Author: La Team Thélème

For the start of the new school year, our sommelier Félix Manenti offers you two original combinations to compliment the cheeses of the famous Alsatian master refiner Bernard Antony.

TO DISCOVER NOW ON THE MENU ☆ Acajou, a Cantal cheese made from Salers milk ☆ Fresh soft goat cheese, made from raw milk, matured by chef Yoshi with cherry leaf

Did you know that in artisanal barbecue circles it is said that Japan produces the best charcoal in the world?

Produced from holm oak, BINCHOTAN is a very hard, slow-burning charcoal that gives very high heat (with temperatures reaching 540°C!). The embers of this charcoal give off no odor and impart no flavor to the food., making it highly prized by Japanese chefs.

Our chef Yoshitaka Takayanagi loves it and loves to transmute the wonders of our terroirs on Japanese BBQ with porcini mushrooms, lobsters, octopus…

Yoshitaka Takayanagi has officiated at La Scène Thélème since 2019. Explore his background and his inspirations

From Mount Fuji to Paris

A native of the Mount Fuji region, Chef Yoshitaka Takayanagi studied in Japan at the prestigious TSUJI Culinary School. In 2007, he settled in France to discover the classics of French gastronomy. Driven by the desire to excel, he worked throughout his career with great French chefs such as Guy Martin (Grand Vefour***), Yannick Alléno (Pavillon Ledoyen***), and Alain Ducasse (Le Meurice**).

Terroir mon amour,

It was in contact with these great masters that he honed his admirable techniques and fell in love with French terroir. Chef Yoshitaka is now ready to create and share his own culinary vision: a pure, minimalistic experience, with a simple and clear ethos— a devotion to the richness of the products he uses. Today, Yoshitaka Takayanagi takes over the kitchens of La Scène Thélème where, in harmony with the seasons, he shares with you the best of the French terroir.

A huge crush

“I fell in love with the man and his cuisine,” says Jean-Marie Gurné, Founder of La Scène Thélème, of Yoshitaka. “His cooking is very elegant with a rare sense of the balance of flavors and a subtle mastery of cooking. It combines Japanese and French cultures and reflects his personality. By getting to know him, I find in him finesse and sincerity, modesty and a desire for perfection.”

For the decor, La Scène Thélème gave carte blanche to visual artist Johnny Lebigot. Suspended from the walls and from the ceilings … discover the enchanting universe imagined by this engaging contemporary artist. Inspired by the pure, airy cuisine of Yoshitaka Takayanagi, Lebigot presents a series of fascinating, spider-like installations.

– Through the Seasons

Seasonal encounters are at the center of Johnny Lebigot’s exhibitions and installations. At La Scène Thélème, his creations return to the botanic realm with Corine Miret, actress, and Isabelle Duthoit, clarinetist, with whom he presented Khady Demba, one of Marie N’Diaye’s “Three Powerful Women.” For it, he had drawn “a polysemic landscape with coves for travel, ramifications to probe the heavens, shadows cast to dive…” He had hung up a few hollyhocks, in memory of those flowers that rise up and brave the sun and the wind. “The petals trembled with the breaths of his companions and reminded us of the patterns of clouds when they come alive in the heart of distant markets…” It was an installation that let the spectator wander, without circumscribing the action. When in December 2019 Jean-Marie Gurné and Yoshitaka Takayanagi approached to him to provide La Scène Thélème with its decor, Lebigot sought a symbiotic connection with Yoshitaka’s cuisine by creating emphasis over decoration — a variation, a gesture in suspension, quick to transform over the seasons and able to fade away.

–Biography of the Artist

“Born in Normandy, in the Mont Saint-Michel region, Johnny Lebigot studied literature in Caen at the end of the ‘90s. During that time, he wrote and collected plants and even went so far as to combine these two practices in “Brins of History,” an unpublished tale which was woven from grass. At the age of 23, in conjunction with his sculpture work, this French chanson enthusiast went on to become a Cultural Programmer in Stains, where he developed works around improvised music and devoted a place for exhibitions. In 2003, he joined the team of the Théâtre L’Échangeur in Bagnole, of which he is currently Co-Director, and initiated with Régis Hebette a program around innovative forms. In 2005, at the invitation of a painter friend and film decorator who was moved by his astonishing collection, Johnny Lebigot imagined his first table entitled “La Nature et l’absence.” Since then, his work has seen multiple exhibitions (about 15 to date) and in many disciplines: sculpture, installation, and performance. His poetic works are centered on a search for forms and on the confusion of kingdoms.” (Extract from the Festival D’Avignon website. Complete article: https://festival-avignon.com/fr/artistes/johnny-lebigot-9085)

For regular customers, Chef Yoshi is offering a new menu this fall, entitled “Ferme Yamashita.” For it, he cooks the exceptional vegetables of three-star market gardener Asafumi Yamashita.

If you haven’t heard of him, this famous grower only works with a few chefs whom he meticulously selects for their love of vegetables and their talent for sublimating them. And, since this year, Yoshitaka Takayanagi, is one of those privileged few. With these natural treasures, Yoshi has imagined a largely plant-based menu while honoring his Japanese roots. Come and discover this authentic experience where vegetables from the Yamashita Farm, located in the Yvelines, are cooked only twenty-four hours after their harvest at maturity

À la carte from September 2020 – La Scène Thélème The “Ferme Yamashita“ menu can be booked for two people at least 24 hours in advance

► 7-COURSE YAMASHITA FARM MENU: €135 For any reservation of the Yamashita Farm Menu, a jar of honey from the Farm is offered to you for two people (250g)

Menu designed by Yoshitaka Takayanagi Basil sorbet, smoked black tea infusion, Japanese variety tomato salad Eggplant marinated in Japanese dashi, sautéed peppers Corn tempura and chanterelle mushrooms, old mimolette Rice cake and Yamashita vegetables according to availability, Chinese cabbage and shiitake broth Steamed bass, salad and marinated sardines, onion vinaigrette Pumpkin cream with vanilla, lime sorbet Yoshi-style vine peach Chocolate soufflé tartlet, vanilla ice cream Depending on the availability and the vegetables being picked at maturity, the menu above may evolve according to the inspiration of the Chef.