6 September 2026, Karuizawa Prince Shopping Plaza. On the lawn, we put up two RUSTIC TENTs.
On 6 September 2026, at Karuizawa Prince Shopping Plaza, we catered a lunch party at which an Italian supercar maker welcomed its owners. THE BASE x RUSTIC handled everything: tents, tables and materials for 80, plus food, drinks and decoration.
Host | An Italian supercar maker (owners' lunch party)
Date | 6 September 2026
Venue | Karuizawa Prince Shopping Plaza
Guests | 80
Our role | Set-up (tents, tables, materials), grazing table, course meal, drinks, decoration
Key facts
Lunch for 80 owners of an Italian supercar brand on the lawn at Karuizawa Prince Shopping Plaza, 6 September 2026.
Two RUSTIC TENTs (18 m x 8 m and 14 m x 8 m) joined into one space. THE BASE x RUSTIC handled set-up, food, drinks and decoration.
Aperitivo at a grazing table of Shinshu cheese, fruit and herbs; the main was Shinshu salmon, about ten fish roasted whole one by one.
Every drink was alcohol-free because guests drove in: a forest soda with katsura-leaf cordial, and a zero-proof gin and tonic with ukogi tonic.
Herbs and plants were harvested for the day at a friend's farm in Karuizawa.
Team: space Sayuri, chef Mizuno, grazing table Kaori, drinks Han.
Before deciding what to serve
RUSTIC TENT | We joined two tents, 18 m x 8 m and 14 m x 8 m, and designed the layout.
The first question wasn't "what should they eat?" but "what kind of time should people who drove all the way to Karuizawa have at their destination?"
"Lay out expensive ingredients and you can make a special dish. But that alone isn't a reason to eat it here, today." - Chef MIZUNO
Rather than bringing restaurant food outdoors as it is, we made "eating outside" part of the dish. The lunch was built on that idea.
APERITIVO | First, gather around one landscape
The whole table becomes a Karuizawa landscape.
The first thing to greet guests wasn't food at their seats, but one big table spread with Shinshu cheese, fruit, nuts, crackers, herbs and drinks.
Grazing Table
Using the table as a canvas, we place food and plants like paint. Not evenly: we create density, space and height, and eucalyptus and herbs spill beyond the table's edge. It is a landscape that looks cut out of Karuizawa's nature.
But it isn't a work to be looked at. Pick a drink. Take some cheese. Grab some fruit. Offer something to someone. And start talking.
APERITIVO Video
Creator KAORI
Gathering around a big spread of food, reaching out and sharing with someone. A grazing table is a modern style, but the act is very primal. In a refined space, we deliberately bring back that primal act of eating. That was the entrance to the lunch.
Each time someone reaches out, the landscape falls apart a little and becomes something else. The traces of the time people spent there remain. That is how this table is completed.
First glass | Katsura and abura-chan forest soda
Cordial made from fallen katsura leaves, topped with spring-water soda from Mount Asama.
A drink of fallen leaves
With the aperitivo, we served a cordial made from the fallen leaves of katsura, Karuizawa's signature tree, topped with spring-water soda from Mount Asama. It smells sweet and toasty, like caramel and nuts. Stir it with the abura-chan twig placed as a muddler, and a fresh, citrus-like, spicy aroma rises from the branch. Inside each wine glass, a single katsura leaf turned yellow and brown. A first glass like a forest landscape sealed inside.
Beverage Designer HAN
The guests that day had driven their own cars to Karuizawa. So we built every drink alcohol-free: not as a substitute for alcohol, but as glasses you can only drink in this place.
COURSE | Making the supporting cast the star
"Choose for yourself, reach out for yourself": that way of eating continued into the course once guests took their seats.
HORS-D'ŒUVRE Homemade Shinshu salami / Tart of vegetable cream and honey caviar
Giving vegetables and honey, usually in a supporting role, a moment as the star. The honey is made into tiny pearls that pop like caviar. Not adding something expensive, but changing slightly how we see everyday ingredients: that is where the course began.
SALAD Grilled Shinshu vegetables to eat by hand / Shinshu cheese and naturally leavened bread
Here we ask guests to put down their knife and fork. Tear the bread. Take the vegetables. Pair them with cheese. The warmth of the grilled vegetables, the smell of the bread, the salt of the cheese, even the texture at your fingertips. A slightly free salad, eaten under the tent in the breeze, possible only outdoors.
SOUP Chilled corn potage without a drop of water
Only corn and salt. No water, milk or cream: just the corn's own moisture. A speciality Mizuno has made for many years.
Taking things away can make the ingredient itself stand out. That idea runs through the whole meal this time.
- Mizuno
THE SALMON | A bunch of herbs is a cooking tool too
Shinshu salmon with a bouquet of herbs. Guests used this bouquet to froth the broth.
At the centre of the day was Shinshu salmon, roasted whole. Working back from how the guests' meal was progressing, we roasted about ten fish, one at a time, each stuffed with lemon, garlic and plenty of herbs.
We combine brown butter and lemon, use the bundled herbs themselves as a brush, and roast and baste, roast and baste, layering on from the outside the richness and aroma that Shinshu salmon lacks as it cooks.
The roasted fish
We don't carve the salmon right away. Still wrapped in heat, it is carried among the guests and left to rest quietly in front of them.
"Cooking doesn't end when it comes off the fire. Resting is part of cooking too." - Mizuno
The final touch is in the guest's hands
We portion the well-rested fish, add a warm broth made from the salmon, and hand each guest a small bouquet of herbs. Using the bouquet like a tea whisk, they froth the broth as if making tea. Whisking in air and the aroma of fresh herbs, the broth becomes their own sauce.
Chef MIZUNO
We pass a small part of the cook's work to the person eating. Not a big show, but an experience that grows out of the cooking itself.
Not just the dish eaten at the destination, but the memory of "spending that kind of time, there." This time, we consider all of that to be the food.
Second glass | Mount Asama alcohol-free gin and tonic
Alcohol-free gin and tonic
With the main, we served an alcohol-free gin and tonic: ukogi (Eleutherococcus) tonic syrup topped with Mount Asama spring-water soda, layered with aromatic distilled water drawn from lemon peel and herb stems. The same Karuizawa herbs as in the bouquet are in this glass, in drinkable form. Ukogi's distinctive bitterness and the softness of the spring water cleanly wash away the richness of the salmon.
In the glass sits a juniper branch, and only one-eighth of the rim carries a very light lemon salt. Drink from the salted side or the clear side? Even within one glass, guests can choose.
Look, choose, touch, share, create, eat
From the first grazing table to the final plate, the day had one flow.
LOOK → CHOOSE → TOUCH → SHARE → CREATE → EAT
Guests aren't just people who are served food; they become participants who complete the meal with us. SAYURI, who directs the space, watched over the whole so that the cooking and the grazing table moved as one lunch.
Decoration with plants at their most vigorous
All the herbs used that day, and the plants that decorated the space and the grazing table, were grown in Karuizawa. We harvested them for the day at our friend's farm, Duca Farm. In the kitchen, a bunch of herbs becomes the brush that roasts the salmon. At the table, a bunch of herbs flavours your own sauce.
Decoration Director SAYURI
We expressed in the space the energy of plants at their most seasonal and vigorous. The plants are grown without pesticides on a friend's farm, and we aimed for a design that uses them across food, drinks and space.
MENU
APERITIVO Grazing table / Katsura and abura-chan forest soda
HORS-D'ŒUVRE Homemade Shinshu salami / Tart of vegetable cream and honey caviar
SALAD Grilled Shinshu vegetables to eat by hand / Shinshu cheese and naturally leavened bread
SOUP Chilled corn potage without a drop of water
MAIN Whole-roasted Shinshu salmon / Salmon broth and herb bouquet / Mount Asama alcohol-free gin and tonic
DESSERT Red-jewel kohakuto / Black citrus mousse
FAQ
Can you serve a seated outdoor course for 80?
Yes. For this lunch we joined two RUSTIC TENTs to seat 80. We can provide tents for up to 500 guests.
Can the drinks be all alcohol-free?
Yes. Guests drove in, so every drink that day was zero-proof.
Can you handle allergies or vegan guests?
Yes. Let us know the numbers and details when you enquire.
How much does it cost?
Grazing table from 10 guests, minimum ¥100,000; full course from 10 guests, from ¥15,000 per person; mobile bar from 15 guests, from ¥6,000 per person. All prices exclude tax. Staff, travel, rentals and service charge are quoted separately for your guest count and venue. See Catering & Mobile Bar for details.
TEAM
Space direction: Sayuri
Food: Mizuno
Grazing table: Kaori
Drinks: Han
Herbs: Duca Farm
Set-up & operation: THE BASE & RUSTIC
Planning a similar event?
Brand owner events, test drives, seated outdoor lunches: even if the venue has no facilities, talk to us. From putting up the tents to food, drinks and decoration, one team does it all.