Restaurant De Cuisine Française Le Chevalier (Fukuoka, JAPAN) ★★★★☆

The children's policy at Michelin starred restaurants in Japan is driving me nuts again. After contacting at least 15 of them (this time Fukuoka) and getting a resounding NO, I realized it's impossible to get my little nugget in. I started looking for alternative options, restaurants that's in the mold of fine-dining restaurant but without the blessing from the Michelin brass and finally came up with Le Chevalier (ル シュバリエ).



Located on the western side of Daimyō district (中央大名区), Le Chevalier is a French fine-dining restaurant with a modern European style setting. The best part of all is its location which is just a short walk to Fukuoka Castle Ruins (福岡城跡) and Maizuru Park (舞鶴公園). That's where we are going after lunch.



The 4-course lunch menu at Le Chevalier is comfortably priced at 2,500 yen only. You can only dream that they have these prices in Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto.



Lunch got off to a fast start thanks to a small basket of bread and then this, chilled melon soup topped with a layer of bacon foam. Very delicate to the palate especially on such a hot autumn day.



My starter was a nicely plated salad with shima aji (Japanese horse mackerel) sashimi, cous cous, radish, grapes, diced bell pepper and zucchini, and of course some garden green.



The Mediterranean inspired dish was finished off superbly with a mildly flavored eggplant sauce. I really like this dish.



Salad was immediately followed by a small bowl of lobster bisque. What looked like a very ordinary lobster bisque turned out to be a nice fusion dish featuring the rich and creamy bisque with sea urchin and scramble eggs. Yes, scramble eggs in a lobster bisque! I have never had that before and surprisingly, they were a very good match.



For our main course, mom and I had the poached Japanese red snapper served with a homemade fish sauce made with fish stock, butter, white wine and mushroom. There were daikon, green peas and spinach hidden underneath the snapper fillet, which combined well with the buttery sauce.



Jelloman had the roasted duck with carrot purée instead.



This was slightly tastier than my red snapper with the roasted pumpkin and port wine sauce doing a wonderful job supporting the succulent duck fillet. 



Dessert comprised of slices of in-season white peach, cream cheese, chocolate crumbs and green tea powder. There were white chocolate chips there to provide some contrasting texture and additional sweetness to the dish.



Tea and coffee were included in the set. After a 60-minute span that saw us finish all five of our dishes (including amuse), it was nice to finally slow down the pace and enjoy our drink along with some mignardises. 



Frankly, I didn't expect such a high-quality cuisine from a little (but charming) restaurant on the quiet side of Tenjin. In a lot of Asian cities (Seoul came to mind), this meal would probably be enough to secure a Michelin star (and the price was a real nice bargain too.).





Food Rating: 6/10
Price: ￥￥
Address: 2-11-18 Daimyo, Chuo-ku, Fukuoka, 810-0041 Japan
Closest Metro Station: Akasaka
Tel: +81 (0)92-713-9213
Website: www.lechevalier-fukuoka.com
Opening Hours: 11:30am - 2:00pm, 5:30pm - 9:30pm (Tue - Sun)