This was a last-minute book just before I flew out London (less than two weeks ahead).
I was just curious how a Japanese chef presents French cuisine, which was surprisingly fun.
I was the first customer in the night, and in fact there were only seven customers for the evening.
It was a tiny restaurant, with all counter seats.
There were only two chefs and two waiters.
It was a relative short menu.
I picked the non-aged wagyu beef as the main dish, while the other choice were aged wagyu and venison.
I was also delighted that the restaurant provided bottled cold tea.
The first fun dish was “Steamed bun with Foie Gras”, which was a simple and cute combination of French and Asian food.
The bun was probably made from buckwheat, therefore, with the brown colour.
The Foie Gras filling was difficult to tell weather it is fully cooked, however it did taste very smooth.
The only drawback was, the bottom of the bun was broken, I suspect, the skin was too dried or over cooked so it was cracked.
The chef combined Japanese style in his cooking, which was not surprised since we were Japan.
For example, the dish “Deep fried red shrimp” is literally a posh tempura; In contrast, high-end French cuisine often serves raw shrimps because of their creamy taste.
The red chilli was probably inspired by south-east or (some regions of) Chinese Asian cuisines.
It was really simple idea to balance the greasiness of the deep-fried (dough) coating.
The next “Rosy Seabass (Akamutsu)” was my favourite: the visual design was very European but with a nice touch of Japanese, I think, cherry blossom shouts.
The sauce made from sake lees had a slightly light taste, rather than the common creamy taste.
The fish, Rosy Seabass, had a stronger flavour than common seabass, and the cherry blossom shouts mixed in bitter flavour and a harder texture.
After the main wagyu beef, I got the last hot dish “risotto”.
This was a very Japanese curation to put the rice by the end.
Except the risotto rice, other ingredients are just Japanese, abalone, matsutake mushroom, and dried cherry blossom.
I found dried cherry blossom a cool idea: (1) it adds amazing colour to often boring-looking risotto, also a great representation of Japanese palette, and (2) it puts extra bitter seasoning and fibre texture over the traditionally creamy, heavy and even sticky flavour and texture.
However, I should say this risotto is a little dried.
This was such a surprise booking. I did not have any expectation but it ended up a great evening before my flight back to London. The waiter actually told me the restaurant got one star just after a year since open. It certainly deserved it. It had a homey and welcome environment, and fun and thoughtful dishes.
