Sho Kimura has had an unusual career path. His father was a pastry chef in Aomori, Japan, and from a very young age, Sho watched him at work. When he wanted to eat Kinder and Kit Kats, his father refused, so as not to spoil his palate. Sho didn’t even choose to become a pastry chef; his father forced him into it. He then began working directly with other chefs, without going to school. Finally, his father also forced him to go to France. He arrived in April 2017, unable to speak a word of French. He had a vacation visa.
After spending a few months in Poitiers and Cherbourg, he arrived in Paris, where he quickly became a customer at Les Trois Chocolats. It was there that Emiko Sano, the head chocolatier, gave him his big break by offering him a job and obtaining a work visa for him. For three to four years, everything was really difficult at Les Trois Chocolats, with demanding, often elderly customers. It was partly thanks to Instagram that the patisserie made its breakthrough. The polished photos quickly won over an ever-growing audience of connoisseurs.
Sho Kimura has successfully combined French pastry-making expertise with Japanese education and inspiration. The result: sublime creations, such as the matcha chestnut cake in winter, strawberry mochi with red beans in summer, and Goma, which plays entirely on subtle variations of vanilla and black sesame. Sho Kimura’s work is not only popular with customers, it is also widely recognized by his peers, who hail him as a master. This is a nod to his father, who forced him into this profession but who, in a sense, was a visionary.
