Restaurant Blanc Paris (3 Michelin Stars)

It was a short trip. We were only in Paris for a weekend, but we tried our best to soak in the beautiful streets of Paris, savor the city's amazing food, and spend some unhurried time together.

Out of all the meals we had, our dinner at Restaurant Blanc stood out as the most impressive and memorable. It's rare that a majority of the courses of a long tasting menu are "perfect", but I felt that way about this one. I truly, truly enjoyed almost every course of the tasting menu (which, honestly, is rare for me).

A Bit of Background about Chef Shinichi Sato

Born in Hokkaido, Japan, Chef Shinichi Sato trained in Paris at three-Michelin-starred L’Astrance before opening his own restaurant, Passage 53. At Passage 53, he made history as the very first Japanese chef in France to earn two Michelin stars, maintaining them for eight consecutive years.

In 2019, he closed the restaurant and ultimately opened Restaurant Blanc in October 2023. Its rise has been impressively fast, receiving its first Michelin star in 2024, and two stars in 2025.

Che Sato says he first was frawn to France because of his fascination with its ingredients and wine.

Chef Sato says "[m]y journey in France began with a fascination for its ingredients and wine. Twenty-five years on, my commitment to excellence in produce remains unchanged. I live for the art of cuisine and the happiness of those we serve."

The Tasting Menu: Amuse Bouches

As soon as our meal began, we could sense the Chef Sato's distinct personality interwoven into every detail.

Early in the meal, a gorgeous handblown Venetian glass pedestal featuring a flamingo in the center arrived. This gorgeous piece of art served to showcase three delicately crafted amuse-bouches: a "carrot crispy", an crispy onion tart, and on the side, a cold pea soup velouté with lovage.

The Tasting Menu: Some smaller "starters"

Your choice: oyster or wasabi ice cream?!

For the following course, we ordered one of each option: a wasabi ice cream and an oyster ice cream, both topped with generous amounts of caviar.

Oyster ice cream + caviar was a natural combination, and worked well. It briefly reminded me of Thomas Keller's signature dish oysters and pearls.

An Ode to Spring Ingredients

Star of the Show: The Beef Course

It's hard to pick a single "star of the show", as there were so many fantastic dishes leading up to this point. However, the Galician Beef "jamón" was certainly a standout. This dry-aged meat came atop a smoky binchotan grill and was served with Modena balsamic vinegar.

Dessert

Desserts: canelé + chocolate

After Dinner Drinks

Bryan was intrigued by their unique whiskey collection, which included some unusual Japanese whiskeys he had never heard of before. He talked with the sommelier for white some time, learning about the different types (and getting a mini-tasting!).

General Thoughts - Restaurant Blanc Paris

We were indeed very, very impressed by this meal. Chef Sato certainly has a very precise handle on tweaking various flavor combinations, and many of them were brilliant. All of them were good. Chef Sato takes traditional French culinary training, ingredients from around the globe, and his Japanese cooking ethos (along with some Japanese cooking techniques) and combines them into a flawless multi-hour experience.

The individual courses are small yet perfectly composed. I loved how there was no real “main course”, but instead many little bites that each told its own story. I felt satisfied yet not at all too full. At the end of the meal, I felt perfect (and it made me even happier!).

So what kind of food exactly is Blanc's food? Our meal was such a dizzying array of ideas, flavors, ingredients, and cooking styles from all around the world! There was Japanese binchotan, Spanish Gallega beef; a very untraditional lamb "shabu". At the same time, we saw classical French ingredients like butter sauce, freshly baked bread, and caviar, yet they were used in such unconventional ways.

I think what Chef Sato says himself really rings true to me:

"Yet what I seek to express is neither Japan nor France. It is myself. Blanc is the place for that. Working with the extraordinary products of France, I wish to continue developing a cuisine that only I can create."

[source]