The owner-chef of the restaurant is Hiroyuki Sakai, 83, known as “Monsieur” on the cooking variety show “Iron Chef” (Fuji TV). What happened to “Monsieur Sakai, the Iron Chef of French cuisine”? We asked Sakai himself at “La Rochelle Minami-Aoyama” to find out the reason for the restaurant’s closure. Part 1 of 2] * * * The announcement of the closure spread quickly on the Internet news, didn’t it? The restaurant has been flooded with reservations, and is almost full for both dinner and lunch until it closes. It’s a happy scream. If they miss us so much, they should come to our restaurant more often. I am also the principal of the International Culinary Academy in Kanazawa, so I often travel to the countryside, but when I am in the Tokyo area, I almost always show up at the restaurant and greet each table as they come in. It is sad to see the restaurant close. La Rochelle Minami Aoyama, which is attached to Minami Aoyama Le Ange Church, was opened in February 1999. I was approached by the president of a bridal company, TAKAMI BRIDAL, who said, “Let’s do this together. He told me that he fell in love with my “attitude of not taking care of materials. At the time, I spent quite a bit of money on the interior, equipment, tableware, and other details, so I was very attached to the project. La Rochelle” also has locations in Sanno (Nagatacho, Chiyoda-ku) and Fukuoka, so after the restaurant closed, the staff who had worked with me moved there or went out on their own. We all worked together for 26 and a half years. I am not closing the restaurant because I want to quit. The reason for closing is because my contract expired. This place is leased. As for me, I would like to continue to run the store, but I have no choice. After the Corona disaster, the store has just been restored and is now in a very good condition. The staff is stable and we have a lot of events planned as the “Iron Chef of French Cuisine. It is a shame to hear about the closure of the restaurant at a time like this. The Corona was very strict. We couldn’t sell wine because we were banned from serving alcoholic beverages, and we could only open for lunch most of the time because of the shortened business hours. I had to cut my salary in half, and all the staff worked hard to get through it. I have nothing but gratitude for my staff. Looking back, we had a tough time after the Great East Japan Earthquake, and when the bubble economy burst in the early 1990s, before I appeared on “Iron Chef,” we suddenly had no customers. I was trapped. I think I was able to hold on because I felt I had to protect my family and staff, and because I am optimistic by nature. Or maybe I am just stupid (laughs). Whenever I get stuck in my thoughts, I only think about the bad, so I just have to think, “I’ll figure it out. There are bad times and good times. There are good times and bad times.
