Pumpkin and Seafood Japanese-Style Stew

Today, in keeping with the season, we've prepared an easy-to-make, warming dish using a flavor everyone knows: kabocha squash. "I think of this restaurant as being like having 'four restaurants' on the fourteenth floor of a department store -- Japanese cuisine, teppan grill, sushi, and tempura. I'm always thinking about how to bring out the character of each section to the fullest, and I build each month's menu around the year's events and the five seasonal festivals (gosekku)."

As for the restaurant's customer base, apparently it skews toward women and older guests, and many of them are food connoisseurs who have studied cuisine closely.

"Everyone comes looking for Japanese cuisine, but they're also hoping for a freshness they haven't encountered before. Beyond the flavor, of course, I always aim to bring dignity to the plating and the portion size too, and to create dishes that stay in the memory."

1. Slice 250g of kabocha squash into convenient pieces, slice 200g of onion, and saute both with 15g of parsley and 20g of butter. Once they've softened, add 180cc of concentrated chicken stock (ji-kai-tan) and 540cc of water, and reduce.

2. Blend it into a puree, add 540cc of milk and 90cc of fresh cream, and simmer further until it reaches a good thickness. To finish, season with 1 gō (a traditional unit, about 180ml) of sauce americaine (a stock made from shrimp heads), salt, and pepper.

3. Char the leek (poro-negi) to give it some color, then simmer it in a mixture of 15 parts dashi, 1 part light soy sauce, and 1 part mirin.

4. Grill the scallops. Boil the broccoli and shrimp. Simmer the mushrooms in a mixture of 15 parts dashi, 1 part light soy sauce, and 1 part mirin.