Over 15 years and only 1 dish: The viral Japanese chef's biryani story

Japanese chef Takamasa Osawa also known as Biriyani Osawa has made headlines in India for perfecting one dish for over 15 years. In an exclusive conversation with India Today Digital, he takes us through his journey and answers everything that the world wants to know about him.The story of Japan's biryani man and why he chases this one dish He needs one pot. An array of spices. The right quality of rice. A few minutes later, a beautiful aroma will appetise you. Why? Because he, in his typical black attire, will cook and serve you a perfect kind of biryani in Tokyo. He is Takamasa Osawa, or better known as ‘Biriyani Osawa’.A man from Japan might just know much more about Indian-style biryani than most Indians. No offence intended. Wondering why we say that? He has spent over 15 years of his life perfecting one and only one dish — biryani. His restaurant even won the Michelin Gourmand Bib – Michelin Guide's award presented to restaurants that serve quality food at reasonable prices.That's a fact made him popular in India too. In January this year, he was invited by superstar Ram Charan to cook a hearty biryani for his family and made headlines. Months later, he came down to India for a pop-up in Mumbai and became the talk of the town, yet again. Why? For his unparalleled way of making biryani.In an exclusive conversation with India Today Digital, he shares his side of the story. He takes us through his journey of being a chef who is simply chasing one and only one dish. And here, he answers everything that the world wants to know about him. In fact, his love for biryani made him miss his flight! Scroll down to know how.For the love of biryani A former employee at a biofuel company, Osawa was on a holiday in Coimbatore around 2009. One afternoon, he simply walked into an eatery and ordered “biryani” because all he knew was that it was something to do with rice, and he loved rice as a child. Next thing he knew, he just couldn't stop. He ordered biryani everywhere he went. “It didn't matter if it was a grimy street or a tidy restaurant. I had understood one thing: ‘order biryani,’ and my favourite food appears,” he shares.The rest is history, a delicious one. One plate of biryani changed Takamasa Osawa's life forever (Photo: Takamasa Osawa/Special Arrangement) Almost a decade later, around 2021, in Tokyo, he opened his own 10-seater restaurant, and it's a tribute to his very first biryani as well. “My restaurant is spelled ‘Biriyani Osawa’ — after the spelling of that first biryani in Coimbatore.”Of course, the buck did not stop there for him. His chase filled his passport, and he travelled far and wide to comprehend the nuances of cooking this dish that simply has a universal love. He travelled across parts of India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.Now, the obvious question that boggles everyone who comes to know about his story. Why just one dish?A one-dish manA chef usually specialises in one cuisine. And maybe sometimes, some get famous for one of the many dishes they serve. But one dish for decades and decades? Why?His answer is actually rooted in his tradition and culture.“Japan has the idea of ‘d’ — a path. Tea ceremony, flower arrangement, calligraphy: you choose one thing, and you train at it for the rest of your life. Cooking works the same way. Sushi chefs chase sushi. Yakitori chefs chase one chicken. Tempura chefs chase oil and batter for decades,” he says.He further explains how, in Japan, spending a life on one dish is respected as a path. “The point is not just cooking the dish well. By facing one dish for years, you polish your judgment, your senses, your whole posture. ‘I can make it now’ is the starting line. The culture values making it one millimetre better than yesterday.” Takamasa Osawa learnt the art of biryani by travelling across borders (Photo: Takamasa Osawa/Special Arrangement) He cites the example of a sushi chef. “In Japan, they say: three years just to cook the rice, eight years before you may shape a piece. A friend of mine — a top sushi chef, 35 years in — still updates his rice every single day. I believe the same about biryani. The best plate doesn't come from cooking many dishes. It comes from time spent facing one.”Turns out, in Japan, anyone who claims they can cook every cuisine is, with high probability, a fake.So, now you know why one dish means so much to him.The best teacher for biryani“The cooks I admire most are the street-side biryani makers. They don't seek the spotlight. They don't care about fancy interviews or going viral. They just quietly dedicate their lives to making perfect biryani. Like the first plate that changed my life, they are my true teachers — and they are who I'm trying to become,” the chef says earnestly. Osawa learnt the best from street-side vendors (Photo: Takamasa Osawa/Special Arrangement) The fact that he has travelled places, we had to ask him to pick favourites. And for years, Lahore topped the charts for him, but now it's Hyderabad. However, Kolkata's flavour is the textbook for Biriyani Osawa.“That said, whenever I'm in transit, I absolutely have to eat Old Delhi's oily, salty, spicy biryani — and just last month, on a transit through Delhi, I went off to eat local biryani in Mahipalpur and missed my connecting flight,” he chuckles.Honestly, a biryani can have that effect. It means, no one's fault. Period. Chef Osawa spent years learning about different ways of making biryani (Photo: Takamasa Osawa/Special Arrangement) Chef Osawa's journey is truly inspiring. His drive, patience and dedication to one dish are commendable. But it's not completely rosy, or should we say, there have been a few burnt layers along the way. It’s not always dum-perfect!The risk of being the biryani manOften, you see chefs speaking passionately about their local cuisines, hoping to take their flavours far and wide. But that wasn't quite Chef Osawa's experience. Introducing biryani to Tokyo came with its own set of questions.At first, people were confused. “Where's the curry?” “How is this different from fried rice?” are the kind of questions he heard often.But Osawa slowly cooked his way into people's hearts. “If something is delicious, people want to eat it again — whatever their nationality. My job is simple: just make delicious biryani,” he says and delivers. Somewehere in Delhi. Language barrier hasn't stopped him from learning more about biryani. (Photo: Takamasa Osawa/Special Arrangement) When we asked if, as a Japanese chef, he feels added pressure to serve Indians, he said: “Of course. They're the strictest judges in the world. But that judgment is exactly what I want. Indian guests understand biryani best and evaluate mine most severely — and that is the greatest joy I know. The day the pressure disappears, my growth ends too.”Interestingly, Osawa has learnt to read criticism without always hearing it."But when someone stops eating halfway, or doesn't take a second helping, the meaning is clear: this is a biryani you get tired of. A biryani that doesn't make you want more.”For Osawa, those moments are the real feedback. His ideal biryani is one you could eat endlessly — so when the second helping doesn't come, he remembers it as an “intense failure."Recipe of a perfect biryaniThere's none, actually – according to him.“The conviction that a more delicious biryani than today's always exists. That's the whole reason,” he says rather firmly.And instead of picking one style, he chose the mechanism — “why is this delicious?” — from each region, and converged everything into one plate. He only keeps two-three varieties of biryani on the menu instead of wide spread. (Photo: Takamasa Osawa/Instagram) “The base is Hyderabadi, but the recipe borrows the best from everywhere: Kolkata's spicing and way of cooking basmati; Pakistani-style gravy and acidity; a Balochistani method for tenderising meat; a Tamil Nadu-inspired gravy-soaked bottom layer; and the unmixed serving style he learnt from dum pukht in Yangon.”Today, he is still trying to up his own last serving of biryani. And that's the one inspiring life lesson from a Japanese man.Pssst...Thinking biryani, are you? Go ahead, impulse order. We’ll just pretend we didn’t see the calorie count (wink, wink.).- EndsPublished By: Jigyasa SahayPublished On: Sep 9, 2026 07:00 IST