Ryodo Kajiwara wins Gault&Millau Luxembourg again
The Ryôdô chef took Luxembourg's Chef of the Year title for a second time on 26 October, five years after his first win, as the guide lifted his score to 16.5/20.
Ryodo Kajiwara, chef at Ryôdô in Luxembourg City, was named Gault&Millau Luxembourg's Chef of the Year 2027 on Monday 26 October, his second win five years after his first in 2022. The title was announced at a ceremony at the Parc Hotel Alvisse, alongside the guide's other annual honours.
Kajiwara, who trained in the Tokyo area, has spent the past two years steering Ryôdô's menu back toward the Japanese gastronomy of his roots, after years of work the guide had praised in 2022 for blending European technique with Japanese produce and precision. The new edition lifts the restaurant's score to 16.5 out of 20.
"It moved me. It really moved me," Kajiwara said of the win. "I'm still doing my job with passion, even five years on," he added, pointing to the gap since his first title.
Five years after his first title, Ryodo Kajiwara's second win rewards a chef who narrowed his focus instead of chasing a bigger one.
A second win, a changed kitchen
Ryôdô opened on Rue Raymond Poincaré in 2020 and built its early reputation on fusing Japanese and European cooking, the style that first won Kajiwara the Chef of the Year title in 2022. His successor took the 2023 award, and Kajiwara spent the years since narrowing his focus rather than widening it, a choice the 2027 guide rewards with its highest score for a chef this cycle.
Luxembourg's small restaurant scene means its Gault&Millau awards double as a map of who is moving: Kim de Dood, at Le Lys inside Villa Pétrusse, took Young Chef of the Year as Le Lys earned a third toque at 15.5/20, while Petros Koptsis, at La Distillerie in Bourglinster, won Discovery of the Year after the restaurant entered the guide directly at 14/20.
A guide still finding its shape
Gault&Millau's Luxembourg and wider Benelux edition will be formally presented on 9 November, following a run of national ceremonies the guide has held across Europe this autumn; Switzerland named its own vegetarian-leaning Chef of the Year last month, and France has shortlisted its nominees for the equivalent trophy, due in November.
For a restaurant scene the size of Luxembourg's, a second Chef of the Year title for the same kitchen says as much about the competition as about Kajiwara: the other new honours this year point toward the generation coming up behind him.
