Iai by Bruce Ricketts and Jae Pickrell: A deep-dive into the value of details

The couple purposefully designed the dining experience so that guests can only opt for the sushi omakase while dining counter-side, and not at the tables. “A big part of the Iai experience is being able to interact with Bruce. He likes personally serving guests and that kind of direct yet intimate service is something that we have always loved in our eating trips in Japan. That’s why the sushi omakase is only available at the counter and the private dining room. We hope that kappo will be the entry point for many guests Bruce has not yet had the pleasure of serving, and that they will then come back for the sushi omakase later on,” Pickrell tells me. 

Both menus are constantly evolving and are highly dependent on fresh catches, daily produce finds, and chef Rickett’s colourful strokes of creativity. “That means our entire team has to be extremely nimble—from the kitchen team that has to work with recipes on the fly or our front-of-house team, who get the day’s menu only about an hour or two before service, so they have to edit and print menus and memorise everything so quickly,” Pickrell remarks. 

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Ricketts has garnered a reputation for his mastery of flavour, coupled with a level of precision and focus in the kitchen. His impressive skillset continues to turn heads in the F&B space and has gained strength over time as he continues to learn. “I try to approach food through the idea of learning how to best represent the product or ingredients based on the space we’re cooking in, whether it’s a product we’ve used before or a new one. I find that making these small adjustments over time helps me have a better connection with ingredients. So for example, my seasoning style has changed based on my interactions with regular customers, the specific nuances of ingredients that are available to us, and of course also my experience through the years,” he voices. In fact, their love affair with wine has also developed over the years, so diners ought to complement their meal with a tipple or two from Iai’s carefully curated wine list featuring the couple’s favourite Burgundy and grower Champagne finds.

And, it does not stop there. Not only does he form meaningful relationships with diners and emotional connections to the food itself, he also works to forge deep ties with producers. At Iai, Rickets and Pickrell have taken painstaking measures to select their partners and sources. “I think if they share a kind of geekiness and obsession about products, it always makes me want to support and use their products based on their vision. Specialists in their own craft are always my main source of inspiration and ideas, so when I hear how the supplier sources, or the lengths that a farmer or fisherman goes through to secure their items, it motivates me to try my best to do them justice. So being able to work with suppliers who share this energy is the main reason I feel it’s necessary to seek them out myself,” Ricketts says with care. 

While he took the reigns in the kitchen, meticulously moulding each course to best showcase elegant flavours and culinary artistry, Pickrell infused herself into every nook and cranny of the space’s stunning design. 

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“Before Bruce and I started dating and working together, I only ever knew food and restaurants from the table, through my experience as a guest. When Bruce started working in Manila, he didn’t really pay particular attention to the entire dining experience, instead directing all his focus on food. So when we started working together, in many ways it was a great fit—I could fill in the gaps so that he could focus in the kitchen. For me, being Bruce’s business partner and collaborator is a tall order, and it’s through exercising my training as a former lifestyle editor and just a lover of beautiful things in general that I felt I could go toe-to-toe in our line of work,” Pickrell discloses. 

The restaurant dons a sleek grey and black colour palette, with pops of textured light-toned wood, white airy paper lamps, and beautiful linear curvature that creates wonderful movement throughout the space. The muted palette is given much warmth and character from the tasteful mix of texture, from smooth stone to their sharper black walls which are made from banana tree bark and almost look like fish scales. “A key design element we wanted was shou sugi ban, a Japanese technique of charring wood to protect it from the elements. When we visited the design studio of Tisha de Borja-Samson of E. Murio, we saw a panel of this gorgeous material standing in the corner and discovered it was dehydrated discards of banana tree trunks that she painted black and hadn’t used for anything. I absolutely fell in love and asked her to create it for our walls,” Pickrell recounts.

Her vision and dream were brought to life with the help of the interior design group Studio Ong, by sisters Charisse Ong, Coleen Ong, and Melissa Gregorio. “I was very specific with the visual language we wanted to achieve, and they didn’t bat an eye when I gave them a project deck. Our key inspirations were Tatsuro Miki, Axel Vervoodt, Shinichiro Ogata, Martin Margiela, and Junichiro Tanizaki, but the challenge was how to localise these foreign influences in a space where you can experience and feel Filipino warmth, skill, and artistry,” she shares. 

When visiting Iai, I felt how hands-on Pickrell and Ricketts were within their own realms; the clear passion and obsession for this project oozed out of Iai’s every pore. There is no doubt that the couple gave themselves to the restaurant, completely. From the design of the space overall, to details like walls, lighting, chairs, plates, soundtrack and even the bathroom sink and fragrances, these nuances work together to complement Rickett’s food.

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Their stunning array of tableware and vessels used to tell his culinary story further elevates the meal. Unique shapes, delightful textures, and even malleable plates serve an important role in Iai’s tasting menu experience. “Our chopsticks are by Kazuho Shimomoto, an artisan from Kochi prefecture who makes kitchen tools by hand from susudake or smoked bamboo. Our geta, or the ceramic platform for sushi, is made by Gaku Shakunaga, a ceramic artist whose work we fell in love with in Kanazawa. His pieces have this leather-like texture and he was gracious enough to customise these pieces for us. Asato Ikeda is another Japanese ceramicist whose work I encountered in a tea salon in Kyoto, and the proprietor, Toshi-san, commissioned teacups on our behalf,” Pickrell says. 

While much of Iai’s food and interiors are linked to Japan, it was vital for them to incorporate the Philippines into the restaurant. Aside from the E. Murio walls, their delicate pendant lamps are made by a social enterprise called Indigenous, using leatherised abaca paper and piña fibre. "Many guests are surprised to discover that these are Filipino products, rather than Japanese. And of course, I like the little nod to my fashion background with the exposed edge stitching,” Pickrell enthuses.

In fact, even the menu paper stock was meddled with. They worked with Dan Matutina of Plus63 to fine-tune the overall brand and create the menu’s jagged final look. The paper is silky and yet has a unique grain finish, designed asymmetrically to best symbolise the dynamism of Rickett’s cuisine. “I hand-picked this beautifully textured paper stock from Fedrigoni, and asked our printing partner to die-cut it for us. We wanted Iai to be very tactile, so the material considerations funnelled all the way down to our menu and the rock-paper pouch we use for omiyage. I really tried my best to pay attention to the smallest of details and be very intentional in all aspects of the guest experience. It’s how I feel I can match Bruce in our professional relationship,” Pickrell imparts.

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While this could have felt like a lot of pressure, it seems that chef Ricketts’s intensity in the kitchen has served as healthy fodder for the rest of the team. As a chef he is hyperfocused and intuitively creative, allowing his meaningful life encounters to inspire his dishes. “Some of my nigiri, for example, are heavily inspired by one of my favourite sushi shokunins, Amano-san of Tenzushi, who has been such an inspiration in my life and has always been so generous with teaching me. The foie gras sandwich too is always going to be a mainstay in one form or another because I fed Jae a lot of foie when we were dating,” he reveals. 

Reservations may be hard to come by these days, but the Iai experience is worth the wait. Once things get less hectic we can even expect to see an à la carte menu from Iai, but only as a supplement to the sushi and kappo omakase. While many are curious about potential lunch service, Ricketts cheekily states: “I originally wanted to do lunch service but Jae would kill me.”

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