The Fungus That’s Transforming Charcuterie and Cocktails

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The Chefs Experimenting With Japanese Koji

Koji, the mold that transforms soy beans and wheat into soy sauce and rice into sake, is so beloved in Japan that it has its own holiday. And lately, chefs have been finding new uses for the fungus, which has a fruity aroma and an ability to make “anything it touches better,” says Jeremy Umansky, 41, the owner of Larder deli in Cleveland. He uses koji for almost everything: to cure pastrami; to ferment Chinese-style black beans, which are ground and swirled into chocolate babka to embolden the chocolate; and to sprinkle over salads and fries in the form of what the restaurant calls Special K, a seasoning of dried ground koji. “It’s a harmonizer,” he says. Bartenders, too, are taking note. At Nancy’s Hustle in Houston, the bar manager, Zach Hornberger, 32, adds it to the nonalcoholic Silver Brining cocktail, a sweet-sour-salty mix of pickle brine, grapefruit and lime juices, koji and tonic. “It brings this umami background to beverages, and it plays well with citrus, taming the high acid notes and rounding the drink as a whole,” he says. At the restaurant Fête in Honolulu, the bar manager, Fabrice McCarthy, 41, infuses rum with shio koji (a slurry of koji, water and salt) and shakes it into a mai tai to add salinity — the effect, he says, is similar to how salted peanuts make you want to drink more beer. Ryan Chetiyawardana, 40, the owner of the bar Lyaness in London, experiments with koji in multiple forms — for one cocktail, he ferments parsnips with koji, which he says unlocks the sweetness and delivers “a huge tropical brightness.” While koji often plays a supporting role, at Paradiso in Barcelona, it wraps around the entire lip of the glass used for the Fleming, named for Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of penicillin, another influential mold. For this fungus-inspired cocktail, which includes grapefruit, tequila and miso, the manager of Paradiso’s research lab, Matteo Ciarpaglini, 30, one-upped a classic salt rim with a fluffy cloud of koji, its floral fragrance accompanying every taste. — Martha Cheng

The French Artist JR’s Over-the-Top Train Carriage, Complete With a Treasure Hunt

When the French artist JR, 41, was growing up in the suburbs of Paris, trains were both a connection to the city and a source of creative education. “I first discovered graffiti looking out the window [of one],” he says. So when the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express — the luxury railroad offering journeys through Europe — asked him to design one of its carriages in 2021, he was immediately inspired. Over the next three years, he mapped out every detail of L’Observatoire, a private sleeper carriage launching in March 2025. The just under 400-square-foot space holds a bedroom, a lounge area with bean-shaped sofas, a 1,000-volume library and a tearoom with a fireplace and oversize skylight. He also collaborated with artisans to create features like the stained-glass wall in the bedroom and the intricate marquetry that lines the walls. The artist, who says that “hiding things has always been a joy for me,” also concealed secrets throughout the carriage. The tearoom is only accessible via a camouflaged door in the library, for example, and — tucked away on the bookshelves — guests will find a small replica of L’Observatoire, inside of which a video shot by JR runs on a loop. “The film lasts for hours, but if you happen to be watching at a certain point, you might see a woman writing something on a piece of paper,” he says. “When she places it against the window, it enables you to read the title of a book.” Locate that volume in the library, and inside you’ll find a paper with another clue, kicking off a treasure hunt. One secret drawer contains a camera loaded with film that JR shot. If you find it, he says, “you can keep it, develop the film and own the photos.” His goal: to create “a magic carriage” where guests might be inspired to get in touch with their own creativity. “You dream much better in motion,” he says, “while watching the landscape go by.” Price on request, belmond.com/venice-simplon-orient-express. — Gisela Williams