MORIHIDE YOSHIDA OPENED HIS PATISSERIE IN PARIS IN 2013. THE CULMINATION OF YEARS OF PASSION FOR FRENCH PASTRY. HIS ATTENTION TO DETAIL AND RIGOR HAVE MADE HIM A STAR ON VARIOUS TELEVISION PROGRAMS. IN JAPAN, HE HAS WON TWO TELEVISION SHOWS, AND IN FRANCE, HE WON "LE MEILLEUR PÂTISSIER : LES PROFESSIONNELS", SUCCESSES THAT HAVE MADE HIS NAME RENOWNED NOT ONLY IN HIS HOME COUNTRY, BUT ALSO IN FRANCE.
By Mégane Fleury
You come from a family of pastry chefs, and both your parents and grandparents were pastry chefs. Was it an obvious choice for you to go down this path?
Morihide Yoshida: "No, not at all! It wasn't my ambition to do this job. In fact, my two older brothers didn't want to take over the family business. As the third brother, I therefore inherited my father's patisserie. I wasn’t particularly motivated by this at first. When I was at pastry school, I didn't even know that Mont-Blanc was a chestnut cake! Then, when I started working at the Park Hyatt in Tokyo, my colleagues were highly motivated, they were taking part in competitions and the chef was very talented. Being in this world triggered my passion."
You completed your training at the École Nationale Supérieure de la Pâtisserie in Yssingeaux, and did internships in France. Where does this interest in French pastry come from?
MY: "I'm highly curious by nature, especially when it comes to pastries. French patisserie has long inspired Japanese chefs. Naturally, I began to take an interest and read books on the subject. In fact, it was a shock when I later came to arrive in France: I realized that the pastries whose recipes I had learned from these books were not at all current! For example, there
was the Conversation Tart or the Pont- Neuf, which are no longer found in French boutiques today."
What exactly do you like about French patisseries?
MY: "Taste, texture and fragrance. These three criteria are always balanced in French patisserie. This was not the case in Japan at the time. I'm also drawn to what these cakes tell us about French culture and history."
In 2006 and again in 2007, you won first place in the "TV Champion 2 Pastry Chef " show in Japan. What was the impact of the show?
MY: "When I took part in 2006, it was the first year of opening my boutique, Pâtisserie Naturelle Nature & Co, in Shizuoka. There I made the cakes I'd learned to make at the Park Hyatt in Tokyo. Shizuoka is not far from the capital, but the clientele is different: my products weren't as popular as I'd imagined. I was quite perplexed about what to do next, and the show changed all that. People started to get to know me and our customer base grew twenty-fold."
Why did you decide to open your boutique in the seventh arrondissement of Paris in 2013?
MY: "After this success, I went to Thailand for a masterclass. I was invited to a well- known sushi restaurant by members of the Japanese embassy. On tasting, I found that the flavors weren't up to scratch, as this sushi was made using Thai ingredients. At that moment, I realized that I was doing the same thing: in Thailand, they make this sushi using Thai ingredients and the result is not authentic. In my boutique, I made French pastries using Japanese raw materials: was it really authentic? I asked myself this question and knew I wanted to make French cakes, with French ingredients, in France."
In 2018 and again in 2019, you won “Le meilleur pâtissier : les professionnels”: what did this experience change for you?
MY: "Sales have doubled. But what pleased me most was the pride of people from the area. Even though I'm Japanese, they congratulated me as if it were their victory."
In your boutique, you offer only French pastries. What's Japanese about your creations?
MY: "I would say precision work. I’ll dare to say it: all the cakes are impeccable. From one day to the next, everything is identical in terms of quality and appearance. I don't use Japanese ingredients, except once a year when we make Japanese style pastries. Even so, customers say they can tell the difference. It's subtle."
You've gathered your recipes in a book, Gâteaux, published by Éditions du Chêne in 2022. How did this project come about?
MY: "I've wanted to write a book ever since the end of ‘Le Meilleur Pâtissier’. This became a reality during Covid-19. I met Muriel Tallandier and Julie Mathieu from ‘Fou de pâtisserie’ and as we chatted, they told me about the idea for this book. They helped me a lot with publishing it. I'm very happy with the result and the success it's had."
In November 2024, you opened a new patisserie in Japan, eight years after the closure of Pâtisserie Naturelle Nature & Co. Why?
MY: "There was a lot of demand in Tokyo and I wanted to meet it. I'd been living in France for twelve years, so I'd accumulated a lot of experience, and I wanted to pass it on to Japanese customers. The range is close to what we do in Paris, but the raw materials are different: butter, flour, etc. The taste of the products is therefore not the same, but I accept that. In France, I learned that it's possible to make cakes using the ingredients around us, without losing authenticity."
What are your plans for the coming year?
MY: "My book came out last year in Japanese, and it's being published in English this month. I'd like to take this opportunity to discover the United States and American culture. There's nothing concrete at the moment, but it's something I’m planning. More generally, my ambition, both personal and professional, is to make patisserie better all over the world. For this reason, I give masterclasses all over the world to pass on French and Japanese techniques. These exchanges give me great pleasure, and I'm always ready to set off to share my passion with professionals from all over the world."