Hakuba - Cheval Blanc Paris

Rating: 17
Author: Gault&Millau

8 Quai du Louvre, 75001 Paris, France

17/20
Prestige Restaurant

BOOK

11 PHOTOS

Location: Paris
Chef: Takuya WatanabeArnaud Donckele
Cooking: Gastronomic | Japanese
Style: Elegant, Exceptional setting, Romantic

Budget (€)

Indicative price per person (excl. drinks)

420 to 450

Gault&Millau's review 2026

17/20

Prestige Restaurant

Under the radiant sky above the Pont-Neuf—and even though the restaurant is on the ground floor and has no view—Hakuba is a true oddity on the Parisian dining scene. Yes, there’s sushi, and master chef Takuya Watanabe has mastered the art to perfection, but the overall signature is further enriched by the creative touches of Arnaud Donckele and Maxime Frédéric—the culinary maestro at Cheval Blanc and his inseparable cousin from Normandy, the pastry chef at the same establishment. This lends unique touches to the unfolding of this captivating journey into a parallel universe—one that is neither Japan nor Paris—featuring edible sauces, culinary acrobatics, immense technical precision, and incredibly inventive desserts, even given the natural sense of being in a different world. After the delightful appetizers—such as a cucumber-ginger dashi— we get down to business, delving into the meticulous exploration of rice, fish, sake, seaweed, cutting techniques, and cooking methods… to the point where even the seasoned traveler might feel a bit overwhelmed by such expertise, explained with both gentleness and scientific precision. The mud crab chawanmushi is a prime example of this perfection of the genre, as is the rather “Donckélian” “eating sauce,” cockles and abalones, the sashimi (sea bream, trout, bluefin tuna) with ponzu soy sauces, the glazed eel with a roasted vegetable broth, and the kombu-marinated lobster with coral powder and seaweed sauce. We catch our breath for the sushi parade, beginning with ikejime-style, aged sea bream and culminating in a superb toro. Next comes a version of tamagoyaki prepared that evening by Chef Donckele himself, featuring anchovy dashi, seaweed, and cuttlefish, along with a few maki rolls, before the desserts created by Maxime in collaboration with pastry chef Hiroshi—highly creative offerings featuring soy and peanut, or all rice. We concluded with a rhubarb mochi and a light and airy nectavigne futomaki, though we were still a bit dazed by the roughly 25 different courses served and explained in just over two hours, around a very understated counter—friendly without being intimate (you’re a meter away from your neighbors), refined and inspiring without being festive, and certainly educational—including the drinks: sake, wine, tea, and other non-alcoholic options.