At the beginning of August 2023, a new address dedicated to Japanese cuisine opened its doors in Paris. Its name? iRASSHAi. With a terrace overlooking the sublime Bourse de Commerce, this concept store, spread over more than 800 m², celebrates the culinary cultures of Japan through a variety of spaces.
Of course, there's the grocery corner, the heart of this new Parisian gourmet spot dedicated to the cuisine of the Land of the Rising Sun. Located in the center of the concept store, you'll find a host of products straight from Japan, including sauces, pickles, noodles, ramen, seaweed, sweet preparations, bagged and bulk rice, spicy condiments, artisanal miso, marinated sardines, salmon sashimi, as well as Japanese eggplant and other vegetables in the vegetable garden.
Not far from there, we enter a rounded room called La Rotonde, dedicated to snacks and other kawaii junk food, including potato chips, Pocky, those famous Japanese cookies, and Ramune lemonades (a soft drink known for its distinctive bottle, sealed with a glass ball that acts like a cork). In short, cutting-edge products for connoisseurs and great discoveries for novices and the curious.
If some of these products and their packaging leave us in the dark, don't panic, as each product is accompanied by a label explaining what it is. Recipes and tips are also available in store, and on the iRAISSHAi website for budding cooks. Another highlight of the concept store? On-site cooking classes in the studio!
A stone's throw from the grocery store, the venue features the very tableware used at iRAISSHAi.
The tour continues with Café Kissaten. Open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday to Friday and from 9 a.m. on weekends, this café is the perfect place to start the day sipping hot and cold beverages, including green Sencha, Hojicha and Genmaicha teas, as well as iced teas, infusions, lattes (matcha latte, hojicha latte) and classic coffees. Opposite, iRAISSHAi has set up a takeaway counter serving salmon onigiri and torikatsu sando. In the evening, Café Kissaten gives way to the Sakaba bar, offering Japanese cocktails - with or without alcohol - as well as the inevitable sake... a selection embodied by MOF Christophe Davoine.
To fill your belly, head for the Cantine Shokudo, open non-stop from lunch to dinner. What's on the menu? Authentic, modern Japanese cuisine with popular specialties interpreted by chef Chihiro Yamazaki. For example, try " Teishoku " with teriyaki chicken or salmon, or " Kare Raisu ", a Japanese curry made with meat or vegetables, wrapped in a thick sweet or spicy sauce and served with rice or noodles. La Cantine Shokudo also offers the original " Matcha Soba " made with buckwheat noodles and matcha!
Finally, iRAISSHAi unveils the Biwan bistronomic table in the basement. To be discovered soon, this place, which is both intimate and refined, offers plates created in the purest Tokyo izakaya tradition, and again imagined by chef Chihiro Yamazaki.
Behind this new address, sure to appeal to fans of Japanese cuisine and flavors, are Xavier Marchand (who lived in Japan for six years) and Thierry Maincent (president of the Japan Experience travel agency). Together, the two entrepreneurs wanted to create a place that was both relaxed and contemporary, in the image of what they know of Japan and couldn't find in Paris. On the decor side, Xavier and Thierry enlisted the help of Franco-Japanese duo Hugo Haas and Yusuke Kinoshita, who came up with raw materials to reflect the codes of contemporary Japanese design.
Visit iRAISSHAi now to discover this concept store, where Japanese cuisine in all its forms is given pride of place!
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