cépages - de la nuit

In a quiet residential area of Moto-Azabu, there was a restaurant called Equateur. A place for French cuisine and wine. We had been there several times, and Hiroko-mama, who ran it, was an acquaintance.

It was from Hiroko-mama that we heard Equateur was closing.

We were the very first to raise our hands. We felt it should be us who carried on this precious place and everything that had been poured into it.

Right around the same time, an entirely different conversation was underway: whether to move or expand cépages, which we had opened with Chef Kazuki Ishibashi in Maebashi, Gunma, in 2023.

The two stories eventually flowed together into one. And so, in spring 2026, cépages - de la nuit was born.

Equateur was about French cuisine, and about wine. Holding that lineage close, what we envisioned was Ishibashi's cooking.

Ishibashi's cooking is French, yet somehow evokes Japan. And as a whole it is simple, sitting naturally on the Japanese palate. We carried that image straight into the interior.

It is an old commercial building. The ceilings are low and the beams large. Ordinarily that would be a flaw, but we turned it to our advantage. Along the beams we hung a ceiling shaped like a roof, leaving there a breath of Japan.

Beneath it, a large limestone table. And contemporary art. Japanese and Western, old and new, resonating quietly within a single space.

Careful preparation, and flavors that are refined and light. Cooking that draws out the true taste of each ingredient, accompanied by more than three hundred wines.

The space is serene, but the service is always friendly. Open until late at night, for a course, à la carte, or just wine. As the night deepens, we want to be a place you can drop into easily.

Bringing together things that would never otherwise meet, and transforming them into something entirely new. The memory of Equateur, cooking refined in Maebashi, and the Moto-Azabu night. cépages - de la nuit is a restaurant that is very much GRAPES.