La Buche

Roughly an hour by train northeast of the Kyoto city centre, Ohara is a quiet town that is most famous for being the home of Sanzen-in Temple. However, gourmets now have a new reason to take a trip up, and that reason is La Buche. When he was training as a chef in France, Chef Mori Shohei was greatly inspired by the chefs around him; more specifically, their pride in the produce and terroir specific to their hometowns. As such La Buche in his birthplace of Ohara, where he was both born and raised, as a means to both show off the rich flavors of its mountains and rivers, as well as support the farmers, fishermen and ranchers in the locality. As such, almost every ingredient used in his restaurant’s menus is sourced from the production areas surrounding the restaurant. The cuisine is French, but the ingredients are all Ohara. Local pork and liver become homemade pate de campagne. The coq au vin takes three days to prepare: free-range, bone-in chicken thighs and vegetables are simmered in red wine until they are so tender, the meat practically falls off the bone. This emphasis on local produce and ingredients has had Chef Mori not only pick up a Michelin star for the excellence of his cooking, but also the Green Star for sustainability. Not only does he keep food mileage to the absolute minimum by relying primarily on local ingredients, but he also uses unused vegetable parts either in drinks or as compost. La Buche means “log” or “firewood” in French, and it is named thus for Chef Mori’s specialty, wood-fired cuisine, roasted in La Buche’s central hearth, in full view of the diners at his counter. Veal and even wild boar are best enjoyed with a few glasses of Chef Mori’s wide selection of small-scale natural wines — and he or his wife Aoi are only too happy to give pairing recommendations. Michelin Guide: 2024 - 1 Michelin Star, Green Star