On Cultivating Small Pleasures

The article

Mofusan

By Morgan de Polignac, Apr 20, 2026

Every one of us has known those small moments of pleasure, moments out of time, when the senses are open and the mind ready to be moved. Small gestures, small things that seem trivial, which each of us makes our own and turns into a kind of emotional refuge.

Very often they are pleasures of taste, calling up fond childhood memories, or simply reawakening the pleasure of a particular flavour.

This small pleasure, far from trivial, is so often described as "little": a "little" glass, a "little" coffee, a "little" square of chocolate, a "little" piece of bread — often the end of a baguette straight out of the oven at the bakery on the corner.

I don't know where it comes from, but very early on I came to love those suspended moments tied to a feeling about taste: closing my eyes as a piece of Malakoff (that intensely chocolatey hazelnut bar, indulgent through and through) melted in my mouth, revealing the hazelnuts still to be crunched with relish.

We all have our weaknesses.

It is with this in mind that I steer my thinking in my culinary creations: to try to give pleasure, and to touch something, simply.

In order to bring that moment about, the experience at Mofusan is built around discovering each plate "blind": everyone appreciates each dish in their own way, without preconceptions, in the moment, making the act of tasting their own before sharing their impressions with the rest of the table. Only once each dish has been eaten does a moment of exchange begin — with me or with Maxime, the head waiter, and among guests.

The idea of surprising, of offering up the results of my culinary research in a spirit of sharing, is the founding principle of my cooking: to create in order to share.

Inventive cooking, always seasonal, for you cannot cook with feeling without good, carefully chosen produce.

Creating small pleasures while leaving room for discovery makes for a moment at the table that will, we hope, stay with you.

And these small pleasures are to be found in the drinks as well: the pleasure of a good tea prepared in the traditional way, of a good coffee sourced from artisan roasters and then brewed by a slow method, which lets you appreciate the coffee's aromatic potential at its very best. All of it within a coherent gastronomic experience.
The same care goes into the wines and the sakes; the principle being that every sip should bring a "small pleasure", a moment of feeling — elevated alongside one dish in particular.

Another small pleasure is the welcome, the advice, and a relaxed, human, unpretentious service that adds to the whole. It sounds obvious, but service can sometimes be neglected, or lack any real soul. Mofusan is a place of sharing, a place of small pleasures and above all a place of experience, where the exchange between team and guests is vital.

For all these reasons, the experience at Mofusan — inventive, seasonal cooking — is an invitation to travel through taste, seeking to share the small pleasures I have known all my life.

Letting you live them is always a joy.

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