NEW YORK, May 31 — An award that shines the spotlight on up and coming restaurants around the world has named Northern California restaurant SingleThread this year’s "One to Watch.” 

If you haven’t heard of SingleThread yet, you heard it here first. 

With two Michelin stars, membership into the exclusive Relais & Chateaux club, and a four-star review from the San Francisco Chronicle within less than two years of opening, all signs point to a one-way ascent to gastronomic stardom for the husband and wife team. 

The "One to Watch” award comes from organisers of influential World’s 50 Best Restaurants.

For the Japanese-inspired menu, chef Kyle Connaughton uses ingredients plucked straight from their on-site farm, which is overseen by wife Katina. 

Set in Sonoma Wine Country, SingleThread farm and inn brings the flavours, aesthetic and ethos of Japanese cuisine to diners in Healdsburg in Northern California. 

On the farm, Katina grows Japanese eggplant, pumpkins, daikon, and an onion called kujo negi, which Kyle turns into an 11-course kaiseki-inspired tasting course, laced with the distinct Japanese flavors of miso and soy. 

Kaiseki denotes traditional, multi-course Japanese gastronomy. 

"Our philosophy on the food and the way we try to develop our dishes is to not manipulate that too much, all the while preserving those natural flavors that she’s worked so hard on,” Connaught says in a video. 

With a resume that includes posts at Michel Bras restaurant in Hokkaido, Japan, and Heston Blumenthal’s The Fat Duck in Bray, it comes as little surprise that Kyle Connaughton would make such a big impression with SingleThread, so quickly among the gastronomic elite. 

The inn is also modelled after the traditional ryokan, or Japanese-style inn. 

The announcement comes ahead of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants gala event, which takes place next month in Bilbao. — AFP-Relaxnews