Amakara

The story

Amakara Brussels: Japanese Homestyle Dining in a Restored Factory

A self-taught culinary voice

Mariko Sho brings a quiet precision to Japanese home cooking at Amakara in Brussels. She built her techniques without formal training, focusing instead on seasonal produce and straightforward preparations. Her approach fits neatly into the curated selection of the 2026 Le Fooding guide, which values restaurants that prioritize substance over spectacle. Visitors seeking authentic Japanese dining often find their expectations met here through careful ingredient handling and restrained seasoning.

The restored factory setting

The kitchen operates inside a converted 1930s industrial building in Uccle, where the original architecture still frames the dining room. Guests gather in the old ticket office during colder months, sharing warmth from a central wood-burning stove. When summer arrives, the meal moves into a glass-walled greenhouse where yuzu and finger lime trees provide natural shade. This shift in location changes the rhythm of service, keeping the intimate scale steady at twenty covers regardless of the season.

Seasonal plates and simple additions

The menu opens with vegetable-focused tapas like steamed broccoli tossed with seaweed or tsukemono-style glazed sweet potatoes. Potato and kimchi galettes offer a familiar cross-cultural crunch before diners choose between the standard broth and the main course. Shiitake mushrooms paired with cilantro spring rolls sit alongside herb-flecked tamagoyaki and wood ear mushrooms dressed in soy sauce. A final touch of matcha chiffon cake with house-made crème fraîche and sweet bean paste rounds out the vegetarian tasting sequence.