靱本町がく — Restaurant in Osaka

Wow…what can I say. Chef Gaku-san created one of the very best meals of our lives today in his lovely, intimate, Michelin starred restaurant.

We were lucky enough to get lunch reservations (he only has lunch twice a week and normally opens for reservations at 17:00) where it’s just him alone running the restaurant.

He was gracious and humble saying that his dishes were simple to allow the freshness and seasonality of the ingredients to shine. We’ve found that creating such “simple” dishes to be so incredibly well balanced, without requiring bold sauces or condiments for flavor can often be the most difficult…and this is where Chrf Gaku-san really comes into his own.

Hie sources his ingredients early in the local markets on a daily basis and is inspired to create his menus based on what he’s found.

He masterfully made us an eight course menu, at one point grilling/smoking tender beef with straw. Just awesome.

We cannot wait to return.

Domo arigato gozaimasu Chef Gaku-san

Cheers to a truly gourmand, gastronomical...

Personally, I don’t think this place should have one Michelin Star. The food was average and significantly below what other Kaiseki Michelin star rated restaurants I’ve been in Japan.

I do think some of the dishes were an interesting and innovative take of the Japanese cuisine.

My favorite dish was the Charcoal grilled sawara (spanish mackerel) with apples, chrysanthemum petals, and wild water cress. The second best was the egg custard wjth Anago, lily bulb, and Soba seed.

Service was below expectations for a Michelin starred rate. Communication was very difficult (for non Japanese speakers).

Overall, I just don’t think it’s worth the price and believe that there are better...

My hubs and I had the best meal of our stay in Japan at this restaurant. It’s a very intimate atmosphere with limited seating, which allowed for us to have conversations with the chef and personally see him in his element. The chef is extremely knowledgeable on his craft and super personable, and the food simply blew us away. From the first bite to the tomato dessert (!!) at the very end, it was a banger after banger. We were raving about this meal experience to everyone and anyone all the way back...