Written by Nadège · Estimated reading time: 10 minutes
At Mory Sacko‘s kitchen, chef-owner of the one-Michelin-star restaurant MoSuke, cooking is built as a dialogue between three cultures: France, where he was born, Mali, his father’s homeland, and Japan, which he fell for as a child watching his favourite cartoons. The house extends that same triptych to a fully vegetarian version of both its tasting menus. We went, and wished the journey never had to end.
A Name Born From Two Stories, an Address in the 14th
MoSuke occupies number 11, rue Raymond Losserand, in Paris’s 14th arrondissement, between the Pernety and Gaîté metro stations. It’s a residential neighbourhood far enough from the tourist trail that you quickly understand the address isn’t relying on its location to draw a crowd. The restaurant’s name fuses the chef’s own, Mory, with that of Yasuke, a man from East Africa who arrived in Japan in the 16th century and became a samurai in the service of the lord Oda Nobunaga. He’s now considered the only Black samurai in history. Mory Sacko wanted to write that story into the walls of his restaurant, as a symbol of the meeting between Africa and Japan, the two cultural poles that shape his cooking alongside French technique.
The restaurant opened in 2020 and earned its Michelin star as early as 2021, the same year the chef received the guide’s Young Chef Award. The house claims a Japanese philosophy, omotenashi, hospitality attentive to a guest’s wellbeing and to the present moment, which runs through the service as much as through the plate.
Fast Recognition, a Spotlight He’s Chosen to Use
Brought to wider attention by the TV show Top Chef in 2020, Mory Sacko has since hosted his own cooking programme, Cuisine Ouverte. He was also chosen to cook for President Emmanuel Macron at an Africa-France summit in 2022. He has received the Gault et Millau award, the Michelin guide’s 2021 Young Chef Award, La Liste’s 2021 New Talent distinction, and Time Magazine’s Next Generation Leader title. He names other Black chefs in French gastronomy as inspirations: Marcel Ravin, whose Monaco restaurant Blue Bay earned its first star in 2015, and Georgiana Viou, whose Nice address Rouge was starred in turn.
He’s chosen to put that visibility to work for a more accessible kind of gastronomy. Alongside MoSuke, he launched Mosugo, a gourmet street food concept born from messages by followers who dreamed of tasting his cooking without the bill of a starred restaurant, followed by Lafayette’s, a brasserie in central Paris. But it’s at MoSuke that he remains most present, closing the restaurant outright when he’s away rather than handing it to a brigade without him.
A Permanent Laboratory, a Large Team for Few Covers
MoSuke describes itself as a small, perpetual laboratory. In storage, more than 300 jars hold house-made infusions, herbs, macerations and ferments, some of which occupy the team for months before ever reaching the dining room. The chef, for instance, works on producing his own miso from black-eyed beans, an ingredient native to Africa, rather than the soybean traditionally used in Japan: the fermentation takes around two months and yields enough miso to last a full year. For yuzu and sudachi, two Japanese citrus fruits, the house works with a grower near Carcassonne rather than importing, and the Ivory Coast chillies used in the kitchen are dried and fermented on site to cut down on logistics.
Each service calls on around fifteen people, about ten in the kitchen and five in the dining room, for a deliberately limited number of covers. The ratio shows: the service takes the time to walk through each stage of the menu without ever sounding like a rehearsed script.
What We Loved
What She Loved
She was won over by the story more than by the ritual of the tasting menu itself: that of a chef who built an entire restaurant around what he loved as a child, Japanese cartoons and his mother’s cooking. It struck a chord, given she’s completely into Japan, manga and Asian food right now. She was also impressed by the sheer number of courses, and by how seriously the whole table, her included, was treated from start to finish.
What We Enjoyed
The vegetarian version of the menu is nothing like a lightened-up take on the kitchen’s best cuts. Every course keeps the same architecture as its meat or fish counterpart: a broth worked with the same patience, a house ferment bringing the acidity or umami that meat would otherwise have supplied, a layering of textures designed to make up for the absence of animal bite rather than to dodge it. Throughout the meal, you can feel the same care for layered construction, where every element on a plate has clearly asked for several days of preparation before it ever reached the table.
The service, true to the omotenashi philosophy the house claims, walks through each course without ever feeling mechanical, taking the time to place every plate back into the chef’s own story: an African cue here, a nod to Japan there, always held together by French technique.
FAQ: MoSuke
Is the vegetarian menu available at every service?
Both of the house’s tasting menus, Migration at lunch and Vol de nuit at dinner, exist in a fully vegetarian version. It’s best to mention it when booking so the kitchen can plan accordingly.
How much do the menus cost at MoSuke?
The Migration menu, served at lunch over fifteen courses, is priced at 145 euros. The Vol de nuit menu, at dinner over twenty-five courses, is priced at 255 euros. Both prices stay the same whether you choose the classic or the vegetarian version.
How far ahead should you book?
Well ahead. Tables sell out within minutes of booking opening, sometimes months before the actual date: it’s worth watching for the release dates rather than hoping for a last-minute spot.
Does MoSuke hold a Michelin star?
Yes, the restaurant has held one Michelin star since 2021, the year after it opened.
How do you get to MoSuke?
The restaurant is on rue Raymond Losserand, in the 14th arrondissement, between the Pernety and Gaîté metro stations, both served by line 13.
Practical Information
At a Glance
Address: 11 rue Raymond Losserand, 75014 Paris
Hours: Tuesday to Saturday, lunch from noon to 2pm and dinner from 7pm to 9:45pm. Closed Sunday and Monday.
Contact: +33 1 43 20 21 39
Booking: mosuke-restaurant.com