Osaka restaurants — yakitori and sushi bookings fill up a month out. For sushi we went back to Hoshiyama, watching the Okawa River at dusk while eating Masayoshi Hoshiyama’s Edomae-style nigiri, a chef whose steady, poised execution you can trust with your eyes closed every time.
For the other meal we finally settled on the only restaurant in Osaka to make Asia’s 50 Best — a two-Michelin-star French restaurant, La Cime.
La Cime means “summit” or “peak” in French — the restaurant hopes to balance the peaks of “guest,” “cuisine,” and “space” into a perfect triangle, so the final presentation can reach its best possible state.
When booking, I came across the phrase “稽古照今 – Keikoshoukon,” a line from Japan’s oldest chronicle: “contemplate the ancient to find guidance for the present.”
Bondindog
It opened with a small, jet-black dough that looked cute — the server tried hard to explain it in English, but in the end we just ate it straight.
The texture was soft, but the aroma was far stronger than expected — a classic Japanese scallion-and-garlic-oil punch straight to the top of your head.
Yellowtail / Rice Bran / Tonburi
Three amuse-bouche bites: air-dried yellowtail, with those glossy black beads — not the fine-dining go-to caviar you’d expect for an opener, but tonburi (kochia seeds), whose crunch is genuinely interesting, resting on a brioche base with its own bite. A little bomb of umami and texture right out of the gate.
Broccolini — the offspring of gai lan and broccoli — cleansed the palate, followed by a king trumpet mushroom sandwich. A sudden leap from the sea to the prairie, another dimension of umami impact. Beneath the juicy crunch of fresh mushroom, a bit of horse meat hides in the middle with a fibrous chew — an extra point for gaminess.
Squid / Kumquat / Herbs
Thin-sliced squid sashimi paired with herbs on the side, all about freshness. But the more interesting part was the soup next to it.
It looked familiar — then I realized it was a squid tokkuri, the kind used for warming sake in winter. The unexpected smokiness and dried-seafood savor gave the soft junsai (water shield) real dimension.
Onion / Wagyu / Hop
I assumed the theme of this dish would be beef — turns out the real star was onion.
Nori paired with mini onions delivered a mouthful of pure vegetal sweetness, lovely and clean. The onion cream, sliced open with a spoon, had a silky texture that felt almost indulgent, with bright, fresh lemon acidity — also good paired with the Onion Bread wrapped around dried beef.
A soup made from onion and hops cleansed the palate midway. Finally, on the last bite, beef took center stage — dried beef delivering an explosive richness of fat while staying somehow tender.
By this dish, you could already feel the restaurant’s imagination and skill in expressing the freshness and flavor of vegetables.
Watercress / Bonito / Rice
Looking at the menu, I assumed this would be a fish-and-rice pairing, an extension of sushi — turns out the bonito was served on its own, paired with shiso flowers, presented as a sake pairing dish.
The pea shoots and rice, though, were shaped into a rice ball — genuinely stunning, the freshness of the vegetable and the umami of the rice setting each other off.
Bamboo Shoot / Oyster / Coconut
Once again breaking convention — bamboo shoot as the main element, dipped in an oyster-and-coconut-milk sauce, with a hint of Thai flavor. That said, the bamboo shoot’s crunch and freshness here were noticeably weaker compared to what you’d get back home.
Green Peas / Fava Beans / Japanese Butterbur
Rare to see an entirely vegetable-based course at a fine-dining table — fava bean tofu had an intensely savory-salty flavor, with a delicate, moist texture that felt like it barely brushed across the palate.
Fried Japanese butterbur (fuki) was both fragrant and crisp, with a hint of sweet baby peas — genuinely memorable.
Asparagus / Spot Prawn / Pomelo
The sticky-sweet spot prawn and the crisp sweetness of asparagus, with a broth carrying strong herbal notes that still lifted the freshness of both ingredients beautifully — the whole dish came off as joyful and elegant.
A citrus fruit cleansed the palate, then the second half brought a fresh asparagus tartare — crisp juiciness as the first impression, with a crust base that grew more fragrant the more you chewed.
Across the two preparations, asparagus’s flavor was shown off wonderfully. Probably one of the most memorable dishes of the day.
Scallop / Sake Lees / Sea Grapes
The second time this year I’ve had a dish pairing scallop with bread — and once again, a stunning combination.
This dish continued the chef’s signature style: the scallop itself never actually appears, only used to flavor the gnocchi, paired with a broth made from sake lees. Dipping bread into the broth balanced the freshness with the butteriness of the brioche — close to perfect.
Red Bream / Okinawan Spinach / Japanese Fir
Finally the main course — red bream paired with fried, air-dried spinach. Honestly, the fish itself can only be described as dry and tough — enough to make you wish the main element had been switched to the spinach instead; maybe the chef would have shone brighter there.
The chip served alongside, though, showed off the chef’s real level — nori made into a cracker, showered with cilantro, accented with passion fruit. One word: fragrant!
It echoed the earlier asparagus tart in a way, while still expressing a distinct character of its own.
Turnip / Duck / Green Onion
Dried daikon and duck soup, with duck-filled dumplings. Clean, well-plated — but honestly, neither the aroma nor the flavor left much of an impression.
Kumamoto Beef / Artichoke / Zucchini
By this point I’d more or less given up on the chef’s meat dishes.
Then came a course of Kumamoto wild-raised beef, and I exchanged a look with my mom: well — let’s just eat it.
Unexpectedly won over by the beef’s delicate, fine-grained texture, with the sauce drawing out a milky richness from the meat’s flavor. It really took just one bite to go from zero expectations to genuinely impressed.
Miki (Rice) / Sweet Potato / Crucian Carp
Strawberry / Vanilla / Nigella
The dessert course broke from convention — instead of one dish after another, everything arrived at once, all in one go.
The sweet potato left no impression, but the strawberry, which looked cloyingly sweet, turned out refreshing instead. Fresh strawberry, fermented strawberry, and a thick strawberry sauce — the whole dessert wove together different layers of acidity and sweetness, while a bright strawberry freshness ran through it all the way to the end.
Marshmallow sandwiched around vanilla ice cream, given a bath in strawberry juice — the translucent, glassy quality was genuinely unforgettable.
The overall meal exceeded expectations. It’s lost the great pre-pandemic lunch value, but exploring a French kitchen’s approach to highlighting the character of Japanese produce is a rare experience. You could clearly feel the chef having far more fun and imagination with vegetables than with meat — a restaurant worth revisiting once the menu changes.
Oh, and — turn left out the door and walk to the corner, and be sure to check out the restaurant’s bakery. Based on the whole meal, their baking is not going to disappoint.
La Cime
Kawaramachi Usami Building 1F, 3-2-15 Kawaramachi, Chuo-ku, Osaka
Monday – Saturday
12:00 PM – 3:00 PM
6:00 PM – 10:00 PM
www.la-cime.com
Chef’s Menu ¥35,200
