Jumelles 29, a French Restaurant in Karasuma, Kyoto x Lazy Blog.

Jumelles 29 is a French restaurant, and in Japanese the name is read “Jumelles nijukyu”. It has been on my Kyoto restaurant list for ages, and since it has kept a high ranking year after year I figured the food had to be the real thing, so I finally took the chance to visit. In the end it was such a satisfying place that I only wished I had come sooner.

The entrance

It is a small restaurant, with tables right inside the door and a counter further in. Counter-seat French is nice too, but if you have the numbers it is worth booking a table in advance.

A menu that surprises you with both the prices and the range of ingredients. I have posted the details at the end.

Orange wine

We started light with a glass of wine. It is orange in colour, but the taste is close to an ordinary white.

Otoshi

Spooning the sauce onto the bread is one way to go, but the sauce itself is so well seasoned that I kept coming back to it as a snack with my drink.

Bagna cauda

It comes with an olive and anchovy sauce. The flavour is a sure thing, but given the portion we should have ordered two plates for four people. We only got one because we wanted to try lots of different things.

Wine

We went with a nice, sensible Syrah.

Grilled Ozaki beef with a raspberry bordelaise sauce

Ozaki beef is a brand of wagyu from Miyazaki. This was 3,150 yen, and the flavour and the portion were good enough that I would have believed you if you told me it went for 100,000 won in Korea. The meat itself has lovely balance and a satisfying chew, and the raspberry and red wine sauce went with it so well that this was the best beef I have eaten in a long time. Come to think of it, we started with the main and ordered the starters afterwards… well, life is a box of chocolates, and eating the best-looking thing first is always the better deal.

Rich sea urchin pudding with garlic toast

The presentation is killer. There is uni pudding under the sea urchin shell and raw uni on top, so you mix it all together and spoon it onto the bread.

Close-up

Anyway, I tried it with just the uni and with just the pudding, and each had its own merits. The pudding was slightly buttery, which made it great with a drink.

Foie gras terrine with mango chutney and house-made brioche

I am used to foie gras, so I knew roughly what to expect, but anyone who does not eat it often would be amazed at how smooth and sweet it tastes. The terrine has not a trace of off-flavour and melts like chocolate, and with the brioche and mango chutney alongside there is nothing more to ask for. I could easily see eating it as a dessert with a glass of Sauternes.

Chilled edamame soup with a tartare of seared scallop

What you see in the photo is a half portion, and even that is a lot. So much edamame must have gone in that the soup is not liquid but a paste. Add the texture of the seared scallop and you have the ultimate wine snack.

Bonito in a herb breadcrumb crust, with grilled aubergine taboule and fruit tomato puree

Taboule is cooked couscous seasoned with lemon, parsley, olive oil and the like, and it is laid underneath. Eaten alongside the seasonal bonito tataki it doubles as a proper meal, and the aroma and the flavour come alive even more. Some say the taboule is strong enough to mask the bonito’s own character, but when a dish is put together this well I have no complaints.

Grilled conger eel with a refreshing cucumber vinaigrette

I never knew that crisp, summery cucumber could go so well with anago. Finding the right match between ingredient and sauce is the fun of French cooking, and this place is seriously good at it.

Stewed wagyu offal baked with gorgonzola

A middle-aged bloke walks into a French restaurant, so of course he orders offal. They had tripe as well, but that will have to wait for next time. Anyway, this one is a wine killer.

HANAKGO’s baguette

I could not leave those sauces alone, so I ordered a baguette too, and this is how it comes. I felt like we should have ordered one each. Then again, I was already about to burst, so I had to settle for this. This place actually has pasta and risotto on the menu as well, but we ordered so many good-looking dishes that there was no way we were ever getting that far. It makes me wonder how it would have gone with a crack team assembled.

Almond creme brulee with vanilla ice cream

Full or not, you have to order dessert. I eat creme brulee all the time, but the almond makes it feel like something else entirely. I kept spooning it up.

Chilled chocolate soup with rum ice cream

A lovely way to finish, this one too.

I think we ate a bit excessively that day, but every dish was impressive and everyone left happy. When I think about whether French food this good at this price is even possible in Korea, no alternative comes to mind. There is a reason I keep having to come back to Japan. The frustrating part is that Kyoto is packed with places like this, and even at this one restaurant a single visit did not get us through half the menu. I used to think that living in Kyoto for a month might be enough to eat my way around, but that would not even come close. I get the feeling you would need a few years of serious effort before you could claim to have eaten anything in Kyoto at all.

The photos below are the menu from that day. I am posting them in case anyone is planning a visit later on.