Ogata

Star designer-restaurateur Shinichiro Ogata, who has already been praised for his spots in Tokyo (including the extraordinary restaurant Yakumo Saryo), has Paris abuzz at this hôtel particulier in the center of the Marais neighborhood. The pitch? An immense lifestyle temple meticulously styled with an insane atrium (walls whitewashed with shikkui plaster, doors decorated in copper), a boutique space (ceramics, pastries, infusions – but they’ll cost you a pretty penny!), a venerable sabō on the ground floor (for a near mystical tea ceremony), a secret bar upstairs, plus a restaurant with plenty of wood and concrete details. The day we went for lunch, we savored an ultra-graphic but rather frugal prix-fixe menu, hopscotching from: a sublime bento to start – bass sashimi, grilled salmon, a kaki/sesame cream combo, amberjack jelly, cauliflower tofu or even grilled eggplant with shiso; after a short wait, some sizzling chicken followed (plus the liver and gizzards!), bubbling away in a thrilling broth with chard, tofu and shiitakes served in an oven dish and completed by a masterful Japanese omelet – which we sprinkled with soy sauce from the bell-shaped pourer designed by the master himself; before a charming matcha blancmange with green tea pigment for the imperial finale. It’s worth noting that the house also serves other, even more expensive, prix-fixe menus at night for lovers of zen bling bling. // Aïtor Alfonso