Director Ayuko Tsukahara said that in producing this television series, she was inspired by the movie
Seven Samurai. The main character, Obana, played by Kimura, and Rinko set out to win three
Michelin stars, and the necessary people gather one after another to achieve this goal. In this television series, all the dishes are supervised by first-class chefs and the fact that filming began at the three-star
L'Ambroisie in Paris made a big splash. Owner-chef
Bernard Pacaud explained how he allowed the filming at his restaurant: I had lent a restaurant once before for filming, but I did not have a good impression of it at that time. This time, there is a Japanese chef who actually works at
L'Ambroisie, and I have a Japanese chef friend who trained with me and now runs a restaurant in Tokyo (Masao Saisu, Chef of Cote d'Or in
Minato,
Tokyo), so I know Japanese people well, The culinary supervision for La Grande Maison Tokyo was done by Chef Shuzo Kishida of the French restaurant
Quintessence in
Shinagawa, Tokyo, which has actually won three
Michelin stars. The cooking equipment used in the kitchen of La Grande Maison Tokyo is authentic, provided by Fujimak Corporation, which actually manufactures and sells commercial cooking equipment. Chef Thomas Frebel of the French restaurant INUA in
Iidabashi, Tokyo, supervised the cooking at gaku, a rival restaurant of La Grande Maison Tokyo. Restaurant gaku was actually filmed on location at Maison Paul Bocuse, a high-end restaurant in
Shibuya, Tokyo. The desserts in the stories were supervised by Junji Tokunaga, chef-patissier at the
InterContinental Tokyo Bay. The dessert "
Mont Blanc Amafaçon," which appears in episode 4, was first conceived by Chef Kishida, and the design and presentation were arranged by Chef Tokunaga to match the setting in which the dessert was conceived by pastry chef Moe Matsui. In addition, starring
Takuya Kimura, who plays Natsuki Obana, actually cooked all the dishes in the cooking scenes. Kimura actually made 16 servings of the dish "Echube long-armed shrimp" that Obana cooked for Rinko in Paris, which was broadcast in the first episode.
Kyōka Suzuki, who played Rinko Hayami, said that Kimura made everything from the very beginning of the process for the first episode, "Echube long-armed shrimp," and that they had to shoot many takes and from different angles, so they needed a lot of shrimp, but he made it all every time and it tasted delicious. The other actors playing the chef also worked hard to make their performances realistic.
Yuta Tamamori, who played the role of Hirako, who worked in Paris as Obana's apprentice, said that he had not had much cooking experience before but learned how to cut vegetables and practiced by making many
omelettes to give the impression that he was familiar with cooking.
Onoe Kikunosuke V, who played the role of Tango, the chef of the rival restaurant gaku, is a
kabuki actor. He said that his dream, other than being a
kabuki actor, was to become a chef when he was a child, and that he had a fulfilling time playing this role. He said that in playing a chef, he started making breakfast at home, and his skills improved so much that his family has recently started to eat second helpings of it. The television series was actually filmed at
Embassy of France, Tokyo. The policeman who subdued Obana in the first episode was a real French policeman. On October 18, 2019, a preview was held at French ambassador's residence, where Ambassador
Laurent Pic introduced Kimura, saying "I would like to introduce my friend, Takuya Kimura". == Characters ==