La Lune

32 Rue Maufoux

21200 Beaune

France

+33 3 80 20 77 42

BY NEAL MARTIN | FEBRUARY 11, 2026

The Food:

Edamame

Eryngii (King Oyster) mushrooms

Grilled scallops with petits pois, lotus root and shellfish curry

Tuna mi-cuit with sauce soja balsamique and tempura vegetables

Gâteau de chocolat

The Wines:

NV (2019) Ulysse Collin Blanc de Noirs Les Maillons	96
2020 Domaine Jean-Claude Bachelet Saint-Aubin Les Murgers des Dents de Chien 1er Cru	92
2017 Domaine Armand Rousseau Gevrey-Chambertin Lavaux Saint-Jacques 1er Cru	93
2009 Domaine Armand Rousseau Chambertin Cru	97

Lock me in the stocks and throw rotting veg at me.

Force me to eat a McDonald’s hamburger without removing the pickles.

My sin?

Despite eulogising La Lune ad nauseum, I have never penned a standalone Vinous Table for my favourite restaurant in Beaune. This year alone, I dined at La Lune half a dozen times. Since opening in 2014, I must have entered its doors on 50 occasions or thereabouts. The litmus test of a restaurant is not whether it blows you away on your first sitting, but whether it blows you away on your tenth, your twentieth. It’s like a great song or film—you never tire of it. Despite how many times I have eaten at La Lune, however familiar I become, I will always depart feeling elated.

Chef Hirobe in his natural pose: head down, focused on assembling the dish.

La Lune remains a bijou operation. The main man is Chef Seiichi Hirobe. He is constantly busy the L-shaped counter, skipping from handling a sizzling skillet to dicing vegetables to garnishing plates with the typical Japanese precision. Front of house changed last year, but it is Hirobe’s gig. Everything revolves around him. La Lune is limited to around 18 covers, so getting a reservation is like winning the lottery, though not as impossible as some claim. You just have to plan well ahead or drop in late. Chef Hirobe is happy to rustle up dishes at later hours when others turn customers away.

The interior is virtually unchanged over the years: cosy and intimate, notes of various denominations pinned to the wall for no reason, a dozen customers perched on wooden stalls around the counter so that part of the joy is not knowing which stranger will be your neighbour for the night. There are a couple of sought-after tables by the window, but I prefer the counter so that I become transfixed watching the chef at work. Hirobe was always quite taciturn, completely focused on cooking since everything relies upon him. Recently, he has opened up and become chattier, speaking mainly French with a smattering of English and, of course, his native tongue if you want to practice your Nihon-go. I would caution that La Lune is not a place to dine if you are pressed for time. Dishes are more or less cooked from scratch by the chef himself and are therefore served when they are ready, which is partly determined by the rest of that evening’s orders.

La Lune is not a Japanese restaurant in the traditional sense. Pop down a few doors to Bissou if you want that, though La Lune is on a different level in terms of quality, ingredients and attention to detail. Hirobe puts his own stamp on every dish that might be labelled “French-Japanese fusion,” though the menu stays within the parameters of Japanese cuisine, never straying too far away from familiar Japanese dishes and ingredients.

Eryngii (King Oyster) mushrooms.

Every meal begins with a bowl of fresh edamame as good as you will find anywhere in Japan. Pop those beans from out of their “sleeping bags” whilst Chef preps your first dishes. Another regular is a rectangular plate of eryngii, aka King Oyster mushrooms, which live up to their royal name. These are thinly sliced and eaten raw to retain flavour and earthiness, served with shiso leaves that complement the fungi (too many people leave the shiso aside) and drizzled with a sweet soy sauce. Divine.

Grilled scallops with petits pois, lotus root and shellfish curry.

The row of scallops is perfectly grilled and matches the petits pois and lotus root. Alone, this might be a little one-dimensional, but the accompanying shellfish curry lifts every ingredient.

Tuna mi-cuit with sauce soja balsamique and tempura vegetables.

My favourite main is the tuna mi-cuit with sauce soja balsamique and tempura vegetables. This is indescribably delicious, off the scale. The first time I ordered this dish, I ascended to a gastronomic nirvana. The half-cooked tuna leans more towards sashimi in consistency, lending it mouthwatering moistness and highlighting the quality of the fish. A poached egg perches atop; slice that open to let the yolk run over the tuna and base of rice. Combine that with the sweetness of the soja balsamique sauce and your taste buds will be eternally in your debt. The tempura is exemplary, usually pumpkin, potato or courgette. It is my joint favourite dish in Beaune.

Gâteau de chocolat.

I always leave room for the gâteau de chocolat that comes with raspberry, redcurrant or yellow plum. It has the perfect consistency so that it sticks to the fork, and the acidity prevents any cloyingness or heaviness. It is a simple but masterful take on the classic French dessert.

The one caveat has been the wine list. There has always been room for improvement, and some might find it disappointing given the standard of cuisine. That said, there is usually something tempting on the list, and prices are reasonable by Beaune’s inflated standards. Occasionally, there are a handful of coveted bottles kept off the list, but you have to ask.

The NV Blanc de Noirs Les Maillons from Ulysse Collin came from the 2019 base and was disgorged in February 2023. This is just an exquisite champagne. It has such a pretty, seductive yet tensile nose with glimpses of Morello cherry and white-tipped strawberry interlaced between scents of crushed stone. The palate is poised and brilliantly focused thanks to quite racy acidity. It coheres with effortless ease towards the textbook finish with noticeable depth and grip. Superb. Over a few visits, I drank three of four 2020 whites from Domaine Jean-Claude Bachelet on the list. They all seemed to be drinking supremely well and were keenly priced. There was a splendid showing of the 2020 Saint-Aubin Les Murgers des Dents de Chien 1er Cru. Vibrant and well-defined on the nose, there is plenty of mineralité here and as I wrote previously, it’s quite Puligny-like in style. The palate has ample body as J-C Bachelet's wines often do, less glycerine than last year, with that Clementine note coming through on the harmonious, generous finish. This punched above expectations.

The 2017 Gevrey-Chambertin Lavaux Saint-Jacques 1er Cru from Domaine Rousseau is drinking beautifully, like so many reds from this vintage, though obviously there is plenty in the tank. Wild strawberries, leather and undergrowth scents manifest in the glass, gaining delineation with time. As I found from barrel, there is an underlying pepperiness on the palate, but it’s quite firm in structure, just softening a little around the edges as it reaches eight years old. That spiciness on the finish remains intact, a Lavaux ready for the long haul. Rousseau’s 2009 Chambertin Grand Cru came from a small stash that Hirobe had procured. Thanks to my generous friend Michelle for ordering it for our party. This Grand Cru is in a beautiful place. It boasts a cornucopia of aromas on the nose. Effervescent red fruit, rose petals, freshly tilled loam and light red brick scents blossom in the glass, each vying for your attention and delineated to perfection. The palate delivers the sumptuousness of the 2009 vintage, all curves, belying the backbone behind that payload of fruit. There is now a slightly melted quality to this Chambertin, a little gourmand in style as it fans out on the finish in thrilling style. Perhaps the 2010 has the edge, but this is à point.

La Lune is small but beautiful. It remains an exceptional value in Beaune. Starters can cost between 8 and 10 euros, mains between 20 and 30 euros. I suppose overheads are kept to a minimum since there are only two members on the staff, but still, that is an absolute bargain. Unlike the moon that wanes and waxes, La Lune has remained unchanged. There was never anything to fix. Frankly, I have never had a single dish that I felt could have been improved—a testament to Chef Hirobe’s exacting skills.

I cannot wait to go back next time.

And the time after that.

And the time after that…

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