Marie Akaneya – Paris's first sumibiyaki, grilled table-side

Marie Akaneya sits behind a plain wooden façade on a quiet stretch of rue Godot-de-Mauroy, steps from La Madeleine, where the refined Kyoto aesthetic reaches right down to the inuyarai screen that hints at the calm waiting inside. It is Paris's first sumibiyaki restaurant, the Kyoto style of charcoal barbecue grilled piece by piece at the table, and the first address outside Japan ever licensed to serve meat from Ito Ranch, the most decorated farm producing Matsusaka beef. It is selected in the MICHELIN Guide. The restaurant belongs to the Akaneya group, founded by Ignasi Elías and chef Chiho Murata after Elías discovered a small sumibiyaki tavern in Kyoto; their first European address opened in Barcelona in 2011, Madrid followed in 2020, and Marie Akaneya opened in Paris in May 2023 as the group's third house and its first outside Spain.

01The room and the setting

Inside, two hushed rooms hold eight custom-made barbecue tables, a tatami mat and paper lamps, set against noble materials kept deliberately spare: wood, iron and clay. The design is the work of chef Chiho Murata working with studio C97, built on Japanese minimalism rather than ornament, so that nothing in the room competes with the grill sunk into the centre of each table.

Chopsticks arrive marked with each diner's own name, and at the centre of the table waits the sumibi, the charcoal fire itself, lit before the meal begins. The coals are Kishu binchōtan shipped from Wakayama, brought to a precise, near-white heat that the staff tend throughout service.

02The chef

Marie Akaneya is led by chef Justin Leblond, born in 1992 in the Paris region, who trained at Château des Coudraies and at EPMTTH in Paris under the mentorship of a disciple of Auguste Escoffier. That grounding in classical technique and respect for tradition has carried him through more than seventeen years of kitchens in France and abroad, including spells in Los Angeles and Canada, before he turned his training toward fire, timing and the particular discipline of Japanese sumibiyaki at Marie Akaneya.

Insider tip

Ring the bell to enter; book ahead, minimum two guests per tasting menu.

03The cooking

Dinner opens quietly: roasted edamame kept warm over its own small pot of charcoal, then a bowl of miso soup holding a single tender scallop, and a slice of golden, crisp tonkatsu pork loin. The wagyu arrives next, sliced thin enough to colour in seconds on the grill, its marbling turning buttery the instant it meets the binchōtan.

On the house's higher tastings, the sequence moves from rumsteak, known here as ichibo, through the richer zabuton no tataki, building toward the centrepiece: Ito Ranch's Matsusaka Beef A5 BMS12, the grade the Japanese themselves keep for their most important meals. Wagyu, Omi and Matsusaka can all appear across one evening, a trio of Japan's most prized beef rarely found together outside the country itself.

04What to order

The menu runs in three tiers. The Akaneya Menu is a sumibiyaki tasting of five cuts of Japanese wagyū and Kobe Beef. The Matsusaka Menu climbs to six cuts of Matsusaka Beef A5 with a portion of Fukuroi's Crown Melon. At the top sits the Matsusaka–Ito Ranch Menu: six cuts of Ito Ranch's own Matsusaka Beef A5, including the A5 BMS12 tenderloin, with a whole Crown Melon shared between two diners. All three tastings are priced per person for a minimum of two guests.

05Wine and drinks

The cellar carries a notable sake list alongside its wines. Pairings are chosen dish by dish to stand up to the richness of the beef without masking it, and each table is built with cut-outs that keep water and sake chilled and well away from the heat of the coals.

06The neighbourhood

Marie Akaneya stands a short walk from the church of La Madeleine, on a quiet side street in the 9th arrondissement better known for discreet addresses than grand terraces; the nearest métro stop is Madeleine. The restaurant opens every evening from Tuesday to Sunday, with an added Saturday lunch sitting. Reservations are essential and tables are held for fifteen minutes past booking time; bookings run from two to a maximum of four to six guests, and the kitchen does not offer a vegetarian, vegan or fish-based alternative to its wagyu-led menus, though allergies and intolerances can be accommodated with advance notice.

For a weekend. For a lifetime.