KRAK restaurant - agitateur de papilles — Restaurant in Lyon

Visited Saturday dinner. Had the 70e tasting menu.

Service: Very slow. 3.5 hours for the meal which ruined the experience. Seemed like the kitchen was struggling as other tables were also getting frustrated. Waiters very friendly but service wasn’t at the standard you’d expect - food kept part arriving or would arrive then the waiter would take it back to the kitchen. Very slow to replace water made worse by tiny carafes. Didn’t pour the water for us apart from once (where the carafe had been so overfilled the waiter was then struggling to pour without spilling). Every dish was explained nicely in French (they did kindly offer English also) but just too slow. We waited ages between some courses. Needs more polish? Silly little things like bringing some butter for the bread (we had admittedly asked) but then no knife for the butter. Or leaving half a plate of bread on a shelf in the restaurant by the wine bottles for half the meal - not sure how / why it ended up there!

Food: Some very tasty dishes, some very mixed. Presentation very spectacular for some dishes.

Mackerel starter was very beautiful (see photo) and tasty.

Ceps delicious and pretty; highlight of the meal. Smoky and spectacular presentation with a cloche of smoke. Aubergine delicious with slight miso hint.

Tuna - oh the tuna. It took soooo long to arrive. We sensed they’d forgotten us as the manager started eying up our table and looking a bit concerned. What arrived made us feel sad for the tuna - no presentation, thrown onto a slate, and completely overcooked in parts. Photo was as it arrived. Grey and dry and shreds rather than the lovely slices you’d expect. They shouldn’t have served this. We sent it straight back and it was replaced with a properly cooked version - tasty but not mind blowing. Bad service example - they took the slate of tuna away but left the main plate with the garnish / sauce on the table for the ten mins while they re cooked the tuna. Then they decided to take the plate away and give us a new one - they should have just cleared it fully in one go.

Veal - also took a while to come. Weird presentation - we nicknamed it “Size matters” - giant plate, tiny ball in the corner of an anchovy jelly like substance. We couldn’t help but think of a stock pot…then a bamboo steamer on side of the veal and mushrooms which were smoked and tasty. Waiter poured a mushroom sauce onto the plate over the stock pot but we were expecting it to melt; the stock pot was cold - to the point of being unpleasant when mixed with the warm sauce and warm veal. The temperatures weren’t pleasant for a main and it spoilt what was lovely veal.

A note on smoke - the mackerel was torched. The ceps came smoked under a cloche and the veal was smoked in pine - we love smoked food but for a tasting menu to have 3/5 courses with smoke flavours felt overload.

Black lemon - visually beautiful. Tasty zingy flavours but too much cream for our liking (and we love cream). Would have preferred much less cream. It got to the point where it was just mouthfuls of whipped cream.

Value: If the service had been better, it may have justified 3*. The food needed improvement to justify more. We were going to ask for money off the bill given we had to send the tuna back and the slow service, but the manager had already acknowledged this and charged us for the lower priced 55e menu. Perhaps fairer price at this level but wouldn’t return sadly.

Disappointed overall as had so much promise and some really tasty flavours but not consistent enough and let down by very...

we visited 31st September 2022. We were reccommended to go by another Lyonnaise chef and were nervous on arrival as the room is quite stark and bright. There was also only other table occupied. The menu is short, a good sign, the cooking more serious than expected and more complex than we would normally choose. The staff were welcoming and charming and we given a choice of table. also a good thing.A Pouilly Fuisse from a concise but intersting wine list was excellent and good value. Well presented Ameuse Bouche of squash soup with a light hint of curry powder, a smoked fish (trout I think) and another itenm harder to identify as it had lemon grass in it that I found overwhelmed the other ingredients set the tone. Starters of poached foie gras with galanghal, and roasted cepe in a light broth were both excellent although the smoky cloche pver the funghi maybe a bit of theatre too far. Main courses of Onglet with short rib, and Entrecote were both very good, the meat precisly cooked as requested and perfectly rested and tender. Celeriac puree and big chips also good. A green vegetable may have added something. A glass of St Joseph with the meat was well selected. Desserts were dramatic in appearance and presentation. Flavours good and delicate as was required after the richness of the previous dishes, My only criticism would be the lighting which remained very bright until I requested it be dimmed. Done graciously. Good work in the kitchen and great service made it a very successful and enjoyable dinner. I wish them...

Fantastic dinner last night!

The start with the thick foam soup...not sure what is was exactly. Maybe butternut squash and something to give it a smokey taste, either pork or a fish. Topped with what I believe was a dash of green tea. Perfect way to start the meal.

The seared tuna, pear ravioli appetizer was well seasoned, perfectly cooked, and delivered a nice creamy richness. Although I thought the celery caviar was only there for visual effect, not flavor.

The main was the ginger and lemongrass octopus. Perfectly good, and not a bit rubbery...thank you! The flavors were also well balanced. Just enough ginger, lemongrass, and cream to strike a delicate balance.

The dessert was chocolate with ganache, gin ice cream, and a lemon curd. It was interesting...the gin definitely gave a fresh note to the chocloate. The lemon curd was fresh...maybe a little more lemon could be used.

Not pictured, but the marshmallows you get at the end. Wow!!! Packed with flavor. I could taste some cinnamon and other spices in them. They would be worth making a dessert out of!!!...