He actually doesn’t like dairy products. Ryosuke Sugamata of the patisserie Ryoura makes sweets in his own style.

The closest thing I had to sweets as a child was sweets made at home.

Celeina (MC): First of all, let me introduce your profile. Ryosuke Sugamata was born in Niigata Prefecture in 1976. After graduating from high school, he entered the world of confectionery and spent 3 years training in various places in France starting at the age of 26. In October 2015, he opened “Ryoura” in Yoga, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo, where he is the owner patissier. In addition to his store, he is also active in the media and workshops.

Takano (MC): Mr. Sakai, who appeared yesterday, referred to you as “the artisan who makes the most cakes in Japan.

Celeina: How many cakes do you make every day?

Sugamata: He was exaggerating a bit. (laughs) But I make quite a lot, about 500 to 600 pieces of fresh cakes.

Celeina: In one day?

Sugamata: Yes, every day. I also bake about 2,000 cookies and 500 to 600 macaroons every other day.

Celeina: What time do you start in the morning?

Sugamata: We start as early as 6:30 a.m., and from there we prepare for the opening.

Celeina: So the delicious sweets that we eat every day are made from the very beginning of the morning.

Takano: Really. We should all be thankful for that.

Sugamata: It’s okay, we’re having fun.

Celeina: Did your family have a confectionery shop?

Sugamata: I grew up in an environment where my mother’s family owned a Japanese-style confectionery, and my father made cakes in the Western confectionery section.

Celeina: So sweets were a familiar part of your life from a young age.

Sugamata: I thought they were a natural part of life. Since we were on Sado Island, there were no convenience stores nearby at that time. That’s why I felt that my parents’ sweets were the only thing I could eat close to home.

Takano: That is an enviable environment.

Becoming a pastry chef even if you cannot eat dairy products

Celeina: Did you eat a lot of sweets since you were a child?

Sugamata: Actually, I have disliked dairy products since I was a child. I couldn’t eat any.

Takano: If you mean all of them, then cream is also a dairy product, isn’t it?

Sugamata: Not at all. Cheese is also a no-no, but I conquered butter in my third year of high school.

Takano:Conquered butter! (haha) How did you get over it?

Sugamata: I tried various ways of eating it. I discovered that it tastes like this when melted, or that it tastes good if you put salt on it. I gathered information about the taste little by little and conquered it.

Takano: Do you still have a weakness for whipped cream?

Sugamata: Not at all.

Takano: Fresh cream is the star of sweets, isn’t it?

Sugamata: Milk and other ingredients are commonplace in our daily lives, but when I heat it up to make sweets, the smell of the milk really comes out. That’s already too much for me.

Takano: Wait a minute, is there such a pastry chef?

Celeina：Mr.Sugamata, you are too funny, including your body language. You do taste the portions and other things, don’t you?

Sugamata: I do because it’s my job.

Celeina:Do you eat the food while thinking that it is your job?

Sugamata: I would like to avoid it if possible, but I can’t create the flavor without tasting it. But when I make prototypes, at first I can’t taste anything because I don’t like dairy products. From there, I gradually make it taste like something I can’t eat. Then everyone says it tastes good.

Takano: That kind of reverse sensor has evolved and become very sensitive, and we have become more trusting of taste.

Sugamata: I wonder. (haha)

Celeina: Unexpected and too punchy.

Takano: By making something that Mr. Sugamata can’t eat, you can make something delicious for everyone.

Sugamata:That’s right!　That’s how I feel.

Takano: That’s interesting.

If I made an effort using my inability as a springboard,making sweets became more interesting.

Celeina: Basically, do you have a fixed quantity for a recipe?

Sugamata: Of course, I usually use a fixed recipe, but when I first start making pastries, the amount is determined when I think, “Wow, I can taste the milk”.

Celeina：That’s where you make notes. (haha) What was the moment when you decided to become a pastry chef, despite having a backbone that is not fond of dairy products?

Sugamata: Somehow, …….

Celeina: Was it your parents’ family business?

Sugamata: Around September of my junior year of high school, when I had to think about job hunting and higher education. When I was on the edge and wondering what to do next, my father asked me what I wanted to do, and I was like, “Maybe a cake shop”. I guess it looked kind of cool that my father was making pastries.

Celeina: I see.

Sugamata: That’s why I got into this world somehow.

Takano: But you still find the work of a pastry chef rewarding and attractive, don’t you?

Sugamata: For now.

Takano: When you say “now,” do you mean there was a moment when you really got into it?

Sugamata: At the time, I wasn’t very interested, so I didn’t go to vocational school very much. But that didn’t help me get a job, so the teacher told me to come to school for a month to make sweets during the summer vacation as well. I couldn’t do what everyone else in the class was doing, but I couldn’t do it at all. I looked at the recipe, but the eggs wouldn’t foam, the sponge was dry, and so on. I was frustrated that I couldn’t do it, so I kept trying, and it became more and more interesting.

Takano: You never know what you will find.

Sugamata: Life is a mystery.

Takano: I would like to hear more, but I would like to play one song. I asked Mr. Sugamata to select the music. Please tell us about the reason for the song selection.

Sugamata:When I first opened the store, I often drove around worrying about various things. At that time, I often listened to Sakanaction, and I chose this song because it stuck with me strangely and made me feel like “I’m going to do my best.

Takano: Now, please introduce the song.

Sugamata: It’s “Eureka” by Sakanaction.

I want to offer unexpected flavors by combining familiar ingredients.

Celeina: In 2015, you opened the patisserie “Ryoura” in Yoga, Setagaya-ku. What kind of store did you decide to start?

Sugamata: I opened the store because I wanted to live in a town that I wanted to live in, and I wanted the store to blend in with the scenery of that town.

Celeina: I see, so you started by choosing the town.

Takano: The blue walls are very stylish and cute.

Sugamata: In Japan, at the time, people said that cold wall colors were not suitable for restaurants. But it’s beautiful, and there’s nothing else like it, so we decided to do it.

Celeina: Did you choose bright colors because you were inspired by the European cityscapes you saw during your training in France?

Sugamata: That was part of it. When I was in Japan, I was sometimes concerned about what people around me thought, but in France, there were many people who lived their lives with their own style, so I was inspired. I felt like I should have my own style, and I guess that’s what I am doing now.

Takano: There are many variations of sweets. Isn’t it difficult to devise such a large menu?

Sugamata: Yes, it is. We have a concept of combining familiar ingredients to offer unexpected flavors, and it’s hard not to stray outside of that framework. But it’s fun to think about it.

Takano: When do you come up with ideas?

Sugamata: When I am driving, I concentrate on driving. But the moment I get stuck in traffic, I can think for a moment, and once I start moving, I concentrate on driving again. This switching between the two is like being refreshed, and ideas come to me like, “This could be good. I also sometimes pull out ingredients that I think are good from my daily meals or conversations with the staff and try to make them.

Celeina：I find myself craving Ryoura’s sweets more and more. Do you have a menu item that is the most popular at the restaurant, or a menu item that you recommend that you think is the best?

Sugamata: We don’t usually serve this kind of sweet at the shop, but the sweets made with matcha green tea, banana, milk chocolate, and a bit of salt were a personal challenge, but they were surprisingly delicious.

Celeina: I haven’t heard much about matcha and banana.

Sugamata: That’s right. The matcha and banana with a little bit of chocolate brings the flavors together.

Celeina: I see. So the milk chocolate is the link between the two.

Takano: Everyone, please visit Ryoura when you come to Yoga.

Celeina：“FIST BUMP” is a circle of friends that can be connected through a goo touch, so I have people introduce me to their friends. What kind of person will Mr. Sugamata introduce?

Sugamata: It’s Naoko Sakurabayashi who is a person whose job is small talk.

Takano: What kind of connection?

Sugamata: Ms. Sakurabayashi’s child is an illustrator, and it all started when she drew an illustration on one of our cake boxes. Originally, a staff member I worked with was friends with Ms,Sakurabayashi and that friend connected me with her. After that, we had frequent meetings and became good friends as we talked about many things.

Celeina: If you had to sum it up in one word, how would it be?

Sugamata: Someone who encourage me.

Takano: That’s good. Thank you very much. Tomorrow, I will connect to a person whose job is small talk, Naoko Sakurabayashi.

Celeina: “FIST BUMP”, today we have Ryosuke Sugamata from Ryoura, a French pastry shop in Yoga. Thank you very much.

GRAND MARQUEE

J-WAVE (81.3FM) Mon-Thu 16:00 – 18:50
Navigator: Shinya Takano, Celeina Ann

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