Akaneya is the pursuit of the ultimate sumibiyaki experience. The most exclusive and delicate ingredients, the aesthetics of ancestral Kyoto, and omotenashi blend with jazz music and the warmth of binchōtan charcoal. A sensory, intimate, and timeless journey, where each dish is a silent dance that weaves an unforgettable story.

In 2009, Ignasi Elías discovers the tavern Akaneya Junshinken in Kyoto and decides to fulfill a friend’s dream: to open his own restaurant. In 2011, the first sumibiyaki in Europe is born in Barcelona: Carlota Akaneya. In 2020, a second location opens in Madrid, becoming the first European restaurant to serve Shizuoka Crown Melon. Two years later, Akaneya partners with Japan’s most prestigious wagyū farm, Ito Ranch, and joins the Matsusaka Beef Association, becoming the first exporter of Matsusaka in Japan’s history. In 2023, Akaneya opens in Paris, becoming the first restaurant outside Japan to serve the holy grail of beef: Matsusaka Beef tenderloin from Ito Ranch.

Chiho was born in 1995 in the small city of Fukuroi, 220 km south of Tokyo, in Shizuoka Prefecture. Driven by a desire to improve her Spanish, she moved to Barcelona in 2015 to study Humanities. A year later, she met Ignasi Elías and began collaborating with Akaneya, officially joining the team part-time in 2018. Shortly after, she took on the role of Executive Chef and, together with Elías, led some of the most notable innovations in the industry: the importation of Crown Melon from Fukuroi and Matsusaka Beef from its most exclusive farm, Ito Ranch.