Born and raised in Okayama, Japan, chef Terumitsu Saito cut his teeth in multiple Michelin-starred restaurants in Tokyo before first making his mark on the Parisian culinary scene in 2007. Saito recently gathered a team to spearhead Ortensia, a jewel catering to just over twenty select tables a stone’s throw from the Trocadéro plaza in Paris. CUT design and architecture studio selected an elegant and refined decor, blending French style with manifold influences in order to fully encapsulate how this discrete chef’s talent manifests in gastronomy that is as subtle and meticulous as it is poetic.

The challenge with Ortensia was to create a location at the crossroads of two distinct cultures reflecting chef Terumitsu Saito’s culinary signature. French and Japanese influences blend effortlessly in the presence of shoji screens, neutral and warm tones, natural oak furniture, acoustic fabric curtains, and plaster styled from textured clay.

Behind the grand glass facade, Ortensia’s tables are nestled in an intimate setting just beyond a wooden screen bearing resemblance to a towering forest brimming with slender oak tree trunks. Curvaceous lines throughout the restaurant invite a softness to the space that envelops the culinary experience. Bench seats crafted from supple leather wind in front of arakabe plaster side walls that unfold into subtly quilted carpet while the LED ribbon trim on the benches bathe the room in indirect light.

The introduction of contemporary details to the restaurant’s sleek and elegant building materials conveys the finely honed expertise exhibited in Saito’s gastronomic cuisine. Whether suspended in mid air or placed as center pieces, futuristic lighting elements add an expected twist. The coat check and china cabinet vanish in a spherical composition formed by thin blades of brushed stainless steel while mirrors fixed to the upper part of the wall sculpt the space in the same manner as these refreshing and airy, yet meticulous and exquisite dishes.

Team:

Architect: CUT Architectures

Photographer: CUT Architectures