After 15 years in Paris, most notably at the Michelin restaurant Erh, chef Keita Kitamura has brought Europe home with him to Tokyo. His new 40-seat restaurant, Apothéose, marries Japanese culinary traditions with French flavours, sauces and complementary wines. And the small dining room, on the 49th floor of the Toranomon Hills Tower, is the work of Space Copenhagen, the Danish multidisciplinary studio known for using warm woods and textural neutrals.

The team’s so-called ‘poetic modernism’ is an ideal foil for the glossy urban tower – and a suitable companion to the hotel they recently completed on the floors below. The dramatic foyer directs visitors into a corridor panelled in darkened refined brass, with floors of light-burnt terracotta tiles. At the end, a pair of sculptural brass doors opens automatically and reveals the vertiginous view of Ginza and the Tokyo skyline, framed by chalky plaster walls.

In the warm, serene dining area, darkened brass is used as an accent on the ceiling and the walls of the open kitchen. Instead, light wood takes over. Gently reclining Gleda dining chairs in solid white oak, designed by Space Copenhagen for British furniture brand Benchmark, sit at solid white oak tables custom-made by Benchmark for the restaurant.

‘We wanted Apothéose to be a refined space of crafted elegance with its own distinctiveness,’ say partners Peter Bundaard Rützou and Signe Bindslev Henriksen of Space Copenhagen.

Lighting is ethereal but well-considered. Atop the tables are portable Como lamps by &Tradition; mobile pendant lights by Michael Anastassiades reinforce themes of quality, curiosity and balance.

The room is broken up by a stone waiter’s station guarding the kitchen, which houses ceramics, glasses and sculptural vessels to create a homely atmosphere. Light wood panelling, floors and a ceiling-high door envelop a private dining room that blocks out a corner next to the kitchen.

Kitamura’s cooking employs ingredients gathered from across the island, with techniques gleaned from Europe that draw out their natural flavours.

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