Dish in Focus: Fxxking Paella

Born and raised in Japan – where he developed a particular affection for his grandmother’s house in Sendai, which inspired the interior design at Censu – Sato leveraged his culinary career to travel the world.

After stints at prestigious restaurants in Tokyo, he spent seven years in Sydney before moving to London to lead the team at Aqua Kyoto for two years. It’s an unusually global resume for a top Japanese chef, and Sato has channelled his international influences into the menu at Censu. No one dish represents this more completely than the Fxxking Paella.

“The main flavours and textures of the dish can be likened to traditional Hainan chicken rice, but with a twist,” explains Sato, who reveals that instead of cooking the rice in chicken broth, he infuses it with a scallop dashi, which imparts a subtle sweetness. The use of two different kinds of Japanese rice creates a delightful combination of textures as well as a divine socarrat (the crunchy, charred layer of rice at the bottom of a paella), further enabling the dish to stand out from the mass of similar dishes in Hong Kong.

Inspiration came from a staff lunch, before Censu launched in 2021. “The team prepared Hainan chicken rice and I found it incredibly enjoyable,” recalls Sato, who was excited by the idea of marrying the characteristics of such an Asian dish with his own international sensibilities.

The most pressing question was what kind of chicken to use. Having worked under Daniel Calvert during the British chef’s stint at Belon, Sato was familiar with the three yellow chicken dish that helped put SoHo’s Belon on the map. Such experience was “invaluable” in creating the Fxxking Paella.