Lumen’s dishes combine the Japanese and Italian culture through the young Japanese chef, Akira Sugiura, who was entrusted with the kitchen. He studied at the prestigious Tsuji Chou Culinary Institute, in Tokyo, Japan before travelling to Europe and discovering, in particular, French and Italian cuisines. The chief follows his courses, trains with starred chefs in Tuscany and Liguria, makes trips to Spain... He then returns to Japan and brings out his own style playing with inspirations, products and techniques.
His cuisine builds bridges over continents, finds common grounds with Italian pasta and Japanese raviolis, focaccias and Japanese brioches, brodos and dashis. He is tempted by the term fusion and finally explores a new taste: having Italian cuisine as the base and adding Japanese, Spanish and French inspirations.
The chef patiently develops taste and texture combinations such as that of these mini pie appetizers that mix kumquat and ricotta, sage and pumpkin for a result that seems conventional, but ultimately explodes subtly in the mouth. Similar to this combination of foie gras marinated in miso and apple chutney caught between two ultra-thin biscuits covered with porcini mushroom powder... The pleasure of late summer: sea bass ceviche, juicy peach cubes, green zebra sorbet and parsley cream pearls. The foie gras that the Japanese adore is pan-fried here, its softness contrasts elegantly with a crispy risotto, which matches perfectly with slightly cooked porcini, all in a flavoured Asian-inspired broth and the umami flavour is evident in the dish. Another Italian attack: agnolotti with beef, pork and poultry fillings, flavoured with porcini mushrooms and garnish with truffles for a harmony of earth and wood. The sweet, sometimes sour, often sweet fruits notes also denote the Japanese taste and temper or tease sea bass and duck, brighten up the flavours, bring this lively touch which often balance the dish.
The pastry chef is Japanese, yet she creates a chocolate and sake fondant with hazelnut ice cream that will satisfy all the delicacies of the world, but she also plays with panacotta mango and Japanese pearls, sesame macaroon, all with a delicacy that leaves a nice memory of the meal. The sommelier is Italian and knows how to enrich the dishes wisely, playing with the complements of tastes with lightness and boldness by having French and Italian wines on the menu, but also high-level sakes.
