Jixiang Cao — Restaurant in Shanghai

La Scène Ronde SR 之舞 by 山蒙 is a fine-dining restaurant in Shanghai specializing in multinational creative cuisine based on the combination of Japanese and French cuisine. When it comes to French cuisine and Japanese cuisine, both are at the top of the Eastern and Western culinary pyramid.

Chef Yuki Yamano explained to me and my mother that “La Scène Ronde” means a circular stage, symbolizing the gathering of dishes from all over the world to create exquisite global delicacies. The design style of the entire restaurant is based on cream color, combined with warm metal style, creating a gentle and luxurious atmosphere. The restaurant has an open kitchen design, fully displaying the charm of exquisite cuisine right before the eyes of diners. Chef Yuki Yamano used to be a sous chef at many Michelin-starred restaurants in Europe. He is very good at combining Japanese cuisine with European cuisine, using premium local ingredients to create surprisingly delicious dishes.

The restaurant has a seasonal Tasting Menu. The time my mother and I went to eat was in the summer of this year. The Summer 2024 menu costs ¥1380 per person (price does not include 10% service charge) with the choice of pairing with wine ¥698 or tea ¥398. My mother and I chose to pair wine for this dinner.

For me, if you have a sumptuous meal without drinking wine, your happiness will really be halved. La Scène Ronde has carefully prepared 2 sets of accompanying wines for diners, named after Ms. KK and Mr. Shanmeng, the restaurant owner, respectively. Ms. KK, the sommelier that day, introduced the 2 sets of wine selection concepts as well as the characteristics of each wine. The KK set mainly consists of fine Chinese wines, bringing together their famous brands while the Shanmeng set follows a more traditional aesthetic and has a richer flavor so diners can choose what they want.

The “La Scène Ronde” menu has a “Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner” theme with creativity starting from the first bite in the morning and ending with the meal at night. Some dishes on the menu will be adjusted based on the characteristics of each season. The butter-fried chicken mushrooms combined with pumpkin puree and mushroom red wine sauce, then topped with homemade tofu and sprinkled with truffles is a must-try dish. This dish was created by chef Yuki Yamano when he was working at the 3-Michelin-star restaurant “Régis et Jacques Marcon” in France.

The Wagyu beef is carefully prepared by the chef, lightly dipped in yuzu yakisoba sauce and grilled over charcoal. Finally, it is placed in beef bone broth combined with white onions. This is a famous signature dish of La Scène Ronde called “16 years old”. When enjoyed with a sip of the soup, this dish immediately stimulates the richness of the taste buds, creating an unforgettable nostalgia.

“Yamano” is named after the chef who was born in Kumamoto Prefecture, where horse meat is very popular. In this dish, horse meat is prepared with a special ginger-flavored soy sauce, smoked on the surface of the horse meat with Binchotan white charcoal for 4 minutes, then stirred in salted egg yolk and green onions to make horse meat tartare. The flowers that are decorated are actually wild garlic, which tastes like chopped green onions, bringing a double pleasure to the taste buds.

Mount Aso is another highlight of this dinner, representing the scenery of Chef Yamano’s hometown. The entire dessert is charcoal gray, so I consider Mount Aso to be a volcano. Inside is an ice cream made of roses and crushed flowers poured with liquid nitrogen and frozen beautifully. Finally, the homemade chocolate dessert with raspberry jam and orange marmalade is a perfect end to the whole evening.

For me, La Scène Ronde is a beautiful expression of Western-style French cuisine based on Japanese Eastern philosophy. It took more than three hours to taste such a sophisticated Japanese-French fusion cuisine, a truly worthwhile experience.

¥2286 / 1 person ~ 8 million...