SAIDO’s Vegan Way | Chef Katsumi Kusumoto Popup

Art Direction by Noriaki Tanimura, Photography by Hiroshi Takigawa

2023 began on an adventurous, health-conscious note at JAPAN HOUSE Los Angeles’ Japanese Vegan Cuisine Popup with celebrated Tokyo Chef, Katsumi Kusumoto, whose vegan restaurant SAIDO, voted the World’s Best Vegan Restaurant in 2019 by the online vegan and vegetarian restaurant guide, www.happycow.net. For two January weeks, Chef Kusumoto brought SAIDO, which translates to “The Way of the Vegetable,” to Los Angeles. The three-course lunch and six-course dinner menu was a pre fixe offering that featured some of SAIDO’s most enduringly popular dishes.

Although Japan is famous worldwide for sushi, sashimi and other fish dishes, high-quality wagyu beef and tasty ramen noodles topped with braised pork, the country also has a long-established tradition of vegetarian and vegan cuisine, which evolved in rural regions as well as in the kitchens of Buddhist temples where meat was not eaten.
Chef Kusumoto originally trained in French cuisine before specializing in fine Japanese cuisine at a members-only restaurant in Tokyo where he developed specialized vegan, gluten-free, Halal and Kosher menus for his clients. Thereafter, he continued to incorporate traditional and innovative techniques into his recipes, pioneering a new style of modern vegan washoku, or Japanese cuisine, culminating with the opening of his restaurant SAIDO in 2018. Located in Jiyugaoka in Meguro-ku, SAIDO offers a visionary approach to Japanese food. Not only does SAIDO’s food not contain any meat or seafood products, but it is free of chemicals and refined sugars, so that it fills the body and nourishes the soul.

In this special pop-up series, Chef Kusumoto brought his unique contemporary approach to Japanese vegan cuisine to Los Angeles, with the goal of sharing this lesser-known aspect of Japanese food with the world and his passion for creating food that “all the 8 billion people in the world can eat”.

Executive Chef at SAIDO Restaurant, Mr. Katsumi Kusumoto was born in Okayama Prefecture. After graduating from the Tsuji Culinary Institute in Osaka at age 19, Katsumi worked at top French cuisine restaurants and hotels in Tokyo, where he developed and refined his culinary techniques. After spending many years practicing French cuisine, he was drawn to the delicate taste of Japanese cuisine and made a career change to Japanese cuisine chef. For nine years, he was Executive Chef at Kusumoto, a members-only Japanese restaurant in Tokyo where he developed specialized vegan, gluten-free, Halal and Kosher menus for his clients, as well as in-flight dining for private jets.

In February 2019, Chef Kusumoto joined Funfair Inc. and began operating SAIDO restaurant as the Executive Chef, where he continues to delight guests with his refined, contemporary take on Japanese vegan cuisine. He also produced a menu of ‘Samurai Ramen UMAMI Premium’, a Japanese vegan restaurant in Johor Bahru in Malaysia. Chef Kusumoto’s cooking style is simple but innovative, exploring modern variations of Japanese cuisine with a French influence. He believes the most flavorful cuisine is made simply with the best, highest quality products – including fresh seasonal ingredients, herbs, vegetables and quality infused oils – and aims to inspire and educate guests about the philosophy of Japanese cuisine.

Chef Kusumoto has appeared on many media channels and TV networks in Japan such as Yahoo!JAPAN News, Gendai Business and ANN. He has been a Halal cuisine advisor in Tokyo, as well as an ambassador for Japan’s ethical eating community. In November 2019, Chef Kusumoto and his team were honored with the title of “Best Vegan Restaurant Worldwide” by HappyCow, the world’s top Vegan/Vegetarian media channel.

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