Gourmet and photogenic sandos are a must in Japanese street food

In impeccable Bermudas and a shirt, Kaito Hori is coolly elegant as Benshi, his Parisian sando counter, a Japanese sandwich that’s as beautiful as it is delicious. No false decorative notes in his small restaurant with sleek furniture, all blonde wood. It’s not surprising. Kaito Hori, before being in the kitchen, was a fashion designer, stylist for the brand Commuun. There is no doubt that during this time he developed a knack for capturing trends. A quality that he now serves to Benchy. Because in addition to its neat coffee vibe, its specialty fruit sando fits perfectly with the times, making all the Instagrammable lovers work on the Left Bank. It must be said that this snack has appeal. Made with two generous slices of sandwich bread, it’s garnished with mascarpone and whipped cream that accentuates the color of seasonal fruit.

beautiful and good

If it takes its ingredients from European cuisine, the graphics of this sweet sando perfectly respond to the codes of Japanese plastic, simple and yet complex. “In opening Benchy, says Kaito Hori, I wanted to represent the diversity of Japanese street food. Sando is not very popular in France, but nevertheless, it has existed in Japan for more than half a century. A hundred years ago, Japan opened up to the rest of the world, and so it discovered the sandwich and imagined its own way of inventing it, combining the comfort of eating with a graphic approach. It’s this gourmet and photogenic aspect that lured Arthur Cohen, who opened Ototo, a 100% Sandos pop-up restaurant, last spring.

“My partner and I are fascinated by Japanese culture. That’s why we created Oni-San in Paris Marais in 2020. Izakaya, the equivalent of a bistro, where Japanese people usually come to eat small plates accompanied by sake. It is at these types of addresses that Japanese gastronomy is very creative, and when we browse the Onii-San menu, we imagine that we are eating delicious sandos made with well-chosen, even luxurious products. This was a surprise, as Sando is most commonly found in smaller 7-Eleven type supermarkets, and the most popular egg sando egg sando. Therefore, we decided to put some gastronomic options on Onii-San’s menu, such as: wagyu, Kobe beef. It’s become one of our best, and that’s thanks to Instagram.”

“Traditional sando is being prepared shocker sandwich bread made with milk and tangzhong: , sourdough, or rather sourdough cooked in water, invented in Hokkaido, Japan. »

Arthur Cohen, co-founder of Ototo, a Parisian restaurant dedicated to sandos.

The success of Onii-San’s sandos begets an idea. Why not give them a place? “A funnier, funnier, more unusual address,” says Arthur Cohen. And so it happened that in April, at 4 rue de Ecoufe^e The Ototo area of ​​Paris, the facade of which was painted by the artist Andre, opened its doors. And sandos are in a hurry, especially chicken, which makes up 50% of sales. “It must be said that it is prepared with yellow chickens raised in the open air,” emphasizes Arthur Cohen. Because what characterizes the Ototo menu is the quality of the products and the accuracy of the recipes. So the team has been working on developing their sandwich bread for a long time. “Traditional sando is being prepared shockersandwich bread made with milk and tangzhong:Sourdough, or rather sourdough cooked in water, invented in Hokkaido, Japan.

Salty or sweet?

This bread is very moist and very greedy as it retains its elasticity, especially when it is baked. And it is also very digestible. Nothing to do with a ham and butter baguette or burger bun. This temple of Japanese bread in France. Carré Pain de Mie, a bakery-restaurant whose mono-product concept has existed in Tokyo since 2013 and opened in Paris on rue Rambuteau in 2017. On the shop’s website, we learn that the sandwich bread was “imported to Japan in the late 19th century^e century by the English, but its consumption became popular only after the Second World War, under the influence of the occupying American armies. There are three types of sandwich bread in the shop window, all well-moulded soft mochi mochi resembles rice dough, fondant spray and the most fragile sakkur. One can also order savory and sweet sandwiches, clubs, croquettes, toasts… None of the preparations bear the name sando, however… Even if some have all the aesthetic qualities to display it.