Den Named No.1 in Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants 2022

Den, in Tokyo, was named The Best Restaurant in Asia when the Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants 2022 list was announced on 29 March 2022. With travel still restricted, there was no single ceremony: the results were revealed at simultaneous events in Bangkok, Macau and Tokyo and broadcast online. It was the tenth edition of the ranking.

Den was opened in 2007 by Zaiyu Hasegawa, who learned to cook in the kitchen of a traditional ryotei and set out to make kaiseki, Japan’s formal multi-course cuisine, less solemn. His menu keeps the seasonal structure of kaiseki and plays with it. The best-known dishes are a salad of some twenty vegetables, each prepared differently, with an ant or a smiling carrot hidden in it, and Dentucky Fried Chicken, a stuffed chicken wing served in a takeaway box printed with the chef’s face. The restaurant is equally known for the warmth of its welcome, led by the chef’s wife, Emi.

Sorn, the southern Thai restaurant in Bangkok, was No.2, and Florilège in Tokyo No.3. The Chairman, the previous year’s winner, was No.5.

The list had a record 16 new entries, a reflection of how much the restaurant scene had changed during two years of closed borders, when chefs cooked mainly for local diners. Japan had the most restaurants, with 11, followed by Thailand with nine and Singapore with seven. Villa Aida, a restaurant on a farm in Wakayama prefecture, was the highest new entry at No.14, and Ode in Tokyo the highest climber.

David Lai of Neighborhood in Hong Kong received the Chefs’ Choice Award. Odette in Singapore won the Art of Hospitality Award, Mume in Taipei the Sustainable Restaurant Award, and Maira Yeo of Cloudstreet in Singapore was named best pastry chef.

Den has since remained near the top of the ranking and has held two Michelin stars. It is in the Jingumae district of Tokyo, and reservations are taken by telephone some weeks in advance.