i. Biography
The work attached to Takao Inazawa’s name sits in Japanese-leaning bistro cooking and French-Japanese neo-bistro technique, with Paris as the fixed point. Since 2014, Le Verre Volé has marked the start of that line; Cuisine, which he co-founded in 2019, marks the point where that line became his own. The style is exacting, restrained, and built on control rather than display.
The Climb
At Le Verre Volé in Paris, France, Takao Inazawa worked as chef from 2014, a role that set the terms of his cooking early: rigor, rhythm, and a clear sense of line. The value of that first posting is not in drama but in discipline, where a kitchen can establish how a cook thinks about pace, structure, and restraint. Since 2019, Takao Inazawa has been chef and co-founder of Cuisine in Paris, while also serving as Executive Chef of Le Verre Volé. Those positions sit close to one another for a reason: one is a kitchen of authorship, the other a kitchen of authority. Together they show a career built through steady accumulation of responsibility, with technique kept in service of the plate rather than announced from it.
Today
Today, Takao Inazawa serves as Executive Chef at Le Verre Volé in Paris. The title it returns him to the house that appears at the beginning of his career, now from the position of oversight. He also remains chef and co-founder of Cuisine in Paris. There, his work is identified with Japanese-leaning bistro dishes shaped by French restaurant structure and Japanese restraint. The emphasis is on balance, clean seasoning, and flavors kept legible. It is a style that avoids excess and relies instead on precision, texture, and control. Read together, the two roles give Takao Inazawa’s Paris work a clear outline: one post defines leadership, the other defines authorship. The result is a practice where technique stays visible in the discipline of the cooking, even when it disappears on the plate.
Signature
Takao Inazawa’s signature dishes include cured mackerel with leeks, miso and myoga, tempura veal brains with shiso, crispy fried pigeon spiked with Szechuan peppercorns, smoked bluefin tuna belly with shiso and ajo blanco, and monkfish with a yuzukoshō jus. The common thread is a kitchen working in sharp contrasts: marine richness against herb lift, fry against smoke, delicacy against depth. The plates read as composed and controlled, with each element held in a tight relationship to the next.
Recognition
The clearest recognition attached to Takao Inazawa is the role itself: Executive Chef at Le Verre Volé in Paris. It is the title that places him at the head of that kitchen, and it carries the weight of continuity with the work that began there in 2014. Recognition also comes through Cuisine, where the chef-and-co-founder role gives shape to a French-Japanese neo-bistro language. The smoked bluefin tuna belly with shiso and ajo blanco, and the monkfish with yuzukoshō jus, are the most direct expression of that language in his listed signature work.
Profile updated July 2026
FAQ
Asked of Takao
What is Takao Inazawa's current role?
As of 2026, Takao Inazawa is Executive Chef.
Where did Takao Inazawa work before?
Takao Inazawa's earlier career included Le Verre Volé.
What is Takao Inazawa known for?
Japanese-leaning bistro dishes.
