Chef Azuma Song

Chef Azumasong is a Spanish–Japanese Executive Chef with nearly three decades of dedicated experience in high-end gastronomy, holding a reputation built within international five-star hospitality and premium airline catering systems.

He currently serves as **Head Chef, Japanese Cuisine**, leading the **ANA (All Nippon Airways) premium inflight dining program** — one of the most demanding assignments in aviation gastronomy. In this role, he is responsible for the full lifecycle of First and Business Class **Kaiseki** menus: seasonal concept design, ingredient sourcing, standardization, and production at scale, all while preserving the aesthetic and technical integrity expected of Japan's most prestigious airline.

Inflight Kaiseki — the core specialty:

Translating Kyoto-style multi-course Kaiseki into the cabin environment requires solving problems that never exist in a restaurant kitchen — altitude-altered palates, cabin pressure's effect on aroma and texture, extended holding times, and rigid plating logistics — without sacrificing seasonality (*shun*), visual harmony, or the ritual pacing of a traditional Kaiseki sequence. He has built reproducible, quality-controlled systems that let ANA deliver an authentic, chef-driven Kaiseki experience thousands of feet in the air, at a scale and consistency that traditional kitchens don't require.

He trained formally in Edomae-style sushi (Tokyo discipline — knife work, fish maturation, shari temperature, service sequencing) and holds certification from Japan's **Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF)** recognizing his command of authentic Japanese culinary heritage.

Prior to ANA, he held Chef de Cuisine (Japanese) posts at:

- The St. Regis Downtown Dubai

- Sofitel Dubai The Obelisk

- W Barcelona

Beyond the pass, his expertise spans seasonal Kaiseki/Omakase planning, pre-opening kitchen architecture, recipe standardization and yield control, costing and procurement, HACCP systems, and revenue-per-cover modeling for premium tasting concepts — with operational fluency across Marriott and IHG governance frameworks.

Nearly thirty years in, Chef Azumasong doesn't just cook Kaiseki — he engineers the systems that let it survive 35,000 feet without losing its soul.

A couple of notes: I kept ANA named explicitly since you listed it as your current account — swap it for a title-only reference if you'd rather not name the airline publicly. Want me to tighten this further or turn it into a formatted doc?

**Chef Azumasong** is a Spanish–Japanese Executive Chef with nearly three decades of dedicated experience in high-end gastronomy, holding a reputation built within international five-star hospitality and premium airline catering systems.

He currently serves as **Head Chef, Japanese Cuisine**, leading the **ANA (All Nippon Airways) premium inflight dining program** — one of the most demanding assignments in aviation gastronomy. In this role, he is responsible for the full lifecycle of First and Business Class **Kaiseki** menus: seasonal concept design, ingredient sourcing, standardization, and production at scale, all while preserving the aesthetic and technical integrity expected of Japan's most prestigious airline.

**Inflight Kaiseki — the core specialty:**

Translating Kyoto-style multi-course Kaiseki into the cabin environment requires solving problems that never exist in a restaurant kitchen — altitude-altered palates, cabin pressure's effect on aroma and texture, extended holding times, and rigid plating logistics — without sacrificing seasonality (*shun*), visual harmony, or the ritual pacing of a traditional Kaiseki sequence. He has built reproducible, quality-controlled systems that let ANA deliver an authentic, chef-driven Kaiseki experience thousands of feet in the air, at a scale and consistency that traditional kitchens don't require.

He trained formally in **Edomae-style sushi** (Tokyo discipline — knife work, fish maturation, shari temperature, service sequencing) and holds certification from Japan's **Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF)** recognizing his command of authentic Japanese culinary heritage.

Prior to ANA, he held Chef de Cuisine (Japanese) posts at:

- The St. Regis Downtown Dubai

- Sofitel Dubai The Obelisk

- W Barcelona

Beyond the pass, his expertise spans seasonal Kaiseki/Omakase planning, pre-opening kitchen architecture, recipe standardization and yield control, costing and procurement, HACCP systems, and revenue-per-cover modeling for premium tasting concepts — with operational fluency across Marriott and IHG governance frameworks.

Nearly thirty years in, Chef Azumasong doesn't just cook Kaiseki — he engineers the systems that let it survive 35,000 feet without losing its soul.

Title: AZUMASONG: THE JAPANESE KITCHEN SYSTEM

Author: Chef Azumasong

Officially published in: Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong