DiningBuzz! - Best Japanese fusion restuarant

I've actually never had good Japanese fusion and am not a fan of fusion in general, but I just went to an amazing Japanese-French fusion restaurant in Burgundy. http://www.lecharlemagne.fr/. It reminded me a bit of Yamashiro in Hollywood, but the food is fantastically better.

If you get a chance, it is well worth it. ^

What is Japanese fusion exactly? I don't quite get it. Food like at Nobu's around the US? Is it fundamentally Japanese food done in western style or the reverse, or are they the same?

I once had "tara no kasuzuke" in Seattle - cod marinated for days in sake lees - and it was heavenly. Is that Japanese fusion?

Pierre Gagnaire, a Michelin three star restaurant in Paris. The chef and owner trained for years in Tokyo. Possibly the best food of any restaurant I have ever had the pleasure to visit. Patricia Wells, perhaps the most followed food critic in Paris said a few years ago that if she had to chose where to have her last meal it would be Gagnaire. The Michelin guide said something like, "there is poetry coming from the kitchen". A spectacular restaurant.

I quite enjoyed Sono in New York City (I believe it is now closed). Was on 57th and Park/Madison for Japanese fusion.

My meal at Hiramatsu in Paris was excellent -- I would classify it more French with a Japanese twist.

By the sounds of it, Laurent Gras' L2O in Chicago also appears that the menu is heavily inflected with Japanese influences -- hopefully I will get a chance to try it out in a few weeks time.

Basta Pasta in Chelsea NYC is not bad. http://www.bastapastanyc.com/
Japanese / Italian fusion pasta. Sea urchin sauce is to die for.

Izakaya by Michael Schulson, The Borgata, Atlantic City, NJ.

Ever since I discovered this place on many of my trips to AC, I've always been back for more. This place is nearly immaculate.

My favourite Japanese fusion food are patisserie items.

There's a place near London where this can be found

William Curley
http://www.williamcurley.co.uk/

What is Japanese fusion exactly? I don't quite get it. Food like at Nobu's around the US? Is it fundamentally Japanese food done in western style or the reverse, or are they the same?
I had a Gala dinner at the Pan Pacific Hotel in Yokohama which was Japan-French fusion. French food cooked with French techniques combined with Japanese ingredients and presentation styles. I wasn't that fond of the meal and don't remember that much about it, but there were things like yuba combined with european ingredients and delicate broths... all very pretty, but nothing that made me go wow! The accompanying entertainment was more memorable.

I once had "tara no kasuzuke" in Seattle - cod marinated for days in sake lees - and it was heavenly. Is that Japanese fusion?
I don't see why this dish would be, the name of the dish is cod in sake lees in Japanese ... An example of fusion food might be gindara (silver cod? sablefish?) marinated for days in Marmite (a by-product of Beer brewing) where the cooking technique was inspired by that of gindara no kasuzuke.

Substituting a similar fish through necessity (like cod for gindara) isn't fusion in my view. Willfully substituting a taste like yuzu or ume would be.

Basta Pasta in Chelsea NYC is not bad. http://www.bastapastanyc.com/
Japanese / Italian fusion pasta. Sea urchin sauce is to die for.

I think there is an interesting point here that applies to a lot of food available in Japan. There are, like most places, restaurants that deal with Fusion cooking and make a point of this. These are quite easy to recognise but there is a huge grey area when you (as you are very likely to) come across restaurants that claim to serve food from a particular country but will actually serve what, strictly speaking would be fusion cooking. I don't have a name for these restaurants but an example of dishes (and they are most commonly loosely Italian) are things like Tarako Spaghetti.

Continuing on with pasta, there is a lovely restaurant in Komagome (can't remember the name, sorry) that serves a fabulous variation of Bolognese with natto. They just call it "Natto meat sauce". When you speak to restaurant owners about these little quirky variations, they will usually give you a simple answer: it's been adapted to appeal to the clientele (i.e Japanese). In the case of the above example, the restaurant is an Italian pasta restaurant that happens to be in Japan, run by a Japanese chef, and the recipes have evolved outside of their original birth place. When I am in Japan I tend not to call these Fusion cooking, but just a Japanese pasta restaurant.

I guess my point is the difference between adapted food (fusion) and adopted food (wafuu).

If I were to follow what I've been saying to its conclusion, then within Japan uni pasta would be wafuu, outside Japan sea urchin pasta would be fusion.