Esterre by Alain Ducasse welcomes the team from Le Louis XV to Palace Hotel Tokyo on November 6 and 7, bringing a chapter of Kei Kojima’s career back into his kitchen. For two evenings, the chef joins Emmanuel Pilon and pastry chef Sandro Micheli from the three-Michelin-starred restaurant at Monaco’s Hôtel de Paris for an eight-course dinner titled “The spirit of Alain Ducasse.” The connection between the two houses runs through the people cooking: Kei Kojima spent five years at Le Louis XV, including three as sous-chef, before continuing his career in Japan.
That experience helped shape the cooking he brought to Beige Alain Ducasse Tokyo and, since January 2023, to Esterre. Emmanuel Pilon followed another route through the same kitchens, joining Le Louis XV in 2009 before spending eight years exploring naturalité at Alain Ducasse au Plaza Athénée in Paris. He returned to lead the Monaco restaurant in 2022. Their meeting in Tokyo brings those experiences together, with the Japanese ingredients central to Kei Kojima’s cooking alongside the Mediterranean repertoire Emmanuel Pilon continues to develop.
The menu leaves room for both individual dishes and work conceived together. Kei Kojima contributes a warm fugu preparation, while Emmanuel Pilon brings sea anemone with artichoke and caviar; canapés, an amuse-bouche and a meat course are shared creations, followed by a dessert from each restaurant. For Kei Kojima, hosting Le Louis XV means receiving a house he knows from the inside, now with years of cooking in Japan behind him. These two dinners offer an opportunity to see how that experience has carried into his own kitchen.
