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First Japanese Chef awarded the French Cuisine Chef Prize

By on April 8, 2017

photo by Businesswire

Anyone who loves haute cuisine feels happy to live in Japan. With culinary powerhouse Tokyo now having 227 Michelin-starred restaurants (50 are French restaurants),  it is safe to assume that Japanese chefs have come a long way in the last 20 years.

Hiroki Midorikawa, 77, received the  international Gold Cup award, “La Coupe d’Or Internationale d’Art Culinaire Marius Dutrey” for his remarkable achievement in raising the bar for ‘French culinary art in the hotel industry’.  It’s one of those awards that international chefs wanted after years of honing their craft.

For some people who have studied at French Cooking schools know how labor-intensive French Cuisine is. Execution requires codified techniques and specific approaches making it difficult for many to master.  Despite the presence of many high caliber chefs here with rich experience, this is the first time for a Japanese person to win the highly coveted prize at an awards ceremony held at the Keio Plaza Hotel where Midorikawa is the Honorary General Chef. He joined Keio Plaza Hotel in 1971.  The Japanese grand chef  is also a recipient of the French Republic Officier du Mérite Agricole award in 2011, Académie Culinaire De France Gold Medal in 2005 and 2011, among others.

The award given to French chefs who have made great accomplishments in the hotel industry, was founded in 1958  by Marius Dutrey, a chef in French and British 20th century premier hotels. Past winners include well-known French celebrity chefs Paul Bocuse and Joel Robuchon.

“Receiving the award is a great honor.  I am truly grateful to the great chefs in Europe who taught me what French cuisine was,” said the grand chef.

“I’d like to continue doing the best work while learning much from my friends from all over the world.”

“I think this award is probably the result of having always done what I had always thought of doing since childhood.”

 

 

About Tammy Lee