MOI Omakase

The story

MOI Omakase in Prato – Japanese Omakase Dining by Chef Francesco Preite

MOI Omakase

In Prato, Chef Francesco Preite runs MOI Omakase, a restaurant dedicated to the Japanese tradition of omakase — "I trust you." Here, there is no à la carte menu. Dinner is a single, carefully composed tasting menu built around a wide selection of nigiri that changes daily, depending on what the market and the season offer. Guests sit at a single counter, and the chef prepares each piece in front of them, making the meal as much about observation as it is about taste.

Preite’s path to this style of cooking was deliberate. He spent years learning the discipline of the Japanese kitchen, beginning with the understanding that an apprentice in Japan might spend the first two years only washing dishes and cleaning floors. Only later does one learn to cook rice, and after four years, the art of cutting fish and composing dishes. For Preite, cooking is a search for "truth" in every ingredient — a continuous dialogue between body, mind, and matter.

Eight years after opening his first MOI in Prato — a small Japanese spot on Via Giuseppe Verdi — Preite moved the concept to a new location on Viale Piave, across from the Castello dell’Imperatore. The new space is a place for both food and sake, where the depth of Japanese gastronomic culture is interpreted through the creative lens of a passionate Italian chef.

The restaurant has earned a Michelin Recommended distinction, a recognition that aligns with its precise, ingredient-focused approach. The cuisine is Japanese, but the spirit is one of personal discovery — a meal at MOI is an experience built on trust, respect, and the freshness of what the day brings.