Japanese sake maker Asahi Shuzo plans to open a shop in Paris next year in collaboration with French chef Joel Robuchon.
It will have a bar featuring Dassai sake, with Robuchon overseeing a restaurant that will pair the rice wine with French cuisine.
It is rare for a domestic sake brewery to open a shop overseas.
Visiting Tokyo, Robuchon said that Dassai – made in Iwakuni, Yamaguchi prefecture – goes well with his dishes.
“We want to attract people who do not have any particular interest in Japan,” says Asahi Shuzo president Kazuhiro Sakurai about the restaurant venture. ‘We hope to expand the scope of Japanese food and blend it with local culture.”
Asahi Shuzo and Robuchon will jointly manage the Paris restaurant. The sake maker originally planned to open an outlet in the French capital two years ago.