Profiles

Benkay, Novotel Paris Tour Eiffel

The Benkay restaurant in the Novotel Paris Tour Eiffel exemplifies the know-how of the greatest Japanese chefs in Paris. The restaurant’s quality is acknowledged by the most well-respected restaurant guides and is featured in the first edition of the “Guide de la Cuisine Authentique Japonaise” (The guide to authentic Japanese cuisine).
The three chefs at the Benkay – Masao Karasuyama, Taichi Ando and Kenta Kimura – each engineer different culinary adventures: the Washoku (traditional Japanese cuisine), Teppan Yaki (hot plate grills) and Sushi, to the delight of their customers.
When the ACCOR group, the large European hotel group, decided to stop using bluefin tuna, Seafood Choices met two of the chefs, Taichi Ando and Kenta Kimura, the restaurant manager Sylvain Neveu and Christophe Chalessin, the catering manager. The Benkay is the only Japanese restaurant in the Accor group in Europe and 15 percent of their customers are Japanese.

Taichi Ando, Washoku Chef
“I’m from Osaka, Japan. I’ve been working at the Benkay for 13 years now. I came to France when I was 23 and I worked as sous-chef at the Benkay for 7 years. I also spent some time in Mexico. I did a three-month traineeship and then began working in restaurants straightaway.”

Kenta Kimura, Teppan Yaki Chef
“I’m also from Osaka. I joined the Benkay 2 months ago. I studied the culinary arts in Osaka for 2 years and did a 2 month traineeship in Besançon, France.”

Masao Karasuyama, Sushi Chef.
Masao is from Nagasaki, on the island of Kyushu and did his apprenticeship in Japan alongside some of the country’s greatest chefs. A perfectionist, he continues to take training courses in Japan whenever he gets the chance.

Photo - from left to right: Masao Karasuyama, Taichi Ando et Kenta Kimura

1) Which species do you offer your customers?
In France, the variety of species is not as wide as in Japan. We are constantly seeking new species to vary our menus. We work with sea bass (line caught or farmed), brill, sea bream (farmed), salmon (Scottish red label), mackerel, pilchard, sardine, monkfish, swordfish, turbot (wild), scallops (red label), sea urchins, prawns (wild, from Madagascar), crayfish, Breton lobster, amberjack, red mullet and Smooth clams, for example.
Our cuisine requires extra fresh seafood, which we can obtain, but of course, it still has to be transported from the coast to Paris, which means we are faced with some constraints because frozen fish is not suitable for sushi and sashimi. We are constantly trying new things, while bearing in mind that not all species are suited to Japanese cuisine.

2) How do you source your seafood?
As we are part of the Accor group, the group’s procurement team selects suppliers and products according to various criteria (quality, safety, regulations, sustainability etc.). However, as we are the only Japanese restaurant in the group in Europe, we have some flexibility and can also use other suppliers to find alternatives for certain species.
We are very demanding concerning the quality of our products. We put our customers first. Our guests come here for high quality, fresh products.

3) Have you changed your approach to product sourcing in the last few years?
We stopped serving bluefin tuna in February 2010. It was an important species for us and for our customers because of its use in Japanese cuisine. We used between 30 and 40kg (65-90lbs) of fillet per week. We informed our customers of our decision at the entrance to the restaurant. We are trying to replace it with other species, such as Opah (Lampris guttatus) as its flesh is similar, but we have had some problems with obtaining very fresh fish and there was quite a lot of waste. We are still looking for better options

4) How did your customers react to you stopping bluefin tuna?
We had difficulties in explaining our decision to our team, as 80% of our employees are Japanese and the cultural connection to this species is very strong. Also, aesthetic and color are extremely important in Japanese cuisine and taking bluefin tuna out of the equation meant removing the color red from our culinary compositions, which was a problem. This species is particularly difficult to replace, both visually and gastronomically. However, we took the time to explain the situation and now the whole team backs the decision.
Most of our customers understand. Overall, there hasn't been a change in the number of customers. We probably lost a few customers, mainly Japanese people, but we also gained customers who support our sustainable approach.

5) What led you to make these changes?
We wanted our restaurant to focus on two ideals: sustainable development and responsible procurement. We are aware that we serve as an example to our customers and to our suppliers.
It’s up to us to offer customers new experiences. We have a duty to maintain the exceptional quality and diversity of seafood. We want to carry on savoring the delights of the sea, which means we have to take care of them.

Restaurant Benkay
Novotel Paris Tour Eiffel
61 quai de Grenelle
75015 Paris
http://www.novotel.com/gb/hotel-3546-novotel-paris-tour-eiffel/restaurant.shtml
Tel: (+33)1/40582000

Posted in March 2011

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