Chef

Akane Eno was born and raised in Tokyo. With a natural interest in painting and culture, she pursued art history at university.

When she dined out she often wondered how her favourite dishes were created. She considered cooking a form of art, and expressed her convictions by embarking on an intense one-year programme at the Tsuji Culinary Institute in Osaka, one of the top cooking schools in Japan after university. She lived above an izakaya and worked for them between school hours.

After graduation, she secured a one-year apprenticeship at a kappo restaurant in Tokyo in 2001, where she met Master Chef Masaru Furusawa whom she considers her mentor. While it was conventional for junior staff to be assigned minor, often tedious, tasks such as mise en place, Master Chef Furusawa allowed Akane to stand beside him at the counter, watching and learning kappo. She spent eight years under his tutelage.

In 2015, a restaurant in Singapore had an opening for the position of a new head chef, and Master Chef Furusawa, suggested Chef Eno as a good fit for the role. She spent 2 years at the restaurant in Singapore before deciding to head back to Japan.

Before she could leave, however, she met Master Chef Tomoo Kimura who in turn recruited her for his new restaurant. In 2017, Chef Eno joined Sushi Kimura in Singapore as head chef and was part of the team which achieved one Michelin star in 2018 and 2019.

The concept of Ichigo Ichie was launched at the start of 2019 as a Monday night pop-up at Sushi Kimura, and in February 2020 unveiled as a full-fledged restaurant, helmed by Chef Akane Eno.