Following his childhood dream to become a chef, Keisuke Matsushima, born in 1977 in Fukuoka, Japan, mastered the basics of French cooking at L’ecole Tsuji Tokyo (Tsuji Culinary Institute). Stepping in to his first restaurant position not in the kitchen but in the dining area of Vincennes, Shibuya, Tokyo, this somewhat unusual step for a chef provided experience in the areas of service and wine list creation, which was to prove invaluable when he later became a restaurateur.

Learning from French chefs all over the country after moving to France at the tender age of 20, Chef Matsushima opened his first restaurant, Restaurant Kei’s Passion, in Nice on his 25th birthday. His innovative dishes made with local, southern French ingredients gained great popularity and in its third year, the restaurant was decorated with a prestigious Michelin Star. In 2006, Chef Matsushima’s closed his original restaurant with the birth of a larger restaurant KEISUKE MATSHUSHIMA, which was also decorated with a Michelin Star in 2007 and received its sixth consecutive Michelin Star in 2011. A recent addition of Chef Matsushima’s restaurant in Tokyo, Restaurant-I, was awarded a Michelin Star.