LEONARDO TSUBASA DONATI
Leonardo Tsubasa Donati is a self-taught chef. His cooking is shaped by experience and heritage. Growing up in Berlin with a Japanese father and an Italian-German mother, Japanese cuisine was part of his everyday life from an early age, deeply ingrained and instinctive. His father, Miki Nozawa, completed a rigorous, disciplined classical culinary apprenticeship in Japan that lasted more than fifteen years and later opened one of Berlin’s first refined Japanese restaurants. This environment shaped Donati’s understanding of craft, precision, and culinary integrity. For Donati, Fukagawa is not a new beginning, but the consistent continuation of an idea developed over many years. Calm, focused, and guided by a clear commitment to quality.
About the Restaurant
Fukagawa opens in early 2026 in Berlin Kreuzberg and marks the third gastronomic project by Leonardo Tsubasa Donati and Sabrina Schulz. Following two successful Fukagawa ramen restaurants, this is not a departure but a considered evolution of what has been developed over many years. The fine dining restaurant is conceived as a homage to its own ramen heritage. Japanese cuisine, and in particular the structural logic of ramen tradition, remains the foundation. Broths, seasonings and textures are not abandoned, but refined and translated into a composed menu shaped by French technique. The space reflects the same philosophy. Reduced, elegant and free from staging, it directs attention to the plate, the flavour and the rhythm of the evening. Fukagawa does not begin anew. It continues its story.
MENUS
A curated seven-course menu, available in omnivore and vegetarian versions, conceived as a cohesive narrative. Exceptional ingredients such as scallops from Brittany, sea urchin from Brittany, Wagyu beef from Kagoshima and white truffle from Acqualagna form the foundation. These are complemented by carefully selected products sourced from France, Japan and the surrounding region. Each course draws on essential elements of ramen tradition, Dashi and Tare, reinterpreted in a refined and contemporary form. Broths are prepared fresh, textures are precisely developed and flavours are intentionally restrained. Optional beverage pairings of wine, sake or tea accompany the menu, the latter created in collaboration with selected producers.
FELIX THOMS
Felix Thoms began his career with a classical culinary apprenticeship at Hotel Hanseatic on the island of Rügen. Early on, he transitioned into fine dining, working in acclaimed kitchens such as Villa Hammerschmiede and Restaurant San Martino, where he refined his sense of precision, product, and structure.
In 2019, Thoms co-founded the Berlin restaurant Bob & Thoms and developed his own culinary voice. At Fukagawa, he combines his experience in French technique with a growing engagement in Japanese cuisine, characterized by clarity, restraint, and quiet confidence.
Felix & Leo
The menu at Fukagawa emerges from an ongoing dialogue. Leonardo Tsubasa Donati shapes the Japanese soul of the concept through broths, umami, fermentation and the underlying logic of ramen culture. Felix Thoms carries this foundation forward with French technique, structure and restraint. In their collaboration, cooking becomes a form of applied art. Each course is composed with precision, reduced to its essence and conceived as an individual work. Together, they develop a cuisine that does not blend traditions, but connects them. Clear in intent, consistent in execution and unmistakably its own.
OUR TEAM
At Fukagawa, the feeling comes first. Attention, ease and a natural sense of hospitality shape every evening. Everyone on the team, those guests meet in the room as well as those working behind the scenes, shares the same mindset and carries it together. Through presence, care and intuition, an experience unfolds that feels natural and makes guests feel welcome. Fukagawa is a place people return to because it feels right.
