There are kitchens as tiny as that of Suto from Barcelona (Violant d’Hongria Reina d’Aragó, 134). Of course there are. But they do not usually correspond to restaurants with a Michelin star, as Yoshikazu Suto has just achieved in his establishment in Sants. All the preparations that do not leave that cubicle in which there is barely room for one person, are prepared by this chef who since he was a child dreamed of learning the trade in Europe – at the age of 15 he began washing dishes for that purpose – behind the warm wooden bar. iroko where it serves six diners.

It has been written that there are more seats, but in reality the few tables that complement the dining room are intended for those who prefer to sit there than in the high chairs, an option, the latter, more than recommended. In any case, here he cooks for half a dozen customers, who find it difficult to look away from the agile hands of this character born in Gunma, a town northwest of Tokyo, near the Nagano mountains and known for its hot springs and his miso With them he shapes, or almost caresses, the rice for his delicious nigiris, or gives the final touch to each bite, always with the same delicacy.

The sommelier Carolina Alarcón and the chef from Suto met while working at Fácilr, for whose chefs they could not have more complimentary words. She pours a glass of the white L’Enclós, which is successfully made by the new generation Gramona, Roc and Leo, while she says that she did not know how to say no to her friend when he asked him to help him in the project he had just launched and who attended alone. “It was so interesting!”

He had planned to open a larger popular cuisine establishment, izakaya type, but the rents are sky-high and the fact that the start-up coincided with the forced closures of 2020 and therefore it opened offering take-out cuisine, was quite a learning experience. . And the incentive to opt for the cuisine that he likes the most.

Suto’s menu is an inspiring and tasty journey that allows you to abstract yourself from what is happening outside this place where calm reigns. This is despite the demand from those who long for a position in the Japanese bar since it was announced in Barcelona in November that this small Japanese establishment was one of the only two chosen to debut a first star. The other is Kirat. Things have gotten worse, but for some time now, as soon as the service ends, Alarcón responds with kindness and patience to reservations, which he recommends managing through WhatsApp. We can say that recognition in the red guide increased what they had experienced since Isabel Coixet, whom they recognize as the true godmother of the house, fell in love with Yoshikazu’s cuisine when she tried it at a private party. Some time ago the filmmaker, a good gastronome and connoisseur of Japan, recommended this place to us, which she described as the closest thing to eating in Japan that she had experienced in Barcelona.

The first of those pieces arrives that the cook prepares with the same subtlety with which his aunt Kiko surely models the dishes that Suto brings with him from every trip to Gunma: the tuna belly tamaki with caviar, which we will dip in a delicious soy made in home; This will be followed by a bowl of delicate nambanzuke, a seven-spice mackerel pickle.

The sequence of nigiris, sea bream, scallop and horse mackerel is impeccable. As is mackerel marinated in rice vinegar, with salt and sugar (shimesaba); refreshing and light tofu with mussel water and ponzu, with a Mediterranean touch of anchovies and tomato; The mullet is exquisite and the seared belly is very interesting (very fresh, unripe, which is why it does not acquire the whitish tone); tuna tataki with belly and yuzu in another vinaigrette; comes the successful Iberian pork gyoza with lemongrass and galangal; They follow the tempura oyster with kimchi mayonnaise, the sea bass with sweet and sour sauce or the meat sequence, with succulent nigiris, before finishing – they say it is common in their country as a prelude to sweet cuisine, here very light – with some tasty noodles with suzikabi sauce.