Takuya Watanabe

The Climb

Training at Traditional kaiseki restaurant, Sapporo, put Takuya Watanabe inside a discipline built on restraint, precision, and the authority of detail. That base still reads in the work: composed, exact, and measured in gesture rather than excess. From there, Watanabe moved into a line of roles that place him in unusually public view: today he is founder and Chef Patron of Jin Paris, Head Chef of Hakuba, Cheval Blanc Paris (since 2024), and Executive Chef and Chef Patron of AMAMOTO.

Today

At Jin Paris, the title Founder and Chef Patron is not decorative. It means Watanabe is writing the restaurant’s identity in Paris, shaping its tone, cadence, and point of view with hands-on control. The role signals both authorship and oversight, and it places the concept squarely under his direction. At Hakuba, that same exactitude is carried through the menu structure. In 2024 he became Head Chef at Hakuba, Paris, France, where the “Yume” menu functions as Hakuba’s omakase menu. The format is deliberate in its progression, and it is offered with supplements such as sea urchin temaki and truffle, while the signature item named for it is caviar temaki. The result is a kitchen language that stays composed while allowing room for indulgence and surprise. Watanabe’s own words fit the same register as the cooking: “Nothing is superfluous. Everything is done in pursuit of the perfect balance of flavours.” The line is precise, almost architectural. But he pairs it with another statement that widens the frame: “Emotion is a universal language.” Taken together, the two lines define the method—control, then feeling.

Signature

Takuya's signature dishes include caviar temaki and Yume. Both point to a style that values clarity over clutter, with presentation, texture, and balance held in deliberate suspension.

In Their Words “This recognition from the MICHELIN guide touches me because it rewards our approach to Japanese culture, which is so unique and powerful.”

Recognition

MICHELIN Guide attention, in Watanabe’s telling, is less about status than about method. “This recognition from the MICHELIN guide touches me because it rewards our approach to Japanese culture, which is so unique and powerful.” Read that way, the recognition confirms a kitchen practice grounded in precision and expression. It also aligns with the work at Jin Paris and Hakuba, where Japanese cuisine is treated as a precise, expressive language rather than a fixed display.