Cucina is an eatery in a long list of Italian restaurants in Kobe. Their niche in the restaurant business is to provide customers with mostly organic produce. Most restaurants in Kobe are unbelievably tasty. This one does not fall in that caliber. Let me explain why.
Dining Room
We had heard that Cucina was frequented so often by tourists to Kobe that they often had to wait in long qeues before getting a place to sit. Perfectly understandable when a restaurant can only seat 30 patrons at a time. Curious to see why tourists dined here, we decided to check it out.
AMUSE BOUCHE: Cauliflower Gratin
A thick serving of mozzarella cheese atop of florets of cauliflower below. It was served piping hot and it was a nice way to start the meal.
APPETIZER: Cucina Salad with Duck Breast, Sweet Potatoes and Organic Vegetables
It had the right mix of vegetables and meat but there was no wow factor. The meat was also a little bit overcooked. If I may be so bold, I probably could have done the same thing myself at home.
APPETIZER: Verdura Mista (all bio/organic vegetables)
The charred vegetables give the sense that the vegetables are hot off the grill and are going to be fantastic. Hmm. I think they need to work on this dish a bit more in the future. I mean it was served with oil and salt on the side but the vegetables were too crunchy and a bit lacking in flavor. I though the whole idea of bio/organic was also that they were supposed to taste better than mass grown produce? Also I want to add: the baby corn pictured in this dish looks better with its husk on sure but I think that they could have presented this dish in a more interesting way.
Fried shrimp, oysters, calamari and more vegetables? Who doesn't like fried foods? I know I certainly love the idea of a fry-up but come on, you can still try harder than that!
Regualr Oil/Oil with lemon and orange zest/Himalayan salt and Sea salt
MAIN DISH: Carbonara al Asparagio
I will admit this was the best dish I had in the restaurant besides the cauliflower gratin. The asparagus stalks were tender yet full of thick fibrous flavor. Couldn't fault it although one could criticize that it was too simple. That being said, the general rule from most restauranteurs is: keep it simple, keep it fresh, keep it tasty.
DESSERT: Pannacotta with fresh fruit and ice cream
Pannacotta is best served perhaps with a gelee of fruit or even a fruity syrup but the ice cream just overpowered the pannacotta immensely. Additionally, the pannacotta was flooded with sweet and sour fruit slices and wedges. In my opinion, the pannacotta should have been the star of the dish - but in this case it felt like it was one of the supporting crew and it had no individuality at all.
A small display to showcase the restaurant's for sale items.
The last word:
Whoever created the idea behind the restaurant Cucina was probably aiming for the idea: Italian food with only organic produce. Perhaps I have no right to say this about a restaurant but none of the dishes came with any skill or creativity or passion. Instead our meal was more ''how soon can we finish our dinner and go home''. That is indeed a great shame because the city of Kobe usually prides itself on having the best eateries in Japan. What were those tourists reading in their guidebooks that made this restaurant a must to eat at? The staff too were mostly nonchalant and went out their business serving food but lacked any jovial or inviting nature. This my friends is one restaurant that I wouldn't recommend at all.
My Score: 10.5/20
Food: 3
Presentation: 2.5
Ambiance: 3
Staff: 2
Cucina - 1F, 2-3-7 Yamate Sun Heights Building Nakayamatedori, Kobe
http://yasai-pan.com/
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