At the end of every month, UNI hosts a tuna cutting ceremony in its main dining room. A whole tuna is presented to guests, carved with the long knives used for the job in Japan, and served à la minute as each cut comes off the fish. The evening lasts around an hour, guests arrive from 19h, and the next one is Wednesday 30 September 2026.
It is not a demonstration with an audience. It is a dining-room ritual, inspired by the Japanese Maguro Kaitai, and the room eats its way through the fish as it is broken down.
Maguro Kaitai is the Japanese practice of breaking down a whole tuna in front of the people who are about to eat it. In Japan it belongs to markets and to restaurants that want the fish judged in the open, and it carries two ideas that outlast the spectacle: shokunin, the discipline of the repeated, precise gesture, and omotenashi, a form of hospitality that extends the same attention to the ingredient as to the guest.
The evening at UNI is inspired by that practice rather than a formal reproduction of it. What carries over is the substance: the fish arrives whole, the work happens in the room, and nothing is thrown away.
The ceremony moves in three parts.
The presentation. The whole tuna is brought into the room before a single cut is made. This is the moment that gives the evening its scale — a bluefin is larger than most people expect, and seeing it intact is what makes the rest legible.
The carving. The fish is broken down with long, single-purpose knives, worked along the spine and then into the primal cuts. It is quiet, fast, and more controlled than dramatic. Guests watch from their tables.
The service. Each cut goes straight to the kitchen and returns prepared à la minute. Nothing is held back for another service, and the parts that rarely reach a menu are plated the same evening as the prime ones.
Guests arrive from 19h and have a drink first. The ceremony begins once the room is seated, so there is no fixed start time to arrive for — coming early is simply the way to be there from the first cut.
The point of eating a tuna the night it is broken down is that you can compare the parts side by side, which is almost never possible from a menu.
The tuna specialities card changes with the fish. The à la carte menu runs alongside it all evening, so a table that wants one tuna dish and otherwise eats normally can do exactly that.
Yes — a sake pairing can be arranged on request, matched to the cuts served that evening. Ask when you book, or on the night. Because the tuna card depends on the fish, the pours are chosen close to service rather than fixed in advance.
Wednesday 30 September 2026. The ceremony returns at the end of every month, so if you miss this one the following date is roughly four weeks later. Dates are announced on this blog and to our newsletter, which gets booking access before the date opens publicly.
Reserve through our booking page.
https://www.opentable.fr/booking/experiences-availability?rid=455235&restref=455235&experienceId=797284&utm_source=external&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=shared&covers=2&dateTime=2026-09-30T19:00:00
The main dining room is given over to the ceremony that evening, so tables are limited to that room's capacity and the evening usually fills. Booking is free and there is no prepayment — you order from the à la carte and the tuna card on the night.
For parties larger than 8, contact us directly at contact@uni-fr.com or +33 (0)1 89 40 54 34.
How long does the tuna cutting ceremony last?About an hour, from the presentation of the fish through to the last cuts being served. Most guests stay for a full dinner after that.
What time does it start?There is no fixed start time. Guests arrive from 19h and the ceremony begins once the room is seated.
Do I have to take a set menu?No. There is no fixed menu. The à la carte runs all evening, alongside a card dedicated to the tuna being cut that night.
Can I taste several different cuts?Yes. That is the reason to come on this particular evening — ōtoro, chūtoro and akami can be compared side by side, along with cuts like kama and nakaochi that are only available because the fish is broken down on site.
Is there a sake pairing?A sake pairing can be arranged on request, chosen to match the cuts served that evening.
How often does it happen?At the end of every month.
