photographs by Yu Mitamura
The neck of a Holstein or Jersey cow from Hokkaido, a rabbit from Veneto, and a loin of Sangen pork are cooked with rosemary and other ingredients, and then stuffed into pasta with Italian rice and Grana Padano in a ratio of 6:3:1. The wine is used to connect the dots of the complexity of the dish.
It pairs well with Barbera. It is not included in the course menu for lunch or dinner, but is always available to order as an extra.
A taste that far exceeds your imagination
Imagine how the food on your plate is made. It can be said that this is a joy for the eater. You add your own experiences to the visual, aroma, taste and texture of the food placed in front of you, and ponder the ingredients and cooking method. In the case of this "Agnolotti dal Pudding," the imagination is truly difficult, which only piques your curiosity. Horie Junichiro, the owner and chef of "Ristorante I Lunga," who created this dish, felt the same way when he first encountered it, and became obsessed with the idea of mastering it with his own hands.
Born in Tokyo in 1971, he moved to Italy at the age of 25 and spent around nine years training mainly in Tuscany and Piedmont. In 2007, he opened Ristorante La Gradisca in Nishi-Azabu, Tokyo. In 2009, he opened Ristorante I Lunga in front of Todaiji Temple in Nara, and in February 2019, he moved to Futako-Tamagawa, Tokyo.
Going back more than 20 years, when Horie first came to Italy and moved from Tuscany, where he first trained, to Piedmont, he was astonished by this pasta he first tasted at Il Cassinale Nuovo, where he trained. Filled with minced beef, rabbit, pork, and spinach, it embodies the fundamental techniques of Italian cuisine, from grilling the meat chunks to cooking the rice and eating the pasta. While not particularly glamorous, it is the result of countless steps. The moment you put it in your mouth, the aroma of meat juice and butter gently bursts forth, and the complex yet beautifully integrated flavors of the ingredients spread throughout your mouth. The first time you tasted it, you were met with a wide-eyed sense of wonder, and after a second or third bite, a sense of nostalgia and relief permeates your palate.
Horie faced cooking in solitude, believing that "the only thing I could do was make Piedmontese cuisine that was better than what the Piedmontese people cooked." In 2002, he was selected as the opening chef of "Pisterna," and just one year and five months after opening, he became the first Japanese to receive a star in the local Italian version of Michelin.
After returning to Japan, he moved to Nishi-Azabu, Nara, and Futako-Tamagawa, but he continues to make his signature dish, "Agnolotti dal Pudding." "In this day and age when food is becoming more and more fast-paced, I want to continue to express the deep, hands-on cuisine that I know only from my own experiences in Italy," says Horie. He is truly happy to be able to taste this dish now.
Ristorante I Lunga
1F, South Corner of Yanagikoji, 3-13-7 Tamagawa, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo
不定休 11:30～14:30（L.O.13:30）、18:00～22:00（L.O.19:30）
Lunch from 3800 yen, dinner from 1 yen (tax and service charge not included)
By appointment only
http://i-lunga.jp/
