La Musee

La Musee is situated on the outskirts of Sapporo, near a park. It serves fusion food, Italian with Japanese influences, with some use of molecular gastronomy thrown in for good measure. The restaurant was set out over two storeys, with a large ground floor dining room with a stone floor and widely spaced tables, and further seating and a little garden upstairs.

I went for lunch, and had the shortest of the menus on offer, though a lengthier tasting menu was also available. A courgette mousse topped with courgette powder was the first course, the courgette flavour coming through strongly, the texture of the mousse good (16/20). This was followed by a cold cauliflower soup, which was not really my kind of thing, though you could certainly taste the cauliflower (13/20). After this was a potato with carbonara foam, the potato a local variety with good flavour, the carbonara flavour notes of egg, bacon and cheese coming through; a molecular take on the classic pasta dish (15/20).

A very pretty salad followed, with assorted vegetables, leaves and flowers displayed very effectively. The salad components were of high quality, the dressing good (16/20). The final savoury course was spaghetti vongole, the pasta having very good texture and cooked a little al dente, the clams enlivened with little pieces of bacon, the seasoning accurate (15/20).

Dessert was milk pudding topped with lavender mousse; this was well made, though the lavender flavour was quite strong, and not a flavour that I am overly fond of. Coffee to follow was very good. Service was friendly and efficient, and the bill, just with water to drink, came to a modest ¥3,100 (£25), which seemed very fair indeed given the amount of work involved in the cooking.