The story
Sushi Shunei is a Japanese sushi counter at 3 rue Audran in Paris's 18th arrondissement, holding a 2026 Michelin star. The Le Fooding guide also lists it for 2026. The menu is a single omakase sequence of nigiri, served at a counter facing the chefs.
The counter is one piece of hinoki wood, seven metres long and without knots. Guests sit facing the chefs, which follows the edomae tradition of eating sushi only at the counter. Wood panels folded by the architects Sala Hars and Vorbot wrap the small room, and light from the ceiling falls across them.
Chizuko Kimura, widow of the founder Shunei Kimura, runs the restaurant alongside chef Takeshi Morooka. Morooka has 30 years of sushi experience and previously worked at Ginza Onodera. The omakase moves through fourteen nigiri set on black lacquered wood, from turbot and sea bream to marinated bluefin tuna and eel, then a miso soup made with shrimp heads and shells.
Guests can pair the sushi with sake or with carefully infused teas, often served cold to bring out the umami. The wine list includes organic bottles chosen from several hundred references. Alain Ducasse, a regular guest, created the dessert: roasted tea ice cream with a hazelnut and salted plum paste.
Recognition
Ambience
Details
History
High quality cooking
Located far above sea level, on the steep climb up to Montmartre, this small, elegant wood-clad space lights up a forgotten alley with its virtuous cuisine. Walls and partitions crafted with origami-like precision (folded by the Sala Hars and Vorbot architects) protect the long table and bar behind which master chef Shunei Kimura (ex-Izumi) creates his masterpieces. Here, the omakase menu presents each beast with wild abandon, making them levitate on perfectly cooked rice. In other words, fourteen incredible nigiri served on black lacquered wood: turbot with rich umami notes; bass in a tempest of flavor; sensual pink sea bream; dangerously good amberjack; salmon with mighty omegas; cosmic cuttlefish; thunderous bluefin tuna served plain and marinated in sake and soy sauce; a duo of aristo-fatty toro; mackerel as an ode to the brininess of the sea; a prince charming of a chinchard mackerel; artfully prepared sardine; a torpedo of lacquered eel. Once we’d savored all the sushi, it was time for a miso soup made with shrimp heads and shells, to help the big tuna tartare and chive maki slide down. And to end the meal on a sweet note? Alain Ducasse, who is a loyal customer here, dreamt up a roasted tea ice cream, with a hazelnut and salted plum paste. //
Location
Instagram