It's all too easy to take for granted a restaurant of the caliber of Les Saisons. Ensconced within the venerable portals of the Imperial Hotel, it is plush, self-assured and runs with the same effortless reliability as a well-tuned Bentley sports car. You just know that an evening at table is going to be wonderful (it always is) but, inevitably, within a conservative, patrician frame of reference.
This is why it is so exciting that, as one of the Imperial's 110th anniversary events, Les Saisons has invited chef Eric Frechon from Paris to take over the culinary reins for a special season. Granted, Frechon comes direct from the kitchens of Le Bristol, a hotel with even more heavyweight history than the Imperial itself. But he is also one of the most talked about young generation chefs in the French capital.
Before taking over behind the grills and saucieres of Le Bristol last year, Frechon achieved prominence as part of the recent wave of young chefs who have opted out of the haute cuisine rat race. Preferring to operate under their own auspices in smaller, more casual surroundings rather than pursue the elusive goal of Michelin stardom, their modern bistros concentrate on quality food at reasonable prices. In Frechon's case, he sited his eponymous restaurant, La Verriere de Eric Frechon, way out in the 19th arrondissement, which in the Tokyo area would be equivalent to opening up in Kamata or Akabane.