MAISON MUMM, The PAIRING QUEST: Chef Yoko Kimoto

Kimoto learned to cook as a child, preparing her own bentos for school, and it was her fascination with the science and art of baking that eventually led her to enroll at culinary college.

Early in her career, however, she was frequently told that being a successful chef was too tough for a woman. Instead of discouraging her, it had the opposite effect, making her more determined to succeed. “It’s true that being a chef is very hard,” she says. “The long working hours make it hard to have a relationship or a family, and you can’t allow yourself female pleasures such as wearing makeup or having manicured nails.”

For Kimoto, it became important to succeed not only for her own career but also to inspire other girls growing up: “I want to show that a woman can become a successful chef and also lead a happy life!”

She takes inspiration not from another chef, but from her mother, who had trained as a nurse and at the age of 40 decided to change career and went to study in Sweden. “She obtained her master’s aged 45, despite being married and having children. She never let go of her desire to keep learning.”

Standing outside Hyène, you wouldn’t know you were about to enter a restaurant. From the sidewalk, this discreet, wooden building looks like any other traditional residential home. Once you cross the front door, however, you enter a sophisticated world of contemporary design, where the intimate restaurant seats eight people around the kitchen counter, allowing guests to engage directly with the chef as she works.

This element of architectural surprise also translates to Kimoto’s work, where her beautifully presented dishes gently subvert their visual cues, offering unexpected flavor nuances: things are not always what they appear to be. In playing with the flavors, traditions and presentation styles of three different cuisines, Kimoto brings a rich palette of fresh nuances to her elegantly constructed menus.

Innovation for her is not about relentlessly pursuing new tricks for the sake of novelty, however, but uncovering new layers of flavor. The first and last rule before a dish is served is that it must be delicious.

Maison Mumm has invited Kimoto to take up the challenge of reinventing a dish from its archives.

The House has a long history of working with leading chefs, who appreciate the versatility of the Maison’s cuvées with their Pinot Noir signature making them enjoyable not just as a celebratory aperitif, but as a wine that can accompany a meal.

This particular challenge was to work with a menu created during the wine harvests of 1963, with the Parisian chef René Lasserre as guest of honor. The menu featured traditional dishes from the Champagne region, and the dinner was held in a rustic setting, in one of the Mumm winepresses in the vineyards. Lasserre’s eponymous restaurant, which the previous year had received a third Michelin star, was a place where cuisine was elevated to the art of spectacle, with dishes sometimes completed in the restaurant in front of guests. The guests themselves added to the drama: Salvador Dali and his pet ocelot, Orson Welles and Audrey Hepburn were just some of its regulars.

A warm friendship grew between Maison Mumm’s Chairman, René Lalou, and René Lasserre. Lalou was a frequent client, while Lasserre served the Maison’s cuvées and offered his most loyal customers a bottle of Cordon Rouge at the start of every year.