Since arriving in Paris at the age of 18, Sarah Ueta has been working in the fashion world, where she worked as a press officer for nearly twenty years. Things would probably have continued like this if it weren’t for Covid-19. “Like many people, during the lockdown, I started cooking. I developed three bento recipes at that time: vegan, meat and fish. I had absolutely no idea I would make a career out of it, but some of my friends encouraged me to open a restaurant.” The young forty-year-old remembers a marked taste for food developed very early, noting that her mother congratulated her when she finished her plate. “I love discovering new flavors and trying to reproduce the ones I liked. »
In 2021, Sarah seized the opportunity to test her bento idea in real life: she was welcomed into a culinary residency at The Broken Arm, a concept store in the Marais, in Paris. It took off. Convinced that there was a place to be made, she set out to find an address. She dreamed of a food truck for a while, but due to the difficulty of parking in Paris, she opted instead for this small premises in the Porte Saint-Denis district, occupied by a tea room that sold cookies. “The owner was in a hurry to leave, so things moved quickly.”
The Iné restaurant was born at the beginning of summer 2023. Why Iné? “The phonetic symbol (kanji) Iné means “ear of wheat”. It fit well with this healthy side of the food offered. But above all my mother’s name is Inaba. Now, Ina and Iné are the same kanji in Japanese.” Iné is a bit of a family affair. Sarah’s father (now deceased) designed the logo. He was also the one who helped his daughter choose the materials and decorate the place: blond wood, cement on the floor, immaculate walls.
And the huge wall mirror that never stops reflecting. “Customers like to take pictures of themselves while waiting for their meal.”she jokes. Above all, it allows you to cleverly enlarge the space, which is limited: 40 square meters for a kitchen and a dining room is not much, even if the team is small.
A tight-knit organization
Sarah works hand in hand with chef Takuma Naito (38 years old) – “I met him during Covid and he told me that if one day I set up a place, he absolutely wanted to take part in the adventure” – who imagines the menu and is helped by two kitchen assistants: Megumi Morooka and Shinobu Wakana-Guillet. When it is necessary to produce 200 to 250 meals per day during the fashion shows, the team has to split up and give up its ration sleep. The small Japanese canteen does not yet attract enough customers, as the rue d’Enghien is not very busy.
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