Those who make ERH
The restaurant ERH team
Chef
Ryuichi Utsumi
Trained in Osaka and then in France, Ryuichi Utsumi brings together the fundamentals of French cuisine and Japanese umami — dashi broths, miso sauces, touches of whisky and sake. A dual culture that gives his plates a singular elegance, between Japanese precision and the generosity of French terroir.
The chef builds every menu like a story: around a single ingredient, declined through successive variations, he weaves a thread the guest rediscovers from one course to the next. This exploration is matched by great technical skill, put to the service of original textures — going as far as reinventing the very matter of the ingredients he works with.
“Bringing my own sensibility, by creating variations around a single ingredient that runs through the menu like a common thread.”
Pastry Chef
Hazuki Okuno
Hazuki Okuno draws on French classics — choux pastry, chantilly cream, meringue — to elevate them with Japanese ingredients: black soybean, yuzu, kinako. Her desserts, pared-back and exactingly balanced, are always built around a central ingredient: a pear poached in elderflower syrup, a chocolate millefeuille with candied citrus.
Her collaboration with Nikka Whisky gave rise to “A Winter in Hokkaidō,” a signature yule log that captures her way of bringing the two repertoires into dialogue — the rigour of French pastry and the finesse of Japanese flavours.
Director
Valentin Portel
Having worked at several fine dining addresses before joining ERH, Valentin Portel runs the dining room with the same rigour that drives the kitchen. His deep knowledge of sake and Japanese whisky makes him the natural guide between the chef's menu and the pairings offered at the table.
Attentive to the rhythm of every service, he makes sure the ERH experience extends beyond the plate — in the care given to every table, down to the choice of the last glass.
Sake Sommelière
Maho Tanabe
Born in Kōshū, the birthplace of Japanese wine, Maho Tanabe discovered sake through her region's brewers. She later joined WAKAZE — first in Tokyo, then in Paris, where she ran the 5th arrondissement bar for several years.
Sake sommelière at ERH since 2025, she builds the pairings between the chef's cuisine and the sake selection, taking care to convey not only a flavour but the story and creativity behind each producer.