He was an untrained cook, but had a refined palate and used fresh herbs to season his dishes, teaching Kono that flavor mixing was not arbitrary, but due to skill.
Without any prior knowledge of French, Kono rented a studio apartment on Rue Vieille-du-Temple,[1] decided to remain in France and married a Japanese journalist, who was based in Paris.
She cooked risottos with Japanese rice, developed a lighter version of the house specialty Norwegian eggs and created a best-seller in the catering department, skewers of scallops with lemongrass.
[2] In 2009, she was recruited to teach at the Alain Ducasse chef's cooking school on Rue de Longchamp in Paris and the following year, Kono opened a bistro, "Benoit", in Tokyo[3] making her permanent home in Japan.
She continued to travel acting as a personal chef for private functions worldwide,[2] wrote food editorials, a guide to Parisian restaurants, and participated in several Japanese cooking shows.