Asia's Best Female Chef 2022 Natsuko Shoji Of Été

Asia's Best Female Chef 2022 Natsuko Shoji of Été forges the path ahead for female chefs in Japan and around the region.

- Priyanka Elhence

Earlier this year, Asia's 50 Best Restaurants crowned chef-owner Natsuko Shoji of Été (Tokyo, Japan) as the 2022 recipient of the Asia's Best Female Chef Award in their first ever pre-announced special awards. The restaurant ranked No.83 on the coveted list.

It has been a hard-won journey ever since Shoji's interest in the culinary arts was piqued during her teen years after making cream puffs for a high school assignment. After graduation, she spent her formative years training under the highly acclaimed Hiroyasu Kawate of Frenchinspired Florilège (ranked No.39 in last year's World's 50 Best Restaurants).

In 2014, a young 24-year old Shoji ventured out on her own and opened a single-table restaurant and cake laboratory, Été, in the Shibuya neighbourhood of her hometown Tokyo, on a mission to become Asia's Best Female Chef.

Été is named after the French iteration of Shoji's first name, meaning summer child in kanji, and is the inspiration for Shoji's own style, dubbed an inimitable cuisine inspired by meticulous French technique, Japanese flavours and an unmistakable taste for haute couture. It has earned her international acclaim from renowned chefs, including René Redzepi and Ferran Adrià. A year later, Shoji transformed the modest tart shop space into a highly prized, four-seat, invitation-only restaurant, further raising her profile in Tokyo's competitive dining scene.

In December 2019, Été expanded to a six-seat restaurant where Shoji welcomes diners into her exclusive eatery for an intimate and indulgent 10-course sweet and savoury tasting menu, showcasing some of Japan's finest ingredients and seamlessly bringing together her fashion and food sense to create stunning creations.