André Fu-Designed SÉZANNE Opens in Tokyo

SÉZANNE, a new culinary hotspot serving haute cuisine by chef Daniel Calvert, opens at the Four Seasons Hotel Tokyo at Marunouchi, with intimate contemporary interiors by Hong Kong designer André Fu

With interiors by Hong Kong-based designer Andre Fu, SÉZANNE, the new restaurant at the Four Seasons Hotel Tokyo at Marunouchi, offers a serene retreat from the urban tempo of the Japanese capital. Here, bullet train views, innovative French cuisine and soft-edged contemporary decor in a pastel palette of mineral blues, silver greys and dusty pinks strikes just the right balance between elegant and intimate.

The seventh-floor corner restaurant, which overlooks part of Tokyo Station, was designed by Fu in collaboration with award-winning British chef Daniel Calvert. ‘For over 18 months, I worked closely with Chef Daniel to provide a space that was highly sensory in terms of colours and textures, creating the perfect showcase for his food, which is French haute cuisine,’ Fu explains. ‘Tokyo station is a very busy neighbourhood, so I was keen to provide an escape from it, a space that is intimate, elegant and relaxed.’  

Fu says that above all, he didn’t want it to be a ‘predictable formal French dining environment’. Rather, the space needed to be ‘authentic, yet welcoming and cosy to complement the theatre provoked by the refined cuisine.’ The end result, which replaces the previous Fu-designed restaurant MOTIF, is a sanctuary of curvilinear lines, poetic pastel tones and quality craft, with minimalist hints of Japan.

Light-toned chairs with softly curved edges sit alongside white leather-topped round tables (by Andre Fu Living), alongside swathes of matte eucalyptus wood and traditional Japanese mud paint plus panels of delicate French Lelièvre silk. Decorative touches emerge in sculptural pendant lighting, crafted from solid cast textured bronze and glass, while hints of Japan appear in the Zen garden sand-like motifs that flow across the hand-tufted Andre Fu Living carpet. The interior landscape is anchored by a central decanter station, carved from a block of white Carrara marble. 

Highlighting his favourite detail, Fu — also behind the adjacent new bistro-style restaurant MAISON MARUNOUCHI — says that he is particularly proud of the feature kitchen at the rear of the dining room. ‘It offers diners an intriguing window into the culinary world of Chef Daniel and allows a strong visual connection with the cooking process from the dining room itself.’ 

For Calvert, whose ever-changing innovations currently include Okinawa corn sourdough with Normandy butter, and Shiranuka venison with Akita blackcurrant sauce — it’s a space that perfectly melds with his cuisine. ‘The kitchen is a focal point but I didn’t want it to be a stage, it’s very discreet,’ says the chef, formerly of Belon in Hong Kong. ‘The hotel is small, so the ambience and intimacy of the restaurant is very important.’

Text / Danielle Demetriou
Images / Courtesy of Four Seasons Hotel Tokyo at Marunouchi