"There's a whiff of Alice in Wonderland at the Tokyo outpost of Gucci Osteria da Massimo Bottura. The elevator opens onto a light-filled space, with a trellised, open-air terrace preceding the main dining area. Tall banquettes upholstered in peacock-colored velvet complement the hand-painted flooring and floral-patterned Girnori teacups. The atmosphere conjures a high-Renaissance Florentine fantasy, replete with marble tabletops and boiserie carved wood paneling embellished with lines of poetry penned by Lorenzo de Medici. A protege of three-Michelin-starred chef Massimo Bottura, chef Antonio Iacoviello takes diners on an edible journey centered on his native Italy. He filters elements of Italian and Japanese food culture through the culinary kaleidoscope of his mind, resulting in boundary-pushing fusions like a tangle of thinly sliced bonito and cucumber "spaghetti" atop a sauce of olives, capers, and parsley, concealed beneath a cloud of bagna cauda foam; or tender bites of abalone dotted with arugula sauce and sudachi citrus jelly, served with smoked cheese and caviar on crispy piadina flatbreads." - Melinda Joe
