At Zaiyu Hasegawa's Den restaurant in Tokyo, there's a "Dentucky Fried Chicken" box that guests open to find souvenirs from the country they're visiting from (tucked inside, too, is the Michelin-starred chef's inspired take on the fast-food staple). There's also a dessert so garden-fresh that it's served on a shovel.

This quirky, ultra-original approach is probably why Hasegawa was recently awarded the One To Watch Award at the 2016 World's 50 Best Restaurants ceremony in New York. His imaginative and charming menu is also guilty of attracting many Australian chefs to his restaurant - such as Dan Hong, Paul Carmichael, Michael Ryan, Chase Kojima, Patrick Friesen and Martin Benn.

In fact, Martin Benn (whose restaurant Sepia had previously won the One To Watch Award in 2015) is such a fan that he featured Hasegawa as his guest chef for a charity dinner he staged at Sepia in April. The event raised enough money for OzHarvest to deliver 34,800 meals to people in need.

Zaiyu Hasegawa outside his Michelin-starred restaurant, Den. Photo: Supplied

While Hasegawa was out here for his first trip to Australia, he managed to try many of Sydney's greatest hits (Mary's, Momofuku Seiobo, Porteno) and previewed Gelato Messina's Creative Department, which features his former chef Remi Talbot as the chief creative behind the ambitious venue's frozen dessert degustations.

Zaiyu Hasegawa serves a quirky dessert on a shovel at his restaurant. Photo: Yuuki Honda

Hasegawa also had time to tell us about his favourite places to eat in Tokyo. (He couldn't single out a fave restaurant for kaarage chicken, though, as "my mum's is the best".)

For sushi: Sugita

[Sugita is] also the owner's name. He has a lot of respect and he has a lot of skills when it comes to ageing fish. Each fish is different and requires different cooking styles. I respect his technique, skills and authority. It's difficult to choose a favourite dish.

3-8-3 Kotobuki, Taito, Tokyo, +81 3-3844-5529

One of the Japanese sweets at Nagato, Tokyo. Photo: Supplied


For dessert: ​Nagato

I like Japanese sweets. Have you heard of kuzu mochi? We have many types of mochi in Japan. Kuzu mochi is also a traditional mochi. Kuzu is a kind of starch to make [the mochi] sticky and harder; it's used a lot to make sweets. Sometimes it's used with soy bean powder and kinako, sprinkled with black sugar syrup. It's very nice. It's a take-out place. Green tea is the best combination [with it]. Usually we bring it to the park to see cherry blossoms.

3-1-3 Nihonbashi, Chuo, Tokyo, +81 3-3271-8662, nagato.ne.jp

Shake Shack's cult burgers have been attracting blockbuster queues in Japan. Photo: Evan Sung

For burgers: Henry's Burger and Shake Shack

[Henry's Burger] is a new place. They opened last year. It's owned by a Japanese barbecue restaurant [Sumibiyakiniku Nakahara]. It's a little Japanese-tasting, but not much. The buns are very nice, the combination is nice.

1-36-6 Ebisu-Nishi, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, +81 3-3461-0530, henrysburger.com

And of course, Shake Shack in Tokyo. Shake Shack is run by one of my best friends. A lot of people want to try Shake Shack, so that's why they opened a second shop.

Meiji-Jingu Gaien and Ebisu locations, shakeshack.com



One of the colourful dishes at Florilège in Shibuya. Photo: Supplied

For special occasions: Florilège and Anis

Florilège [is] like a poem in French; it's a French restaurant. I like the wild boar.

B1 SEIZAN Gaien, 2-5-4, Jingumae, Shibuya, Tokyo, +61 3‐6440‐0878, aoyama-florilege.jp/en

Anis is also a French restaurant. [It's got a focus on] griddled meat. It's a technique [chef Susumu Shimizu] has never done anywhere, just Anis.



1-9-12 Hatsudai, Shibuya, Tokyo, +81 3-6276-0026, restaurant-anis.jp