Oukan

Oukan’s website describes the restaurant as “a place of mindfulness and gathering”. This sounds a little grandiose, but as I enter, it is justified by the stunning interior architecture. I’m of course here primarily for the food, not the design, but I’ve rarely been more impressed with a restaurant before the first plate of food has even been served.

There’s more to like: the menu is entirely vegan and inspired by Japanese cuisine, with a heavy emphasis on fermentation. At 99 Eur, it’s also extremely reasonably priced. The service is friendly and relaxed too, so all the signs point to a great evening ahead.

The first snacks, a filled algae crisp and a chickpea meringue, do little to spoil the mood. (7/10) A cold herbal tea served alongside is interesting, but a bit bland.

The first course is all about peas: on the left, they come grilled with yeast spice powder and on the right blanched with dashi vinegar. The grilled ones have an excellent spice powder, though they are a little starchy. The right ones are absolutely perfect. (7+/10)

We continue with king oyster mushroom — more precisely, its stems, which have been made into a kind of pasta and are served with a mushroom broth. The depth of flavour here is amazing and a surprising amount of spice cuts through the umami. The result is a simple but perfect plate of food. (10/10)

A compressed and grilled cucumber is next, served with a tartlet with green almond and pickles. The cucumber is very good, as is the tartlet. The balanced and delicate flavours of these two elements are unfortunately paired with an oversized dollop of overly acidic sauce. But there’s an easy remedy: just leave the sauce on the plate, which is what I do. (7/10)

Now we’re back to mushrooms: this time, a maitake mushroom is served with oregano leaf, a shiso leaf filled with koji barley, and a vegan demi glace. The mushroom and the little shiso wrap are outstanding, but unfortunately the sauce is a little too sweet for my taste and I would have liked a little more of the shiso given the amount of mushroom. Still, the superb mushroom itself makes up for any deficits. (8-/10)

Given the stunningly high level of the menu so far, I opt for an extra course (15 Eur) of beetroot with, well, many things, which I failed to note down. It’s served with linden flower oil. The result is complex, delicious, superb. (10/10)

A palate cleanser of sorrel sorbet on shiso granita brings me back down to earth. (6/10)

Unfortunately, the desserts also stay on earth: a white tea ice cream sandwich is dense, doughy, and with a flavour-neutral ice cream. (5/10)

A churro filled with fermented apricot and chocolate on top (another 15 Eur supplement) is much better, but could have used more apricot. But at this point, who cares — my mind is still on those mushrooms and that beetroot. (7/10)

A few unremarkable petit fours complete a remarkable meal. Given the price and lack of Michelin approval, I was hoping for a solid, perhaps interesting, Japanese-inspired vegan dinner. I got one of the most surprising dinners I’ve had in a long time. I’ll freely admit that the flavour profiles favoured by Oukan align very well with my personal preferences. I’ll also admit that some dishes were a little overcomplicated, with a fermented thing here and a drop of a special oil there, and that the precision wasn’t at the same level as (multi-)starred restaurants. But the highs were very high indeed, and going by flavour alone, this was one of the best meals I’ve had in a long time.