The story
MOzern, at Haldenstrasse 10 in Luzern, is a modern French restaurant that earned 17 points from Gault&Millau in 2026. The kitchen is led by chef Gilad Peled, whose cooking the guide describes as a level Lucerne had not yet seen.
Peled works closely with his produce. He sources vegetables from Mathieu Cuendet in Bremblens VD, a fourth-generation grower who also supplies Anne-Sophie Pic. The chef has also built a nine-course vegetarian menu around spring vegetables.
A tartlet of sugar snap peas and caviar sits on moss. Masu cherry salmon from Sins AG comes with apple and Maldon salt. Crab with thin cucumber, kombu and Oscietra caviar leads into turbot on fregola sarda with chard, mussels and a seaweed beurre blanc. The squab from Bresse arrives in a silver pan and is sliced in the kitchen, served with spelt, allium and morels filled with its liver.
Sommelier Carlo Serafini opens guests with unusual choices, such as a Sussex Chardonnay that improved after airing. A Château Lynch-Bages 2009 is available open through Coravin at 82 francs. Pastry chef Clément Laurent serves four desserts, including herb sorbet and a Costa Rican chocolate with buckwheat, salted caramel and green cardamom, finishing with a small chocolate soufflé with a liquid centre.
Recognition
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History
High quality cooking
Excellent cooking
A friendly Japanese chef who has lived in Switzerland for ten years and a well-traveled Romanian sake sommelier are the two main figures behind the intimate "Omakase" concept at the Mandarin Oriental in Lucerne. Only eight guests can be seated at the wooden counter. This guarantees an intimate experience, but depending on the company, it can also mean that despite the excellent culinary performance, the evening may run long. Chef Yutaka is not only a skilled cook but also an excellent host; he engages guests, explains each dish, and thereby creates a highly personal atmosphere. The meal begins with scallops served with a light cucumber-yuzu sauce, shiso, and sansho. The Japanese pepper sansho makes several appearances throughout the menu, winning praise for its floral notes and the brief tingling numbness it leaves on the tongue. The beef tartare is seasoned with a keen sense of balance, combining kombu kelp, capuchin leaves, pepper oil, and pickled ginger. The dashi with shiitake mushrooms and spring onions is charming yet straightforward. As for the chawanmushi (savory egg custard) paired with caviar, the proportions fall slightly short: either too much egg or too little caviar. Japanese-style comfort food arrives in the form of a carabinero shrimp tempura, elegantly wrapped in a shiso leaf, coated in panko, and fried until hot, crispy, and tender, then dipped in a yuzukosho mayonnaise. Following a sushi course featuring items such as hamachi with lemon zest and salt, or red prawns with myoga (Japanese ginger), the sole chef, clad in a traditional white jacket, cooks a piece of Kagoshima A3 Wagyu (with moderate marbling) to a core temperature of 55°C. It is served with a dipping sauce blend of mustard, barbecue sauce, and sansho leaves. The trio of consecutive desserts feels somewhat unconventional, particularly since dishes like the matcha roll with pineapple and passion fruit, or the chocolate with toasted sesame, likely stray from strict Japanese confectionery traditions. Then again, no one dining by the shores of Lake Lucerne would expect a strictly traditional Japanese omakase experience.
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