KAHALA opened the year after the 1970 Osaka Expo. Owner-chef Yoshifumi Mori was one of the first to discover and popularise ingredients used by many of today’s chefs. His hobby is lacquerware, and serves cuisine with a philosophical bent, delicious flavours harbouring a personal attitude to life, on lacquerware he made himself. With his elite team, he creates a small but top-notch dining emporium. The cooks toiling silently in the kitchen at the back, the dishwashing crew and the service staff all deserve a round of applause.