Making a Creative Impression on Hiroshima's Restaurant Business
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For years, one of the reasons I enjoyed eating at some of Hiroshima's best restaurants:
Trattoria Mario, Bistro Aimee and Ca Cent Bon was the fantastic service I received from a young, enthusiastic
waiter and manager. I appreciated his western approach, making
recommendations on food and wine we might enjoy and his friendly banter was always a refreshing treat for me.
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I chased him from restaurant to restaurant until one day after I hadn't seen young Yamamoto-san for a while,
I heard that he had opened his own small restaurant and
I knew I had to seek it out. His creation is R.Gerant, a modern French restaurant, cafe and bar which is also
a special occasion party spot-
popular with expats and Japanese
clientele alike. His restaurant is named after his nickname "Gerant" which he received from his colleagues
and it stuck throughout his career in the restaurant biz. Young, confident, saavy and full of
new ideas - Gerant is always an inspiration.
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You really paid your dues working at Hiroshima's many leading Italian and French restaurants before finally
getting your own place. What do you find different about working for yourself?
It's a completely different level of satisfaction. Now that I am running my own business,
I have complete control over the
ingredients I use (now all veggies are organic and meats hormone free).
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We have even started growing our own vegetables
in order to have complete confidence in the quality. And we are incorporating more "wild" animal meats into the menu, such as
wild boar, which are much healthier. The base of our restaurant is French cuisine, but it is only now that I am able to
break or bend the rules to try new and unique dishes and flavors that I want to try.
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What is the most challenging aspect of running your own restaurant?
My greatest challenge is pleasing the regular customers- I want their experience to be wonderful every single time- this
is really hard to do, but it is also a lot of fun!
How have you seen Hiroshima change since you came to Hiroshima?
When I came as a university student ten years ago, there was not much choice in Restaurants. Since I started my own restaurant
3 years ago, we wanted to create a restaurant with attitude- the full effect: ambiance, amazing food, great service,
cool music and an overall exciting atmosphere for all the senses. But it is only now after trying to do these things
for 3 years that we are starting to realise how to achieve these aims and are developing our own unique character.
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How do you get ideas for your restaurant?
Due to my experiences travelling in Asia, Australia, Europe and Japan- looking at small shops, fashion and overall lifestyle
attitude in each place, I was able to develop certain preferences of style. I often look to travel magazines for inspiration too.
I look at the glossy pictures of exotic places, food and people and I try to imagine what it is about those things that attract
us? Then I try to recreate that same sense of adventure for the "travellers" who patronize my restaurant.
What do you like about living in Hiroshima?
Hiroshima is not too big or too small- it is just right. Everything I need in life is packed conveniently into a
small, downtown area and when I want to escape, it's easy to get to the mountains, countryside or ocean in less than an hour.
When you need to refresh and recharge, it doesn't take too much effort or planning, just hop in your car and drive.
jj walsh
November 2005
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