Da terra
Nara, Japan
1 StarGreen Star
The Experience
From Michelin Guide
Chef Hirokazu Nakai’s culinary process begins when he ploughs and sows his land. His family grows over 100 different crops, which Nakai incorporates into his menu according to their harvest season. The ‘Da Terra (‘from the land’) salad’ brings the fragrance and warmth of the season to the table, capturing the scenery of the fields. He uses a stone mill to grind whole-wheat flour for his handmade pasta. His creativity and the bounty of the land of Asuka become as one.
From Visitor Experiences
- A traditional rural house surrounded by farmland sets a quiet, farm-first tone.
- The kitchen is built around the chef's family-grown produce, with a stated focus on soil formation, environmentally friendly farming, and low-transport sourcing.
- The menu language is literal about place, dishes like the colourful salad named "Daichi Kara", From the Land, foreground what grows in Asuka.
From Visitor Experiences
- Seasonal vegetables, more than 100 varieties through the year, the heart of the cooking.
- "Daichi Kara", From the Land, a brightly coloured salad built as a direct statement of place.
- Wheat, grown by the chef's family and turned into pasta.
- Rice, used as the base for risotto.
- Fish and meat, used selectively as supporting ingredients rather than the headline.
From Visitor Reviews
Italian cooking rooted in Asuka's farmland, served as seasonal set menus. Vegetables take the lead, drawn from the chef's family fields and expressed in multiple preparations across the meal, with selected fish and meat as accents. Grains are treated as ingredients in their own right, wheat becomes pasta, rice becomes risotto, and a signature salad nods to the idea of food that begins in the soil.