L'oiseau par Matsunaga (Hakodate, JAPAN) ★★★★★

It was hard to believe that Jelloman and I tied the knot exactly 10 years ago today. I vaguely remembered some of the things that happened on that day but for the most part, it's a big big blur. I've been thinking a lot about our past 10 years together. While the first few years breezed by rather quickly, the last three years or so have been a roller coaster ride with its unexpected ups and downs. And I'm so glad she's right besides me every step of the way.

To celebrate our 10-year anniversary, we decided to take our parents along on a special 9-day trip to Hokkaido. For months, I've been working overtime to finalize the itinerary and more importantly, to come up with a place to throw a small surprise party for my better half. The plan was to find a cozy little restaurant with hearty but unpretentious food and I was fortunate enough to find a perfect match in L'oiseau par Matsunaga in the beautiful city of Hakodate.



L'oiseau par Matsunaga was awarded a Michelin star in the 2017 Hokkaido Michelin guide that was published in May 2017. The small contemporary French restaurant is run by a husband-and-wife team with owner and chef de cuisine Kazuyuki Matsunaga (松永 和之) helming the kitchen while Madam Matsunaga looks after the dining room. 

Chef Matsunaga first plied his trade in Osaka before moving to France to sharpen his skills at numerous Michelin-starred restaurants. After spending 6 years in France, he moved back to Japan and opened his first restaurant L’oiseau par Matsunaga in 2013.



I emailed L’oiseau par Matsunaga a few months in advance to let them know my intentions (of a surprise party) and Madam Matsunaga was kind enough to offer me a lot of useful advice. She reserved their private room for us and even let me collaborate on a special menu for the occasion. And that's not all.



When she found out that I was shopping for a florist in the area to supply me with bouquets of flowers for Jelloman, she even offered her help and ended up handling everything for me. Her hospitality has truly made this memorable evening extra special. It'll be one that we will remember forever.



Our night got off to a flying start, thanks to a lovely amuse bouche of three small bites. A traditional Japanese steamed egg with octopus, ginkgo and enoki mushrooms, followed by deep-fried prawn with cauliflower and green olive, sent everyone into an early frenzy.



Following our amuse bouche, we were offered some homemade bread while we waited for our starters. These were seriously tasty.



I've specifically asked Madam Matsunaga for pan-seared Hokkaido scallops as our starters and she's too kind to turn me down. The scallops were really seared to perfection. They were served on a creamy clam chowder bisque with seasonal vegetables (carrot, cauliflower, broccoli, potato and cress) which I thought complemented each other admirably.



Next up was lobster with variations of carrot, green peas and radish. The lobster meat was so perfectly succulent working well with the shower of lobster bisque foam. There was some curry powder hidden somewhere in there for a nice spicy kick.



Full marks for the kitchen for coming up with an off-menu dish for my little nugget. He was so in love with his bacon wrapped chicken roulade which was served with seasonal vegetables and mushroom sauce.



For main dish, everybody except me was having Hokkaido wagyu beef. That's a perfectly charred piece of beef with some fine marbling.



I stole a little bit of meat from Jelloman and it was indeed heavenly. Very soft and melt-in-the-mouth texture and the shichimi pepper sauce provided a slightly spicy edge for the finishing touch.



I needed to cut down on the consumption of red meat so as much as I wanted wagyu beef, I wound up getting pan-fried Japanese kinki instead. This was definitely not a downgrade to the charred Hokkaido wagyu beef dish at all. In fact, I was head over heels over it coz I am a super fan of kinki fish. 

The fatty kinki fillet was seriously mouthwatering. And the cabbage mille-feuille, sweet potato, lotus root, radish, romanesco, eggplant and beetroot wafer all played their supporting roles brilliantly. A very enjoyable dish and no, it's not a downgrade!



Before dessert, we enjoyed a small palate cleanser in the form of a panna cotta. This was topped with a layer of apricot sauce and homemade apricot ice-cream. There was some really strong acidity coming from the apricot which had my tasted buds reset almost instantly.



We really didn't want our celebration dinner to end so early but we were down to our last dish, which was dessert. Chef Matsunaga let us choose between two desserts and as a mont blanc fan, I wasted no time taking the chestnut themed one with light chestnut cream, chestnut flavored sponge, chocolate and pistachio ice-cream.



Jelloman had the other one, which was a nicely decorated grape-themed dessert with different kinds of grapes and vanilla ice-cream.



Chef Matsunaga didn't want us to go empty-handed on this milestone night so he prepared a small decoration cookie on each of our desserts, wishing us a very happy 10-year anniversary.



It was a fun filled night full of deliciously good food and interesting conversation. Jelloman and I couldn't ask for anything more than having our parents and little nugget by our side to celebrate this very special date with us. My very special thanks to Matsunaga-san and his lovely wife for making this night a memorable one.





Food Rating: 7/10
Price: ￥￥￥
Address: 4-5 Kashiwagicho, Hakodate, Hokkaido, 042-0942 Japan
Tel: +81 138-84-1858
Website: www.r-loiseau.com