La Cime — Restaurant in Osaka

I've had my fair share of Michelin and world top 50 experiences, some live up to the hype, others don't, but almost all of them deliver some type of memorable experience. I can't say the same about La Cime unless you count regret as memorable.

I feel it's necessary to explain that I full understand the subtlety of Japanese French cooking and the goal of the cuisine style being served here. When you read these reviews this is not a consumer education issue. I'm not judging it for lack of spice or expecting it to be something it wasn't trying to. Most dishes simply didn't have any flavor. At all.

"Signature" pork ball in bamboo charcoal: Bland, can't tell it's pork, dry chalky texture, mostly tasted like charcoal

6 amuse: Best bite was a "pizza" bread with wagyu salami and onion butter. Delicious, and incredible butter. Wagyu jerky was fine. The caviar bite was so bad I thought I was eating broccoli and had to double check. Potato and Beet bite completely bland.

Whitebait with plum vinegar: Whitebait overpowered by the shiso. Plum vinegar tasted like drinking flavored sea water. Virtually undrinkable but if I knew what was to come I would have just been happy to have anything with flavor to it.

Zucchini and Mango with Japanese Perch: Incredible. 10/10 dish. Perfectly balanced sweetness of the mango with the Zucchini both working together to draw out the best parts of the perch.

Tempura Sweet Fish and Eggplant Hummus: Sweetfish was shockingly bland. Basically tasted like a tempura cracker and the powder on the plate coated your palate. Eggplant hummus was delicious, had some great peppers and pickles on the base. Smoky, balanced acidity, beautiful. I wish the meal had ended here.

Charcoal grilled eel: over grilled to the point of the skin being clearly burned. No sweetness or delicacy to the eel, just tasted bitter all the way through due to the burned skin. Dipping sauce was fine but lacked acidity and depth

Hokkaido Shrimp: Destroying a premium ingredient. 3 unique sauces are all placed under the shrimp and mixed together basically becoming a ketchup/mustard/mayonnaise combo. Dish would be so much better if it was served way more simply with the sauces separated out and bites of the shrimp to try with each one.

Duck 2 ways: First the meatball is overly dense and has 0 flavor. Could have been any mushy dense ground meat, would never guess it's duck. The watercress dashi it was in was fairly good albeit subtle. The Duck ham again just no duck flavor left whatsoever. It wasn't even oversalted, just bland, and the fat had been improperly reduced where I was left with a piece of gristle that resembled gum, I gave up chewing after 5 minutes and had to spit it out.

If you have read this far I'd like to ad an additional note here that I ordered the wine pairing and there was not a single explanation of why any of the dishes were paired how they were. Additionally 2 of the wines were poured at the wrong temperature, an Osaka Cab Franc and a Red Burgundy both poured at 12-13 degrees (cellar temperature). When I asked the Som about the temperature he straight up told me he prefers his red burgundy poured at 13 so it can warm up to 15. Ridiculous. It's a 2014 Morey-Saint-Denis. At that temperature it loses all expression and is unable to open. It should be drank between 16-17 at a minimum. I'm certain he knows this and was just assuming I didn't.

Crab, spinach, ancho peppers: Somehow they made a bland ancho pepper gravy. Not sure how that's even possible, but the only taste in the dish was salty pepper casing around the crab.

Conger Eel w/ 2 dashi: Completely bland. Worse than just lightly torching fresh conger eel.

Miyazaki Wagyu: This one made me mad. Massively under seasoned. The 2 accompanying sauces had ok flavor but weren't nearly enough to save the bland beef. Incredible waste of an ingredient this exceptional.

The desserts were pretty good!

Last note, not one time was I asked how a dish was or what I thought, even through walking out the door. You could tell they really...

This dinner was the greatest disappointment of our trip to Japan. We were so looking forward to celebrating our special occasion and perhaps we hyped it up too much but we were honestly completely turned off to the experience and will never recommend it to anyone.

First, I’ll say, the service was great and this is not a reflection of the service at all. They were very kind, respectful, and attentive.

The meal itself was a massive disappointment and we honestly couldn’t believe we spent that much money for the meal. The vibe of many of the dishes was deconstructing certain vegetables but it just missed the mark. The first amuse was flavorless, the onion soup with hops did not work as a combination, the grilled asparagus had me questioning why we were paying an obscene amount for this meal, we could go on. The meal had cool elements but overall lacked flavor. Some dishes were good, such as the squid. But in the 9ish amuse bouche and 7ish courses there was 1 fish we loved, a few we liked, the rest were ok, and there were about 3 dishes my partner straight up hated. Like, couldn’t finish it at all.

We also got the wine pairings and it’s worth noting that they were all whites / 1 bubbly / 1 rose except 1 glass of red which just reflects the food was mostly vegetables and some fish except for 1 duck course. Wine pours were also a bit inconsistent.

Last, we were told to budget 3-3.5 hours for the meal and the meal lasted 4 hours. In addition, the room was so incredibly hot. My partner ran to the restroom to splash water on his face, that’s how warm it was.

We’ve done several fine dining / Michelin star dinners and we’ve never had such a horrendous experience. We flip back and forth between being angry, disappointed, and in disbelief on how much we spent for a dinner we hated. But one things for sure, we will...

A beautiful evening at the beginning of March, Sakura trees just about to bloom in Osaka. My wife and I had the incredibly good fortune to dine at La Cime.

The staff: Whisper quiet, attentive but unafraid to share a smile as you appreciate the meal. As our first Michelin star experience in Japan we were floored to be greeted by the head chef at the end of the evening.

The food: Attending La Cime truly requires an open mind and a hearty stomach. Any and every ingredient is fair game. From blood sausage croquettes, to elegant sashimi, to beautiful duck, every dish built upon the next to offer a totally cohesive tasting menu. The play between rich and hearty to light and clarifying was evident and highly appreciated. Despite the 13+ tastings and nigh 100 different ingredients, rarely was there a misstep in execution. A scintillating event for the creative foodie with a touch of groundedness.

Presentation: The stark black walls are artfully framed by rich dark wooden accents. The tables drawn taut with black fabric and illuminated as if the food are about to take centre stage. The gentle woosh of the service door as the staff glide to and from the service counter to the dining room. An atmosphere that gently invites you to participate in a carefully orchestrated ensemble of fine dining.

To be clear, we thoroughly enjoyed our time and tastes at La Cime. We offer the highest praise to the chef, his staff and the creations put forward. All current and future accolades are...