The Place:

I've expressed my skepticism about so-called fusion cuisine in Shanghai before. But more and more, I realize that I may need to finally eat my words. From CUN to Narisawa to Cila, I continue to be impressed by chefs in Shanghai reimagining Chinese and Japanese cuisine with Western techniques and vice versa. Chef Yamano Yuki of La Scène Ronde is yet another sterling example. A native of Kumamoto, Japan, he brings some Michelin cred to the kitchen. He was a sous chef at the two-starred L'atelier de Willy in Brussels and served a stint at the three-starred Restaurant Regis et Jacques Marcon in Saint-Bonnet-le-Froid, France. He also owned a restaurant in Tokyo called Le Cerisier. Given his resume, his menu at La Scene Ronde feels like a natural progression.

The Space:

That may be a French name on the sign out front, but it is unmistakably Japanese on the inside. A small lobby forks off to two dining rooms. In the dining room to the right, a nine-seat bar arcs around an open kitchen. It feels like a sushi bar. Off to the left, seating is at a communal table for roughly 10. Chef Yamano's team is split between both, and he shuttles back and forth to make sure they're tweezing the proper finishing touches on each plate. I suspect Yamano-san didn't want anything upstaging his food, because the decor is simple, nondescript, and almost forgettable.

The Food:

Chef Yamano's opening dish recalibrates the senses. Sea urchin takes the form of a spongey cake and a cracker as thin and crisp as a leaf of phyllo. Mushrooms take the form of crunchy cookies. A fresh scallop adds sweetness. It's pleasantly puzzling, a delicious bit of cognitive dissonance.

He follows it up with a helping of horsemeat. This is something you don't see on too many menus in Shanghai, but it's a signature delicacy where Yamano-san is from. There it's called "basashi" and it's served like sashimi – thin raw slices with soy sauce on the side. Here, it's served like tartare – minced and mixed with raw egg, cradled in a shiitake crisp, and finished with a dollop of Osetra caviar. The central ingredient may raise a few eyebrows, but it's delicious – delicately sweet, surprisingly tender.

With some courses, he plays around with form and function. For instance, he blankets shaved 5J Iberico ham over a ball of rice bound together with rich, sweet butter and crab roe. The heat from the rice gently melts the ham fat. If the Spanish had invented nigiri, it would probably have been a lot like this. He also wraps a raw spot prawn in a French-style egg crepe and drizzles it with orange oil. It almost looks like a dessert until you taste the savory elements of a kombu and yellow wine foam.

Periodically, you are presented with a surprise, like a simple slice of kiwi encrusted in candied sugar and topped with lime zest. This has no business tasting as good as it does. The same must also be said for an orange gelee topped with mascarpone cheese and Osetra caviar sitting in a shallow pool of extra virgin olive oil. All I can say is "Wow!"

Then there are courses like his roast pigeon breast with red wine jus. It incorporates varying degrees of sweetness with creamy corn puree dotted with a bell pepper coulis, a spicy-sweet graham cracker crisp, and bittersweet braised burdock root.

Dessert courses once again evoke imagery from Yamano-san's home. A semi-savory porcini sorbet is the base or two crispy peaks of bamboo charcoal ash. It's his rendering of Mt. Aso, the volcano that looms over Kumamoto. Over it, he scatters flecks of rose petals and mint frozen by liquid nitrogen – a figurative eruption. It's complex, toeing the line between sweet and savory.

Thankfully, rather than leaving you to contemplate the violent terrors of the natural world. He punctuates the experience with a whimsical forest tableau. A Kumamon-shaped madeleine (Kumamon is a rosy-cheeked bear-like cartoon creature and the official mascot of the city of Kumamoto) leans against a tree branch. Nearby there is a sphere of yellow peach gelee with a lychee crème that looks like a carefully pruned topiary. On top of the branch is a porcini biscuit shaped like a riverstone.

The Damage:

This is omakase-style dining, so La Scène Ronde only offers a prix fixe menu. You have two choices, a menu with a tea pairing for 1,180 yuan per person or 1,380 yuan for a wine pairing. Officially, it's 12 courses, but Chef Yamano will likely throw in a few extras for you as well. Rest assured; you will leave satisfied.

Good For:

Burnishing your Shanghai social media foodie cred. I'll bet none of your friends have been here.