9:30 p.m., rue Perronet. Vermilion light, lit candelabras, a booth for two, and some toro ikejime between us. At Ojii, Japan meets the Saint-Germain of endless nights: cuisine by Yuji “Taku” Mikuriya, seventies decor, and caviar.
From the outside, almost nothing: a black facade, a golden sign, just enough to suggest you need to know someone to get in. Inside, Ojii immediately flips the script. Vermilion walls, burr wood, textured mirrors, candlesticks, and intimate booths where conversations feel like they could linger long past midnight. Arthur Cohen and Olivier Leone, alongside architect Will McGrath, envisioned the space as a nocturnal cocoon inspired by the dramatic interiors of the 1960s and 1970s.
Even the sconces tell a story. Olivier Leone took rings designed by Jenna Kaes—inspired by guardians of ancient Chinese tombs—and recast them as bronze masks illuminating the walls. At the entrance, an ikebana whispers of Japan; a few steps further, the decor feels like a Parisian club whose address was lost to time in 1974.
On the plate, Yuji “Taku” Mikuriya continues the play with a decidedly less conventional Japan: ikejime toro and caviar, cream-tossed soba topped with sturgeon eggs, and teriyaki eel crafted with black garlic, umeboshi, and shiso. Ojii was never meant to be a zen retreat. Olivier Leone prefers to describe it as a sort of “Japanese take on Caviar Kaspia.”
Taste
Saint-Germain after dark · Tokyo by night · Rue Perronet · Vermilion · Seventies interiors · Candlelight · Secret clubs · Toro & caviar · Soba à la crème
