Louis Vuitton Is Opening a Restaurant and Café for the First Time Ever

For the first time ever, Louis Vuitton is venturing into the culinary sphere. The chic French fashion house’s new four-floor store in Osaka, Japan will house Louis Vuitton’s first café and restaurant.

Acclaimed chef Yosuke Suga is taking charge of the new eateries at Maison Osaka Midosuji. Le Café V sits atop the maison, with a menu curated by Suga. It’s composed of a Cocoon Room, with a sprawling terrace and a bar, and is open throughout the day and into the night.

While all shoppers perusing through Louis Vuitton can make their way up to Le Café V and grab a bite to eat, it’ll be a little trickier making your way into the exclusive Sugalabo V restaurant.

A speakeasy-esque door in the cocktail bar area of Le Café V leads into Sugalabo V, which will seat just a select number of guests each evening. If it’s anything like Suga’s acclaimed Tokyo restaurant (also called Sugalabo), scoring a reservation won’t be easy—the booking process and the entrance are kept secret. At least with the new Louis Vuitton Sugalabo V eatery, you’ll be able to (hopefully) locate the entry door.

Sugalabo V is set up with an open kitchen, and Louis Vuitton Objets Nomades designer Tokujin Yoshioka created a Monogram-inspired charger plate for the restaurant, so much of the tableware comes from that. The restaurant’s interior is in line with the nautical theme seen throughout the store, as the shop’s aesthetic takes inspiration from Osaka’s history as a port city and travel destination.

Architects Jun Aoki and Peter Marino collaborated on the design for Maison Osaka Midosuji; Aoki has worked on quite a few Louis Vuitton shops in Japan, as well as the Fifth Avenue store.

Aoki wanted the Osaka maison façade to resemble a floating ship, while Marino’s interiors include wooden floors, wood-clad pillars and metal ceilings meant to evoke the feeling of floating along on a yacht.

By observer