French Chef Mory Sacko Opens Restaurant With Louis Vuitton
Michelin-starred Mory Sacko is shaking up the French dining scene, from Paris to Saint-Tropez.
Photography by Chris Saunders
Mory Sacko’s star is just beginning to rise. His first restaurant, MoSuke, which opened in 2020 in Paris’ lively 14th arrondissement, was awarded a Michelin star. He later opened two outposts for takeaway and delivery, dubbed MoSugo. This past summer, Sacko opened a new restaurant with Louis Vuitton in the heart of Saint-Tropez, located in the exclusive White 1921 Hotel. The restaurant, simply named Mory Sacko at Louis Vuitton, features the young chef’s signature: vibrant Japanese and African-influenced dishes with a French savoir-faire.
The 30-year-old grew up in the suburbs of Paris, immersed in the traditions of West African cooking, watching his mother and family members in their kitchens. Later, at the hotel school in Seine-et-Marne, he learned French gastronomy. Then, when Sacko worked at the Mandarin Oriental for Chef Thierry Marx, he discovered Japanese cuisine and cooking techniques, which he learned from members of Marx’s team, who were mostly Japanese. “I never went to Japan, but I was able to taste Japan without leaving Paris, through all the flavors that make it up,” says Sacko.
L’OFFICIEL spoke with the chef on cooking sustainably, how he chooses his projects, and his global approach: “Dining in my restaurant takes a certain state of mind, one that’s open, because the menu is not on the website. It’s discovered at the table, and often features foods that may be new to you.”
L’OFFICIEL: Is MoSuke today the restaurant you had in mind when you first started thinking about it?
MORY SACKO: At first, I wanted it to be a French-meets-African restaurant, but my love for Japanese cuisine always came back to me. I found myself adding in a little miso, a little soy sauce... So instead, I mixed the three cultures.
L’O: How has the restaurant changed two years after opening?
MS: It’s becoming more refined, and more importantly, more assertive. I have clients who came to the opening, and have come back recently, who tell me that everything is more powerful. Like any young chef, I’m starting to emphasize my favorite flavors. When we are on more African tones, it is hotter, burning, and with Japanese dishes, I enjoy going more towards minimalism and finesse.
L’O: How do you cook while still keeping the environment in mind?
MS: I work with local, seasonal ingredients as often as possible—but when we have plantain bananas in France, that would be a sign of a huge climate problem! I only make chicken yassa during the citrus season, from November to February. I prepare the mafé with peanuts that come from Soustons, one of the only places in France where they are produced, and sweet potatoes come from Picardie. Spices arrive by sailboat, and are carbon neutral. We can cook while taking the ecological issues of our century very seriously—we cannot erase all foreign cuisines under the guise of locavorism.
L’O: Which dish best symbolizes your approach?
MS: One of the desserts: chocolate ganache with wasabi ice cream. On the one hand, because it is one of the few items that has never left the menu, and on the other hand, because it is not a revisit of an existing dish. I had 75 percent cocoa from Tanzania, which was quite powerful, but not bitter, and I made a ganache with smoked fleur de sel, which I married with wasabi. These foods all magnify each other, expressing themselves on the palate through a very French pastry technique. I think that’s the essence of MoSuke.
L’O: Of all the opportunities that are offered to you, how do you determine which ones to accept?
MS: The people are essential. Being tapped just to be a fashionable chef and offer my name is not the right approach to seduce me! Louis Vuitton’s teams—the management and the board—came to the restaurant incognito five or six times. I understood that they truly loved my cooking and what I was doing, and that they took the time to discover it before offering me [the restaurant in Saint-Tropez], which touched me.
