10 days in Japan - 10/29/2022 to 11/7/2022

Pierre, Osaka- 11/3/2022

7 course tasting menu

Amuse bouche

We started with an amuse bouche made with roasted Japanese sweet potatoes, almond milk foam emulsion, roasted almond and nori dust.

The humble Japanese sweet potato is roasted and has such a sweet, nutty flavor reminiscen of roasted chesnut with a chewy texture.

The roasted potato is so sweet that it tasted like honey was added but it was all natural.  The almond milk foam was so light and airy, and I also enjoyed the crunchiness of the sliced almond.

Overall, and excellent starter with lots of umami.

Cheers to a great meal.

Course 1- Caviar

Caviar was brought out in a tin can and served on a cold dish.

I never heard of Kaviari caviar before and so i looked it up and this is the description: TheKaviari Caviar is produced from the cross-breed of "Acipenser Schrenki" and "Dauricus Huso" sturgeons. With its stunning amber grains, it is the michelin-starred Chefs' favorite caviar. Its stunning grey grains. Subtle flavors with an almond finish.

I first I thought the whole can was filled with caviar but I was nicely surprised when I started to scoop it up.

Underneath the can is a laywer of raw tuna, and then a laywer of avocado topped with caviar.

Love, love, love it.  It was fresh, rich from the avocado, and the perfect brininess from the caviar.

Course  2- Mussels, milt, mushroom

Steamed mussels, sauteed spinash and mushroom covered in Milt bechamel and topped with a gruyere crisp.

I never have milt before and I found that it a sperm filled reproductive gland of male fish.  The tast is very subtle with a slight sweetness and just a faint hint of its oceanic roots.

Japanese call it shiralo, kiku, or Tachi.  Harvested from fish such as cod, monfish, and sometimes fugu with their seminal fluid.

Every components on this dish worked together very well.  I love the bechamel sauce is rich, lush, intense and full of flavors.

The combination of mussels, mushrooms, and spinach are the perfect paring with the untuous sauce and I also enjoyed the cripiness of the gruyere crips.

Course  3- Foie gras, sprout, carrot

What a beautiful presentation!  The dish was brought to the table and then a light broth was poured over.

Foie gras au tochon but it was served lightly warm, decoarated with colorful baby carrots, pan seared Brussels sprout and a baked carrot croustillant. I am not sure what type of sauce it was served with but it was very light and flavorful. 

Another wonderful plate that I can eat all day.

Course  4- Prawn, fennel, red perilla

Another beautiful presentation!

The prawn are barely cooked but they are so sweet and has a lovely texture and topped with an airy foam filled wiht baby perilla leaves and edible flowers.

Underneath is a well made risotto that is so satisfying and was perfect with the shrimps.

Course  5- Saw-edged perch, cauliflower, tomato

The ara, otherwise known as the saw-edged perch is is found in the Western Pacific Ocean from Japan where it inhabits rock reefs and inshore waters with rocky sea beds.  The flesh is firm and flaky with a delicate flavor and a slighly sweet taste with a medium to low fat content and tends to be moist and tender when cooked.

Beautiful presentation.  Here the perch is pan seared and has a nice caramelized top, served with roasted cauliflower on a bed of tomato concassé.

Vibrant color and simply delicious!

Course  6- Olive wagyu beef sirloin, turnip, garlice leaves.

I never heard of Olive beef before and found out that this is a Wagyu beef that is exclusively raised on a small Japanese island called Shodoshima that is famous for its olive oil industry. In 2006, cattle farmer Masaki Ishii wanted to find a way to use the by-product of olive oil production as feed for his cows.  He went to olive oil makers, took the olive peels and toasted them so they became sweeter and mixed it with rice straw, barley, grains, and the cows loved it.  He shared the recipe with other farmers in the area and they all bought in and started doing it.” Because of the cows’ diet, Olive Wagyu is highly marbled with fat that’s a light yellow color, and it produces a flavor profile so unique that the meat beat out 182 others for the Best Fat Quality category at the 2017 Wagyu Olympics, a six-day contest that takes place every five years. Beef producers from all over Japan enter their finest cuts.

As expected the dish is beautifully arranged and is so appealing.

Note the marbeling of the piece of beef.

It was amazing, tender, so favorful that it just melt in my mouth.  I was told that it took 12 hours to make the sauce and it was simply perfect with the beef.

What a great ending to the savory courses.

Palate cleanser

Pear, jelly, raspberry sorbet and a doll up of whipped cream with pear liquor

Really light and delicious.

Course  8- Green apple, mascarpone, rum raisin

I love rum and raising ice cream and that's what I got.

A playful and colorful plate that allow you to mix and to try a diffenrent combination of flavors.

Coffee

I love to end a meal with coffee.

Coffee and a Japanese cheese square that is excellent.

By the time we were done with our meal, the restaurant was pretty empty.

There are a lot of tables againts the window surrounding the restaurant.  Too bad were not able to reserve one but our table was pretty cool too.

Overall, we had a great meal here and the service was very attentive an a perfect 10.  I usually do not really care for fusion food but here the Chef puts a lot of efforts in creating his tasting menu by incorporating seasonal ingredients, and what I like most is that the dishes are definitely French, you know what your eating but the kick is there is a hint of Japanese flavor.  The ingredients Pierre is using are also top notch quality with ingredients we never had before (Olive beef, Kaviari caviar, Milt, etc..)

Our sommelier paid a lot of attention, he kept pouring the wine the whole evening and each time he only poured a little bit.  Hoa hates it when people poured wine to the top of his glass.  Our waitress was Vietnamese so she also took very good of us.  She was so happy to speak to us in Vietnames and we chit chat with her a lot so it was a fun evening.

If you are in Osaka make sure to reserve a table at Pierre!  It is worth every pennies and definitely was worth a stop.

NEXT...Day 7-Kiyomizu dera Temple, Kyoto

Filed under: Restaurants