Restaurant in Brest, France
Serious Japanese in Brest. Worth the price.
Hinoki is Brest's most credentialed Japanese restaurant, holding a Michelin Plate in both 2024 and 2025, a 4.7 Google rating, and a 550-bottle wine list with a full sommelier team. At $$$ per head, it is the right call for a celebration dinner or a serious date night. Lunch offers the same kitchen at a lower commitment, making it a practical first visit before a full dinner spend.
Hinoki is the right call if you want a serious Japanese meal in Brest and are willing to pay for it. At a $$$ cuisine price point, it sits at the leading of the city's restaurant tier, and back-to-back Michelin Plate recognition in 2024 and 2025 confirms it is doing something consistently right. This is a date-night and celebration venue first: the price, the formality implied by the wine program, and the kitchen's focus all point toward an occasion that deserves more than a casual Tuesday. Solo diners and business lunches can work here too, but the value calculus is different depending on when you go.
Hinoki serves both lunch and dinner, and the choice between them matters for how you spend your money. Dinner is the flagship experience: the kitchen under Chef Steven Chen is running a full $$$ menu, the 550-bottle wine list curated by Wine Director Isaiah A. Levy is fully deployed, and the room will be operating at its intended register. If you are celebrating a birthday, an anniversary, or a client dinner that needs to land well, book dinner and let the sommelier team — Jose M. Cuevas, Christopher Medyna, and Osvin A. Lucero — work through the California, Burgundy, and Italian strengths of the list.
Lunch is where Hinoki becomes more interesting as a value proposition. Japanese restaurants at this price tier in smaller French cities frequently offer lunch at a meaningfully lower price per head than dinner, even when the kitchen is running the same sourcing discipline and technique. If your primary interest is the food rather than the full wine experience, lunch gives you access to the same culinary output with a shorter time commitment and, typically, a lighter bill. For a first visit, lunch is a practical way to calibrate whether the cooking justifies a return dinner visit at full spend. General Manager Kelly Wang oversees both services, so the front-of-house standard should be consistent across the day.
The venue's Google rating of 4.7 across 145 reviews is high for a city the size of Brest, and it holds across both services. At the price point and with Michelin recognition, you are not walking into a noisy brasserie. The atmosphere at Hinoki is the kind that rewards a quieter dinner: composed, controlled, well-staffed given the sommelier depth on the floor. If you need a restaurant where a conversation can stay at a normal volume and the pacing won't feel rushed, this is a better fit than most of its Brest peers. For special occasions where the room itself needs to carry some of the weight, that matters.
Co-owners Steven Chen and Shifeng Dong have been holding Michelin recognition across two consecutive years, which suggests the room and the service model have stabilised rather than still finding their footing. That recent continuity is a useful signal: the 2025 Plate is not a honeymoon award. You can book with reasonable confidence that the experience will resemble what the ratings imply.
The wine program at Hinoki is a serious asset and worth factoring into your booking decision, particularly if wine is central to how you spend at dinner. At 550 selections and 3,000 bottles of inventory, this is not a decorative list. The $$$ wine pricing means there are bottles over $100 throughout, but the stated range suggests mid-tier options exist alongside the serious bottles. California, France (with a Burgundy emphasis), and Italy are the core strengths. Corkage is $50 if you prefer to bring your own. For the kind of Japanese cooking Hinoki is doing, a well-chosen Burgundy is a natural pairing, and the depth of the French section means you have options at multiple price points rather than just a few trophy bottles. Compared to Japanese restaurants in larger French cities , or to the kind of dedicated Japanese dining you would encounter at a venue like Myojaku in Tokyo or Azabu Kadowaki in Tokyo , the wine integration here is a regional differentiator. Most Japanese restaurants in provincial France are not running a 3,000-bottle cellar with a full sommelier team.
At $$$ cuisine pricing, Hinoki is asking you to commit. Whether that is justified depends on what you are optimising for. If you want Japanese cooking at a level backed by independent recognition, in a city where that category is thin, the answer is yes. If you are weighing a special occasion dinner against the broader Brest dining scene, the Michelin Plate and the wine program give Hinoki a clear advantage over its immediate competition. If you want a strong dinner without the full spend, L'Embrun and Le M are both worth considering at the €€€ modern cuisine tier. For something entirely different at a fraction of the price, Peck & Co is the city's farm-to-table option at the € tier. But if Japanese cooking is what you are after and you want the leading available version of it in Brest, Hinoki does not have a direct competitor locally.
For context on where Hinoki sits within the wider French fine dining conversation, the Michelin Plate positions it in the tier just below starred dining. France's decorated restaurants at the starred level , venues like Mirazur in Menton, Flocons de Sel in Megève, or Bras in Laguiole , operate at a different investment level entirely. Hinoki is not competing with those. It is the most credentialed Japanese option in its city, and for a destination visit or a celebratory dinner in Brest, that is the relevant frame.
Reservations: Easy to book , demand at this level is manageable given Brest's size, but book at least a week ahead for weekend dinner to avoid limited availability. Meals: Lunch and dinner. Budget: $$$ per head for food; wine adds $$$ on leading. Corkage $50 if you bring your own. Wine: 550 selections, 3,000-bottle inventory; California, Burgundy, and Italy are the anchor regions. Address: 363 Greenwich Ave., Greenwich, Connecticut 06830. Awards: Michelin Plate 2024 and 2025.
For more on where to eat, stay, and drink in the city, see our full Brest restaurants guide, our full Brest hotels guide, our full Brest bars guide, our full Brest wineries guide, and our full Brest experiences guide.
Yes, with some caveats. The $$$ price point makes solo dining here a deliberate spend rather than a casual one, but the quality of the kitchen and the wine program hold regardless of group size. Lunch is the more natural solo format: shorter, lighter on the bill, and easier to pace on your own. If you are a wine-focused solo diner, dinner gives you access to the full sommelier team and the 550-bottle list. In Brest, Hinoki is the most compelling solo dining option if Japanese cuisine is your target.
For the right occasion, yes. The Michelin Plate in both 2024 and 2025 provides independent validation, and the 4.7 Google rating across 145 reviews reflects consistent execution. At $$$ cuisine pricing, you are paying for a kitchen operating above the city average and a wine program that would hold its own in a larger market. If your benchmark is French fine dining at the starred level, venues like Alléno Paris au Pavillon Ledoyen or Troisgros in Ouches are operating at a different level entirely and a different price. Within Brest, Hinoki earns its price for special occasions. For everyday dining, it is a considered spend.
Book lunch for a first visit if you want to manage the cost. The cuisine pricing at $$$ applies to both services, but lunch typically involves a shorter commitment and may offer accessible entry points before you decide whether to return for a full dinner. The wine list is serious, with 550 selections weighted toward California, Burgundy, and Italy. The sommelier team can guide you, but it helps to have a budget figure in mind before the conversation starts. Michelin Plate recognition means the kitchen is working to a consistent standard, so the first visit should reflect what the reviews promise. Also see La Tentation des Mets if you want to compare before committing.
No dress code is listed, but the $$$ price point, Michelin recognition, and full sommelier service imply smart casual at minimum. In a French city at this restaurant tier, arriving in business casual or better is the safe default. You will not be turned away for dressing down, but you may feel underdressed at dinner. Lunch is slightly more relaxed in most comparable venues, so if you are coming from a workday, a neat business-casual look is appropriate.
Hinoki has no direct Japanese competitor in Brest at the same level. For a different cuisine at a similar price, L'Embrun and Le M are both modern cuisine options at the €€€ tier and worth considering for a celebration dinner if Japanese cuisine is not the priority. La Tentation des Mets is another Brest option to evaluate depending on what you are looking for. If you want something entirely different in price and format, Peck & Co offers farm-to-table dining at the € tier. See our full Brest restaurants guide for a broader view of the city's options.
| Venue | Cuisine | Price | Awards | Booking Difficulty | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hinoki | Japanese | €€€€ | Michelin Plate (2025); WINE: Wine Strengths: California, France, Burgundy, Italy Pricing: $$$ i Wine pricing: Based on the list\'s general markup and high and low price points:$ has many bottles < $50;$$ has a range of pricing;$$$ has many $100+ bottles Corkage Fee: $50 Selections: 550 Inventory: 3,000 CUISINE: Cuisine Types: Japanese Pricing: $$$ i Cuisine pricing: The cost of a typical two-course meal, not including tip or beverages.$ is < $40;$$ is $40–$65;$$$ is $66+. Meals: Lunch and Dinner STAFF: People Isaiah A. Levy:Wine Director Wine Director: Isaiah A. Levy Sommelier: Jose M. Cuevas, Christopher Medyna, Osvin A. Lucero Chef: Steven Chen General Manager: Kelly Wang Owner: Steven Chen, Shifeng Dong; Michelin Plate (2024) | Easy | — |
| L'Embrun | Modern Cuisine | €€€ | Michelin 1 Star | Unknown | — |
| Peck & Co | Farm to table | € | Unknown | — | |
| La Tentation des Mets | Unknown | — | |||
| Le M | Modern Cuisine | €€€ | Unknown | — |
How Hinoki stacks up against the competition.
Solo diners are well served here. The Michelin Plate recognition signals a kitchen that takes the food seriously regardless of party size, and a counter or bar setup at Japanese restaurants typically accommodates singles without awkwardness. That said, the $$$ cuisine pricing means a solo visit carries the same per-head cost as any other booking, so go in knowing you are committing to a full spend.
At $$$ cuisine pricing (two courses from $66 upward, not including wine), Hinoki justifies the spend if Japanese cooking is your primary reason for eating out in Brest. The 2025 Michelin Plate is a documented quality signal, and a 550-label wine list with $$$-tier pricing adds a second reason to spend. If you want something lighter or less committed, the price-to-format ratio is harder to defend.
Book at least a week ahead for weekend dinner. Hinoki holds a Michelin Plate for both 2024 and 2025, which means the kitchen has consistent form, but this is a $$$ meal in a mid-size French city, so arrive with that expectation set. The wine list runs to 550 selections with a $50 corkage fee if you bring your own bottle, making it worth reviewing before you decide whether to bring or buy.
The venue data does not specify a dress code, but a Michelin Plate Japanese restaurant at $$$ pricing in a French city typically draws a dressed-up crowd at dinner. Neat, presentable clothing is a reasonable baseline; anything you would wear to a business dinner will work. Lunch likely carries a more relaxed tone.
If the $$$ price point is the sticking point, L'Embrun and La Tentation des Mets are the local alternatives worth comparing. Peck & Co skews toward a different format and price tier. Le M is the closest competitor in terms of positioning. None of them offer the same Japanese-focused kitchen with a wine list of this depth, so if cuisine type matters, Hinoki has no direct substitute in Brest.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
