Etoile de la Mer, Benesse House

Etoile de la Mer is the only french restaurant inside Benesse properties. In fact there's only 2 restaurant, the japanese one and this french restaurant. Advance reservation is required because the tables are limited in both restaurant and there's 2 seatings. Since we wanted to capture the sunset, we settled for the 8.30pm seating.

with Michelin starred Chef Tateru Yoshino as their advisor, u can be rest assured whenever you dine here :))) Chef Tateru Yoshino has got 3 more restaurants under his helm in Tokyo.

The restaurant has got a fantastic view overlooking the sea but the sun has already set so we didn't get to see it. Anyhow the next morning we had breakfast here and we got to enjoy the beautiful calm serene view.

Amuse Bouche were some cute lil canapes with savoury fillings. This is a french restaurant so be prepared to wine and dine like one :))))

Warm bread never fails to put smiles onto our face. It's like comfort food, don't you think?

Japanese Sea Eel with saffron broth. So u see the sea eel known as Anago is white in color as compared to fresh water eel known as Unagi.


Soup of the day - I forgotten what it was :P


I had a beautiful seared sea bream with seasonal vege. How can u not have FISH in Naoshima??? yum yum yum yum. u don't really need any sauce to enhance the profile of it.


JS had Stewed Japanese Beef with Polenta. Notice how they peeled the asparagus? The polenta was the crispy type, such good texture. And I happily stole his one and only single piece of Bacon Chips :P


Stewed beef was so tasty....I was so greedy for stealing food from JS...prollie next time I should get the kitchen to prepare 2 main for me so that I could try both.

Forgive me, I'm still a kid and need food to grow up...

More like grow sideways according to JS
yea Fat Fat I don't care esp during holidays. 

This building and the kitchen was also designed by famed architect Tadao Ando. See how raw and minimalist it was. Such simple kitchen.

Granitas to clean our palate before desserts :)))

Monkey had a beautiful Lemon Tart with passion fruits pulp. It tasted as yummy as it looks :)))

Strawberry sorbet with strawberry jam, served with fresh strawberries and vanilla meringue. Dessert was really refreshing and good. The acidity from the fruits somehow were so balanced and ended our dinner to another high :))

a lil door to nowhere with cut mirror at the corner. Later we found a few other pieces here and there inside this dining hall.

very decent dinner for an isolated place in Naoshima. Basically when you are staying at Benesse House you'll either dine here or at the Japanese restaurant. No other choice. While the entire island is like closed/ghost town by the time the sun sets.

For more information:
http://www.benesse-artsite.jp/en/benessehouse/restaurant_cafe.html