The Michelin star, particularly the third, remains one of the highest achievements in avant-garde gastronomy. A goal that the most ambitious chefs pursue not only through their culinary vision, but also by shaping service and interior design—elements that, in haute cuisine, are closely linked through carefully crafted synaesthesia and immersive spatial experiences.

Angelo Sato, a Japanese chef from a well-trodden background at some of the world's best-known three-star restaurants, has just reopened his restaurant Humble Chicken, founded in London in the wake of the yakitori izakaya, or Japanese restaurants specializing in spit-roasted chicken. Already two Michelin stars, the restaurant has been closed to allow for renovations aimed-we wish Sato well-to win a third. The new room, designed in collaboration with the Raven Collective studio, maximizes the immersive experience in contact with the chefs and is distinguished by a reduced number of place settings, from 20 to 13, which are arranged in a horseshoe shape around the kitchen island.

While the use of refined materials such as cherry and walnut wood, marble, and ceramics reflects an uncompromising dedication to quality, it’s in the choice of tableware that Sato’s deep sense of connection and intention shines through. Each piece is handcrafted by artisans he personally knows and admires. Chopsticks, for instance, are crafted by Murunao, a long-standing brand based in Niigata Prefecture in northern Japan, using ebony, marble, gold, and silver. The crockery consists of one-of-a-kind pieces made by Herefordshire-based ceramicist Steven Brown.

Yet the most powerful experience remains the visual contemplation of the restaurant’s sixteen-course tasting menu—a sensorial game of seduction that highlights the powerof food design and visual composition, even before revealing its complex flavor alchemy.