Terumitsu SAITO

Chef : 1 restaurant

Presentation

Japanese chef Terumitsu Saito, who has quickly made a name for himself in Paris, opened his restaurant Ortensia in 2022.

Although his parents ran a car company, the teenager planned his career in the kitchen, training himself in French, Japanese and Chinese recipes. "I grew up between the sea and the mountains. So I discovered a wide variety of products that I learned to appreciate and cook."

After trying his hand at interior design and architecture, the young man returned to his first love and began his career with Mikuni, a leading Japanese chef specializing in French gastronomy in Hiroshima. Determined to pursue this path, he set his sights on excellence. He moved to Tokyo and joined the kitchens of chef Yoshihiro Narisawa as chef de partie, then those of Alain Ducasse at the Benoit Tokyo restaurant, under the responsibility of Massimo Pasquarelli.

Totally won over by French gastronomy, Terumitsu Saito moved to France in 2007. In La Rochelle, he joined the brigade at La Suite, the restaurant of Johan Leclerre, Meilleur ouvrier de France, before moving to Paris and Guy Martin's Grand Véfour in 2008.

In 2012, after a stopover at Thierry Marx's Sur Mesure restaurant, he took the helm at Blue Valentine, followed by Pilgrim in 2019. Quickly awarded 2 toques, Terumitsu Saito began to make a name for himself. "In 2022, his project came to fruition under the name Ortensia. Here, the chef offers a culinary journey imagined with respect for Japanese traditions. "My dishes are a blend between the classicism of French cuisine and Japanese techniques."

B. G.