Japanese star chef moves up in London

1Yu Sugimoto, who led the kitchen at the two-Michelin-star Le Meurice in Paris, will take over as head chef at the Square in London, the French restaurant, Bloomberg reported.

Japanese chefs have made their mark in Paris, where they run some leading French restaurants. But Sugimoto, 35, is a rarity in London. He’s the first Japanese-born chef to take charge at any leading European restaurant in the UK.

“He was a rising star in Paris,” said Marlon Abela, a restaurateur who bought the Square in March. “I love Yu’s approach to cuisine. His philosophy is Japanese and everything is impeccable — there’s a certain Zen-ness to it — but the execution is 100 percent French.”

Sugimoto worked at the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo before moving to France. He spent about nine years at Le Meurice, where he was head chef for more than four years, first under Yannick Alleno and then Alain Ducasse.