On the 29th floor of the JW Marriott Hotel Tokyo, where the city spreads out beneath your feet like a map, chef Agustín Balbi prepares arroz caldoso — a brothy rice that smells of childhood in Mallorca. The rice absorbs a seafood broth that blends Japanese seafood with memories of his grandmother's kitchen: a light saltiness, the soft texture of the grains, and a faint hint of saffron, of which they are generous here.
The land and sea of Tokyo dictate their own rules. Proximity to the Tsukiji and Toyosu markets gives access to the freshest fish and shellfish, whose sweetness and clean flavor intensify Mediterranean techniques. High humidity and seasonal temperature swings force the chef to control fermentation and the aging of sauces more precisely, so that they do not lose their brightness but gain a depth unattainable in Spain's dry climate.
Agustín Balbi was born in Argentina into a family with Spanish and Italian roots, and he absorbed the subtlety of Japanese aesthetics once here. His "emotional gastronomy" is not merely dishes but an attempt to convey the feeling of home through ingredients that never existed in Mallorca. He does not copy recipes but reimagines them, adding local seaweed and fish whose flavor becomes the foundation of the broth.
In September 2026, the Michelin Guide Tokyo added ten new restaurants. Among them are Sefino with its Mediterranean cuisine, Girandole by Alain Ducasse, inspired by Parisian bistros, and ORIGINe, where French techniques meet the experience of Nice. Each of them brings its own story to Tokyo, but it is Sefino that shows how a chef's personal memory intertwines with Japanese abundance.
Tokyo is currently seeing growing interest in cuisines that do not try to be "Japanese" but honestly use local ingredients in foreign techniques. This creates tension between tradition and adaptation: restaurants in high-end hotels gain access to premium products but risk losing authenticity if they do not preserve the chef's personal signature.
To try arroz caldoso in its Tokyo version, it is worth booking a table at Sefino on the 29nd floor of the JW Marriott Hotel Tokyo in Minato-ku. It is best to come in the evening, when the city outside the window is lit up, and to order the dish as part of an omakase course — that is how the connection between nostalgia and local gifts is revealed most fully.
In this rice one tastes not merely flavor but the way a single human story finds a new place in a foreign city and becomes part of its culinary map.
