Spanish Cuisine × Florist: A New Experience. Sonrisa's Non-Alcoholic Strategy for Everyone to Enjoy
- 4 days ago
- 9 min read
Chef Ueda's philosophy of "healing"—welcoming both drinkers and non-drinkers—was born precisely because he isn't a heavy drinker.
Just a few minutes from Kamata Station. Surrounded by vibrant plants, the place looks like a flower shop at first glance. But step inside, and you'll find a pleasant, lively restaurant space.
Flowers&Spanish Sonrisa was born from Chef Ueda's desire to share the "ultimate healing" he felt while dining in the flower shop once run by his wife. However, its essence extends far beyond mere "aesthetic appeal." By meticulously balancing the acidity in both food and drinks, and creating an environment where both drinkers and non-drinkers can enjoy themselves on equal footing, it builds a unique customer experience.
Unraveling Chef Ueda's unique philosophy, rich with insights for those in the food and beverage industry.
A space that draws people of all ages and genders The balance of flowers and rugged simplicity
The origin of Chef Ueda opening Sonrisa lies in his experience dining at his wife's flower shop, "JUURI."
"I found myself deeply soothed by eating and drinking inside the flower shop. I wanted our customers to experience that feeling too."
Currently operating three locations in Kamata. Sonrisa features flowers and Spanish cuisine, JUURI offers a standing bar style within a flower shop, and lober (opened November 2025) specializes in pinchos and an extensive cider selection (8 varieties by the glass and 100 varieties by the bottle available at all times).
On the other hand, Chef Ueda carefully assesses the accessibility of the restaurant. Placing too many flowers and plants creates a girly, feminine atmosphere that might make male customers feel intimidated. Therefore, the base interior design was deliberately finished with a rugged, simple aesthetic.
"When you remove the plants, it's actually quite a masculine-looking shop. Doing so makes it easier for middle-aged men to come in. That's where we combine the plants."
This balance creates a welcoming space for everyone—from women's groups to male customers after work, and even families with children.
Cooking as Architecture and Ceramics: Plating Worked Backwards from the Final Presentation
Chef Ueda's aesthetic lies in viewing cuisine not merely as "flavor," but as a visual "masterpiece."
"People say potters, architects, and chefs are similar. Only when you bring the presentation to its final completed form can you truly stand alongside them. If the final picture doesn't look delicious, it doesn't matter how good it tastes—it's meaningless."
This dedication to visual presentation is evident in his Instagram posts. Chef Ueda utilizes natural daylight, deliberately shooting with a slight backlight to give dishes a three-dimensional quality, and carefully cropping plates to create depth. This meticulous attention to presentation has become a powerful hook that draws in customers.
We only serve it if it's "ridiculously delicious," plus we add a special twist to the combination of sourness and the drink.
Chef Ueda's culinary philosophy is clear: "If it's not insanely delicious, we won't serve it."
"Just 'delicious' isn't enough. It has to be food that makes people think, 'Wow, this is amazing!!!' Because customers' tastes differ from mine, if I think something is just 'delicious,' some customers might only find it 'so-so.' But if I create a dish that feels like a perfect 120 points to me—something that makes me think 'Wow, this is amazing!!!'—then maybe customers will feel it's a perfect 100 points, 'delicious'?"
Chef Ueda launched Sonrisa after eight years of Japanese cuisine and four years of Spanish cuisine experience. By incorporating Japanese culinary techniques while creating original Spanish dishes that deliver "ridiculously delicious" flavors, he has earned high praise, including a Bib Gourmand listing in the Michelin Guide Tokyo 2024.
Furthermore, there is ingenuity in the complementary relationship between food and drinks.
What stands out is his approach to acidity in cooking. Chef Ueda rarely uses vinegar to finish dishes. Instead, he utilizes the gentle acidity inherent in ingredients themselves, such as yogurt or fruit.
Wine has acidity. By holding back on the acidity in the dish, you slightly shift it away from being 'exceptional' and leave it in a state where it feels like it needs a bit more vinegar. Then, when you drink the wine, the flavors tighten up just right and the taste comes together perfectly.
This philosophy is also rooted in the belief of creating dishes you can't find anywhere else. Therefore, we deliberately avoid offering staples like "beef braised in red wine" or "simple salt-grilled steak," instead elevating them into unique combinations.
For example, the horse meat tartare features two layers of garnish—beets, tonburi sprouts, pickled green chili peppers, mustard seeds, and shallots—arranged like jewels. The paella combines Ehime Prefecture's Onikita pheasant with wild mountain vegetables for a mountain-inspired paella. The raw yellowtail and egg dish is deliberately cut extremely thick. Guests slice it themselves with a knife to their preferred thickness, allowing the rich umami of the yellowtail and roe to burst in the mouth the moment it's eaten.
The menu features dishes that are "ridiculously delicious," blending the delicate techniques honed in Japanese cuisine with Spanish culinary culture. The acidity of the drinks is carefully layered to complement these dishes, elevating the experience to perfection.
Diverse Approaches to Stimulate the Senses: Inspiration from Color
The process of developing dishes is also diverse. Sometimes menus are constructed not only based on taste but also inspired by "color."
For example, the inspiration for "Strawberries and Myoga" came from a bouquet with a red base. When I went to the greengrocer and saw the red strawberries and myoga, I immediately envisioned the finished piece. The staff member who came with me looked skeptical, wondering, "Do they really go together?" But I wanted them to see how delicious combinations can emerge from color, so I decided to put it together.
Furthermore, flowers are not scattered directly onto the dishes. Instead, the chef creates a finished image based on the color sense of a "white and green bouquet" as made by a florist, expressing not only deliciousness but also visual healing.
Non-Alcoholic Beverages on Equal Footing: A Commitment to Price and Calorie Content
At Sonrisa, demand for non-alcoholic beverages is high. Why is that?
Many people come here to enjoy the space itself—the flowers and Spanish cuisine. It's not just about eating Spanish food; they want to spend time in Sonrisa's unique atmosphere. So naturally, many guests don't drink alcohol or choose not to.
Many of Sonrisa's non-alcoholic menu items are homemade, though this wasn't part of the original plan when the restaurant opened.
At first, I bought alcoholic ingredients and mixed them with soda water, or used pomegranate vinegar and grapefruit vinegar, experimenting through trial and error. The average customer spend when we opened was around ¥4,500. That increased by ¥1,000 to ¥2,000 each year, and now it's between ¥10,000 and ¥12,000. During that process, we realized we had to make non-alcoholic drinks 'something you can enjoy alongside the alcoholic drinks'. That's why we started making our own non-alcoholic drinks in earnest."
Actually, I'm not very good with alcohol, so I understand how people who can't drink feel. While drinking, your nose gets stuffy and you can't taste anything, or you start feeling sleepy... Plus, soft drinks are often offered cheaply, so I feel kind of bad for the place. Or when splitting the bill, I get a discount, and I feel like I'm drifting away from the 'enjoying together' vibe. That's why I want to tell them: whether you drink or not, the place is happy you came.
Chef Ueda, who never fails to show consideration for his guests, insists that his dining room staff convey the background of each drink with the same passion and care as they do when explaining wines.
"Simply saying 'Here's your cola' and handing it over is different from taking the time to explain how we make it, what we focus on, and why we chose this combination. It changes how customers receive it. When the server brings passion to the table, both drinkers and non-drinkers can enjoy themselves on equal footing."
Reasons for choosing Apoptosis──"It was simply delicious," "The tea aroma really comes through."
Why did Chef Ueda, who excels at homemade creations, introduce Apoptosis sparkling tea? I asked him the reason.
"It was just plain delicious."
Chef Ueda speaks candidly. His starting point was an intuitive sense of "deliciousness." And it was precisely because he had been making his own drinks all along that he understood the difficulty of creating non-alcoholic beverages.
When you try making your own non-alcoholic drinks, you realize it's actually quite difficult. Getting the balance right between the tea aroma and the sparkling sensation. I originally entered the food and beverage industry because I wanted to run a Japanese tea cafe, so I have some knowledge, but I was really impressed that they could preserve the tea aroma this well.
Chef Ueda particularly values these three points.
Rich aroma: "Soft drinks rarely have much aroma. But Apoptosis sparkling tea has a distinct fragrance, and the lingering scent after drinking is pleasant too. For example, the blue aroma of sardine pinchos pairs well with the roasted notes of hojicha."
Tannins and carbonation entice the next bite: "The tannins (astringency) in tea and carbonation cut through the richness of Spanish cuisine. For instance, even when paired with rich flavors like porcini cream sauce or oils like olive oil, it makes moving on to the next bite easier."
Looks good too: "The label is cute, and customers can feel like they're drinking something special."
Making things yourself increases your passion. It sharpens your focus.
When we make it in-house, our staff become more passionate. Because they make it themselves, when they drink it at other places, they understand, "Oh, this is how they make it. That's why it tastes like this." Their awareness of non-alcoholic drinks changes.
We develop drinks with the same care as we prepare food, tasting them together as a team while considering how they pair with dishes to expand our menu. That's the Sonrisa approach to non-alcoholic beverages.
When I'm cooking and think, "What would go well with this?" I end up saying, "Well, let's just try making it." It's that kind of cycle.
Chef Ueda will continue to explore the possibilities of non-alcoholic beverages.
"Having items like Apoptosis that we can't replicate in-house is a huge help for the shop. But we also want to keep making our own creations. Having both expands our customers' choices."
【Chef Ueda's Approach to Creating a Restaurant You'll Want to Visit】
Working backward from the finished image: Approaching plating like architecture or ceramics, we pursue visual "deliciousness" to the utmost. Even our Instagram posts are calculated for "backlighting" and "depth," building anticipation before the first bite.
Designing menus from multiple perspectives:Beyond pursuing perfection in every detail, we strive to create unique menus that satisfy both sight and taste. This involves approaches like expanding ideas from the color palette of ingredients.
Deliberately shifting from the exceptional: By omitting vinegar from the dishes, the acidity of the drinks is calculated to harmonize with the food, creating a progression that makes you crave the next dish, the next bite, and the next sip.
Hospitality through Pricing: Offering non-alcoholic beverages at the same price point as wine or cider eliminates the sense of inferiority for non-drinking customers and demonstrates a welcoming attitude. This creates a balanced relationship where the establishment also maintains profitability.
Creating it yourself and explaining it with passion: By crafting homemade drinks or tasting items alongside staff, the output (explanation) during service becomes infused with passion, and that energy spreads to customers.
【Flowers&Spanish Sonrisa's Apoptosis item】
Sparkling Japanese Tea -Roasted Green- (Hojicha Sparkling)
This new staple bottled tea maximizes hojicha's flavor through roasting and brewing, enhanced with a refreshing foam. Enjoy its layered flavor profile: an elegant, nutty aroma with woody notes, layered with sweet scents reminiscent of red apples and brown sugar. Perfectly pairs with Japanese kaiseki cuisine or teppanyaki dishes.
Sparkling Japanese Tea -Rooibos- (Rooibos Tea Sparkling)
A caffeine-free, body-friendly drink made with rare Rooibos Green, which has limited market availability. Based on Rooibos, it features an aromatic flavor with layers of diverse scents including herbs, blueberry, cranberry, aloe, and yogurt. It pairs well with French and creative cuisine, and is a drink you'll never tire of.
Chef Ueda entered the food and beverage industry with the aspiration of opening a Japanese tea cafe, then chose the path of Spanish cuisine by leveraging his experience in Japanese cooking. His philosophy lives on within Sonrisa's menu, space, team, and non-alcoholic strategy, albeit expressed in different ways.
From 0 to 100 years old. Whether you drink alcohol or not, everyone can enjoy themselves equally at the same table. Sonrisa is a restaurant filled with Chef Ueda's vision: "So that everyone can experience the ultimate comfort."
If you'd like to learn about the latest trends in non-alcoholic beverages or try our recommended drinks, please contact us.
Apoptosis develops, curates, and provides a diverse range of non-alcoholic beverages for hotels and restaurants. Feel free to contact us via the Contact page.
Store Information:
Flowers&Spanish Sonrisa
〒144-0052 3-17-12 Kamata, Ota-ku, Tokyo Tsukada Building 1F Tokyo
Special thanks to Chef Ueda for his cooperation with this interview.
Date of Collection: January 27, 2026
