L'Abysse

L’Abysse (deep sea) is an intimate, 12-seat sushi counter located within chef Yannick Alleno’s Paris restaurant Pavillon Ledoyen. There Yasunari Okazaki, a traditionally trained sushi chef, offers stunningly presented food which is beautifully displayed in this 288-page book.

An assortment of elementally simple nigiri sushi are the heart of the book, prepared so traditionally that no recipes are provided for anything other than the rice upon which they rest. 

But despite L’Abysse’s classification as a sushi bar, there are other dishes on the menu, and it’s here that imagination takes hold: radish tsukemono with white sesame sauce; artichoke tofu with smoked pike roe; beef tartare with lacto-fermented cucumber and ponzu gelée; lettuce ravioli with almond cream and vegetable caviar.

Also noteworthy are the photos of the restaurant itself, a dramatic space with soaring windows, ceramic wall decorations, and a playful sculpture made from thousands of wooden chopsticks which appear to be in motion across the ceiling.