La Maison de la Nature Goh is a restaurant in Fukuoka included in the list of Asia’s 50 Best restaurants and awarded one star in the 2019 Michelin Guide to Fukuoka, Nagasaki, and Saga. Goh is the name of the chef. As I will show, defining it a French restaurant, as some guides do, is reductive. Goh created his own cuisine blending French techniques with Japanese style and making use of the best ingredients sourced around Kyushu.
The visit
I contacted the restaurant by email during my summer 2019 trip to Japan. They always answered quickly and politely. Initially it was a no-go, since the restaurant, unsurprisingly, was fully booked. However while I was in Fukuoka I checked if there was any last-minute cancellation and they were able to accommodate me in the end. I am so glad I kept insisting because the pay-off was one the best meals of the year.
The restaurant is located in a neighborhood full of eateries and clubs. It has been operating for the past 17 years, even before the area became popular. The magic door is at the end of an alley. There are just 6 counter seats and 2 tables (each seating 6 people). If you sit at the counter, like I did, some of the cooking takes place in front of you. Goh was in the kitchen, but he was working on the other side of the counter. My cover was taken care by one of the chefs, Andy, and by Ana. They were wonderful in explaining the dishes and speaking in English with me. Service was uncompromisingly good.
There was no menu. It was an omakase course that the chef changes and tweaks frequently.
The opening dish was eel with kobayashi, balsamic vinegar, beef stock sauce, and wine on a piece of cucumber soaked in dashi. On the side there was a green gazpacho made with tomato and cucumber, some chili inside. The composition was inspired by a Japanese dish called uzako, with vinegar eel and cucumber. As this first dish shows, Goh’s cuisine defies labeling. Dishes like these are like small works of art, a sculpture or a painting.
The second dish was even more mind-blowing. It was a platter (it could have been a painting!) with four snacks:
Top right: a monaka topped with a iburigakko pickle from Akita, filled with foi gras, and sprinkled with cooked soy beans
Bottom right: quiche with bacon from Kumamoto.
Top left: shungiku (crown daisy) on a secret white paste.
Bottom left: hirame sashimi wrapped in crispy green tea leaves looking like seaweed.
At this point I received some warm ciabatta bread.
The third dish was a colorful cold soup with grilled eggplant, jelly-like beef stock broth, topped by uni, shiso flower, water-shield.
Next was a risotto with spinach and abalone liver, pieces of abalone and Japanese mushrooms (visually they look very similar!), brown butter and mushroom sauce. Eaten mixed together. I was told that this was one of Goh’s signature dishes.
Next was a piece of lobster with chicken sauce, sprinkled with five spices powder and Chinese spinach. An unusual and interesting flavor for this dish.
The big-ticket item of the course menu was wagyu from Kagoshima (very prized!) cooked at low temperature, with vinegar sauce from Yame, onion cooked for 2 hours from Saga, celery puree. Indeed excellent.
The next two dishes were desserts. The first was a homemade yogurt with milk from Hanno enclosing shiso paste and a dill flower on top, plus a Wagayama plum.
Then the dish was completed adding ice bits sprinkled with Yamazaki whiskey.
Finally, from the picture above you can see the green shiso paste hidden by the yogurt.
At this point I was offered a glass of cold green tea from Yame. What was remarkable was that I could smell the aroma of the tea, even if it was a cold brew. Yame green tea is particularly sought-after in Japan. During the dinner I just had still water.
The last dessert was caramel ice cream sprinkled with grated soy sauce on a base of miso, with Sumomo peach. All of this on top of a layer of catalana cream, kept separate from the glazed top. It was like a double bottom. Very clever.
At this point I was shown two miniature statues of Goh and his friend Gaggan. It is well-known that the two like to collaborate together and may even start a restaurant together in the not-so-distant future. Now you know where Gaggan gets his onions…
The check
Now, this incredible meal was 7,257 yen (I did not have wine, I believe water was included) or 68 USD. That’s an amazing price for this kind of culinary experience. They also had a higher-priced menu with basically the same dishes, but an additional palate-cleanser and a more expensive cut of beef for around 9,500 yen. I regret I did not choose this menu as they had a chocolate dessert I would have certainly liked, perhaps next time!
In conclusion, this was not just a meal, it was quiet display of culinary art. Every dish was the result of the combination and balancing of so many details and quality ingredients. All the dishes were also delicious and I was fully satisfied by the end of the meal. I also liked the intimate environment and the counter seat.
The Michelin Guide gives Goh one star. Travesty. This is the kind of restaurant that, using the Michelin’s lingo, is well worth a detour if not a special journey.
Where in Fukuoka:
2-26 Nishinakasu, Chuo Ward,
Website: www.gohfukuoka.com.