Sushi Matser Kiyoshi Aiba
Born in 1954 in Yamanashi.
After the high school, Kiyoshi Aiba came to Tokyo to work in japanese restaurants.
In 1979, he arrived in France and joined the restaurant『SUNTORY』near from Champs-Elysées (closed today).
After 12 years, he decided to open his own restaurant『Zen』(whose kanji means “silent meditation”) near the Louvre in 1991. It was one of the first japanese restaurant in Paris, so he enjoyed some strong success specialy with japanese customers.
One of his regular customer, Mr Okawa Zen (his name also pronounces Zen, like the restaurant, but the kanji has another meaning: “natural goodness”) offers him to open a new restaurant together, the restaurant 「Zen」 that you know !
Today Mr Aiba continues to perpetuate the traditional Japanese food : “I like sharing food and meeting new people! ”
Chef Mitsuru Yamada
Born in 1976 in Shiga.
Passioned about cooking, Mitsuru Yamada decided to stop the university to work in a restaurant. He found a work in Kanazawa. After 10 years, he met Mr Zen Okawa who asked him to join the『Zen』team as chef.
Mitsuru Yamada accepted because he saw an opportunity to discover the richness of French cuisine.
After 3 years, in order to discover other type of food and getting better, he decided to work in others restaurant as Japanese and French. He searched to understand the differences of taste between this two cultures. Then he came back to『Zen』in 2015.
His message : « I wish people have fun to discover new flavours. »