Cuisine Française Liaison リエゾン (Osaka, JAPAN) ★★★★☆

For the second straight day, I'm taking mom to somewhere special for lunch. Situated in the Fukushima (福島) district, Cuisine Française Liaison (リエゾン) is a hidden gem offering innovative French cuisine that elegantly incorporates seasonal Japanese ingredients. With branches in Tokyo and Umeda (a casual bistro), Liaison Osaka has proudly held a Michelin star since 2024.

The cozy and intimate restaurant features 22 seats, all with a lovely view of the open kitchen.

As usual, I have requested a quiet corner seat to fully soak in the ambiance.

Prawn, stock jelly, lemongrass – Our meal began with a nice amuse-bouche of poached prawns served with prawn stock jelly, steamed egg, and edamame, all drizzled in a light lemongrass foam. 

I liked the fact that they were serving it chilled which had made it even more refreshing.

Octopus, celery, Delaware grape – Next up was beautifully cooked octopus paired with grapes, celery, caviar and crunchy diced daikon. 

The octopus were matched brilliantly with the sweetness of the grapes but as the dish was all about fresh, clean and sweet flavors, I thought the caviar looked a little out of place.

The second serving of the octopus came in a nice octopus spring roll. Mom and I were debating whether the wrap was edible. 

Chicken, girolle mushroom, Gold Rush corn – They called it a chicken roll but it's more like a disk made with chicken, which was topped nicely by girolle mushrooms, Japanese Gold Rush corn and crispy corn leaves, finished off admirably by a creamy mushroom sauce. This was a pretty enjoyable dish although I would have preferred the sauce to be a little sweeter rather than salty for an even better experience.

Mom has been looking forward to this for a while, some nice butter with sea salt.

The bread was simple but pretty satisfying.

Red sea bream Beignet, fish soup sauce – Our server described the next dish as red sea bream cooked tempura-style.

The fillet was wrapped in a thin, crispy batter, accompanied by zucchini, tomato, and raspberry. An intense sauce made from fish stock and vegetables elevated the mildly flavored red sea bream but I found the texture of the flesh and scales to be just OK.

Kagoshima Pork, pumpkin, onion, mustard – More successful was the roasted black pork from Kagoshima served Butcher's style, and finished off with a robust onion and mustard sauce.

The pork loin was incredibly succulent but the mustard and caramelized onion sauce was a touch overpowering. Still, a very solid dish.

Shine muscat grape, basil – Right before our dessert, we were offered a small pre-dessert. A refreshing basil sorbet with muscat grapes hidden underneath did exactly what it was supposed to – to get our palates ready for our dessert. 

Peach, lemon verbena, almond flan – Dessert was almond flan, topped with in-season

peach compote, lemon verbena ice-cream and freeze-dried raspberry. It struck a lovely balance of sweetness and acidity, with fruity, lemony, nutty and even some herby notes,

I haven't had the chance to sit down for a cup of milk tea after our first day in Osaka. This was a decent cup of Earl Grey and Ceylon tea with milk. 

Some sweet treats including a mango macaron, a mini pineapple pound cake and passionfruit marshmallow wrapped things up.

This proved to be a very nice combination of modern French cooking and seasonal Japanese ingredients. It might not be as innovative as yesterday's meal at agnel d'or but their service certainly made up for it in Michelin starred fashion. All in all, it was a very enjoyable meal that represented good value-for-money. 

P.S. As I was writing this up after our visit, I discovered that Cuisine Française Liaison (リエゾン) Osaka announced its abrupt closure on September 5th, just a week after our meal. It’s truly a pity, as I believed they had something special there. Fortunately, their Tokyo branch remains open if we wish to pay them a visit.

Food Rating: 7.2/10

Price: ￥￥￥

Address: 3-12-20 Fukushima, Fukushima-ku, Osaka 553-0003, Japan

Closest Metro Station: Shin-Fukushima

Tel: +81 (0)6 7508-8585

Website: http://liaison-osaka.com/

Opening Hours: 12:00pm - 3:00pm, 6:00pm - 10:30pm daily