Acclaimed London chef and writer Ms Ravinder Bhogal approached us with an interesting idea. What if she spoke to her friends about a momentous meal experienced on their travels, and then she recreated the dish? Below, the first in a new series, exclusively for MR PORTER.

It’s increasingly impossible to find yourself really lost these days. Google Maps and Citymapper reliably usher us from A to B, mostly with a canny shortcut or two thrown in. However, earlier this year, on what was supposed to be a carefully curated honeymoon to Kanawaza, Japan, fashion designer Mr Charlie Casely-Hayford and his interior designer wife Ms Sophie Ashby found themselves well and truly out of their comfort zone in an effort to dine “off the beaten track”.

“It’s lovely to go and experience the best restaurants on the Michelin Guide, but I always have a feeling we are losing something,” says Mr Casely-Hayford. “What are we missing when we don’t take that diversion?”

Between their incompetence in the native tongue and their driver’s beautifully mangled English, they found themselves gazing hopelessly out of the car window. “The taxi driver, in a politely insistent way, wouldn’t let us out until he felt he had fulfilled his brief of getting us to our destination,” explains Mr Casely-Hayford.

It’s no wonder that the thought of visiting Kanawaza on the northwest coast of Honshuso is so compelling. The city is renowned for giving travellers the opportunity to experience exceptional regional food and indigenous produce such as kinjiso, a leafy green vegetable. Like the more familiar Kyoto, Kanawaza escaped bombing during WWII, and some of the old city has been left mercifully intact. You can traverse centuries in just a few miles, and old historic sights such as samurai mansions, geisha quarters and ancient temples still rub shoulders with some decidedly modern attractions. On that night, however – and despite its multitude of charms – the allure of Kanawaza was wearing thin for these #hangry foreigners.

“The romance of being lost with your new wife in a foreign city had lost its sparkle,” Mr Caseley-Hayford says. “I was trying to fudge together a silver lining for Sophie – this would make a fantastic story one day. But then suddenly the car screeched to a halt and the driver insistently pointed to an unassuming building in a residential street. We’d driven past it several times, but now we had apparently arrived! We hopped out and the driver sped off.

“Inside it was eerily quiet. There was no host to greet us, just a narrow wooden corridor with two doors. The first one revealed a kitchen and then behind the other was the dining room that would seem unremarkable to most, but to us was filled with absolute wonder.”

Mr Casely-Hayford, who stands taller than most stately home Christmas trees, describes Koziano Tempura as “diminutive”. It had only nine seats at a counter and an immaculate kitchen. The whole restaurant had been engineered out of the same blond wood by a casual carpenter acquaintance of the owner. There were no frills – no overblown flowers, abstract artwork or even a view – the one narrow window had been obstructed by a sheet of dark greenery. Yet Mr Casely-Hayford and his wife found the modesty of the room appealing.

“We were the only non-Japanese diners there, and, in fact, we were the only couple – all the other guests were dining solo.” With no chatter or decor to distract them, the couple found themselves hyper-focused on the main event – the food and drink.

“The meal prepared by the head chef Mr Koziano and his two assistants was an exercise in restraint, subtlety and balance,” Mr Casely-Hayford recalls. “There were no choices – we were completely at the mercy of Mr Koziano and and what was available to him from the various local markets and suppliers. There was, of course, fresh seafood, various types of daikon, local pumpkin, lotus roots and greens. We were offered up just one morsel at a time, each with a carefully selected sake. We ate and drank wordlessly.”

The only sound he recollects from that evening was of cold batter hitting fiercely hot oil, which I know from my own deep-frying dexterity sounds like rapturous applause. Mr Casely-Hayford admits that like most urban creatives, he often finds himself flitting between many thoughts at once, yet found his mind serenely still at that counter.

“With no distractions around me, in front of someone who was evidently a master of his craft, I found myself in a hypnotic trance, appreciating each individual ingredient.”

Amid the quiet culinary revolution taking place in Mr Koziano’s kitchen that night, he fondly remembers various seasonal mountain vegetables that were often pickled, and aye – a bitter, anchovy-sized fish, floured, fried and presented with its mouth wide open as though it were swimming upstream. The most impressive plate, however – an audaciously confident showcase of just two ingredients – was a lightly tempura-ed shard of nori topped with umami-rich sea urchin. Proof that good things can come from getting lost.

• 200g sashimi-grade scallops 
• 100g podded frozen edamame, defrosted
• 1 tsp black sesame seeds

For the yuzu dressing:

• 2 tbsp light soy sauce 
• 3 tsp sesame oil
• 1 tbsp yuzu juice 

For the tempura Nori:

• 2 sheets toasted nori 
• 100g tempura mix
• Oil to deep fry 
• Togarashi to sprinkle

To serve:

• Thinly sliced toasted nori

1. For the dressing, simply combine all the ingredients in a screw-top jar, shake well to emulsify, and season to taste.

2. Put the scallops in the freezer for 15 minutes – this will make them firm and therefore easier to slice. Thinly slice the scallops and lay them over a cold plate. Scatter with edamame and black sesame seeds, drizzle the dressing over, then scatter with toasted nori.

3. For the tempura nori, cut the nori sheets into 6 pieces. Mix tempura flour according to packet instructions and season.

4. Heat the oil in a deep pan until a breadcrumb sizzles and turns brown when dropped into it.

5. Now dip the shiny side of the nori sheets into the batter. Make sure the other side remains clean. Deep fry the nori for 2 to 3 minutes. The nori is ready when it’s super crispy.

6. Place the fried nori on a paper towel and sprinkle with togarashi, first over the battered side, then over the other side. Serve immediately with the sashimi.