Breathe, a 100% plant-based Japanese restaurant serving vegan maki and sushi

It's not always easy to reconcile your vegan convictions with your insatiable cravings, especially when you're craving Japanese food. If you feel like indulging in maki and sushi while sticking to your vegan diet, fortunately there are solutions in Paris. 

In the Sentier district, the Breathe restaurant has been the headquarters for lovers of Japanese-style vegetarian cuisine for several years. And judging by how full the place is on a Friday night, there's no doubt that word of this great find is spreading among the vegetarian community.

Founded byLaetitia Guedj and Richard Desanglois, this new kind of restaurant takes great care in crafting its recipes. ChefMorvane Gendreau is constantly searching for new flavors, new textures, and new combinations to elevate plant-based cuisine to the same level of sophistication and accessibility as meat-based cuisine.

Local, sustainable, made from French and organic products, Chef Gendreau's cuisine is also designed to be waste-free. A 0% waste activist, she ingeniously uses every part of each product—including stems, peels, and pits. To do this, she confits, smokes, infuses, dehydrates, roasts, and ferments everything that comes into her hands. 

If, looking at these photos, you're wondering if everything isplant-based, the answer is yes! To discover all of Breathe's recipes, the best option is to opt forthe tasting plate, available in the evening and on weekends for €29.50. Very comprehensive, varied, and colorful, it consists of:

• Smoked saltedamame  
• Crispy seitan in panko breadcrumbs with green pepper sauce
• Four uramaki rolls made with orange-marinated tempeh,roasted carrots, raw kohlrabi, Shiatsu squash purée, poppy seeds, Ponzu sauce, and toasted squash seeds
• Four maki rolls with a lupin seafood filling, beetroot carpaccio marinated in rice vinegar, Dulce seaweed sauce, and Chioggia beetroot pickles
• Four maki rolls with a filling of button mushrooms and garlic, breaded seitan, parsley sauce, roasted walnuts, and pickled shallots
• One nigiri with daikon radish glazed with sake, smoked tea sauce
• One tamago nigiri with vegetable omelet, Gochujang sauce
• One nigiri with prune and wasabi sauce

Alternatively, you can choose from the sushi bar menu (but the sushi menu mentioned above is really very extensive!), or pick from the vegan street food options—donburi, ramen with vegetable omelet and soy protein, and crispy seitan that's as sexy as fried chicken. 

To complement the savory menu, the vegan and gluten-free desserts are just as creative: homemade mochi (€5) with pecans, chocolate-peanut butter brownie (€7.50) with or without pear sorbet, or the excellent (and very surprising) white miso ice cream with tahini sauce and sesame nougatine (€8), a must-try.

• To be read
• Vegan restaurants in Paris: our top picks
• Where to eat good sushi in Paris? Our top picks
• Where can you eat exceptional sushi in Paris? Our top addresses for sushi made according to the rules of the art

Finally, the last must-try items are thecocktails by Richard Desanglois, who, in addition to being one of the founders of the establishment, is a trained mixologist. With over 20 years of experience, he creates highly inventive concoctions, including a creamy and enveloping peanut butter cocktail—a truly nostalgic delight.

This test was conducted as part of a professional invitation. If your experience differs from ours, please let us know.