Taka KONDO – Sous Chef at Osterria Francescana***

Taka Kondo: the culinary talent crafted by n°1 Chef in the world !

 

  • Japanese head chef in Italy
  • Sous chef of Massimo Bottura***
  • Chef at El Celler de Can Roca***, Osterria Francescana***

Other Italian chefs here. More Fifty Best chefs. Other Japanese chefs.

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One of the finest ingredients in Massimo Bottura’s kitchen is this young chef from Japan

Kondo Takahiko, known to his friends as “Taka,” was born in Tokyo and started doing restaurant work there at age 18. Like Tokuyoshi, he was crazy about Italian cuisine and went to cook in Tuscany, Veneto and Milan before ending up in Modena. He ate lunch at the Osteria Francescana in 2005, falling in love with the food and the conceptualism behind it. In return, Bottura gave him a job. Taka Kondo became pastry chef in 2010, and has contributed to some of the restaurant’s most inventive desserts, such as “Oops, I dropped the lemon tart.”

“Oops! I Dropped the Lemon Tart”

Bottura’s mind is like a butterfly net that swings to and fro in the hopes that a stray beauty will land in its mesh. Potential inspiration hovers everywhere. A dessert called “Oops! I Dropped the Lemon Tart” arose from a moment, years back, when Takahiko Kondo, one of Bottura’s closest kitchen allies, accidentally smashed a sweet on the pastry counter. Bottura decided that it gave the dessert exactly what it had been needing.

Taka was profoundly marked by the event. He relates, “That day I learned something. That in life, to move forward… you learn from mistakes. Maybe I did something wrong, but you learn from it.

 

 

Other Italian chefs here. More Fifty Best chefs. Other Japanese chefs.