A cozy restaurant in the shopping district of Yamagata City is Restaurant Pas Mal. A family operated restaurant, owned by Chef Murayama, his younger brother as the sommelier and his son as the commis chef. They serve innovative French cuisine featuring local produce at its core. Chef Murayama said he wanted to bring authentic french food to the local area and later on wanted to create original dishes not seen in Japan or France.

The restaurant is two floors, the kitchen and counter space on the first and a few tables on the second floor. I sat at the counter with 3 local diners and got to see the whole process while chatting with the team. The chef’s brother was very welcoming and friendly, he speaks a bit of English and loved to talk about the local region and its many wineries. Chef Murayama had a serious face but hes anything but that, always laughing, smiling and joking with his team and other diners. He loves posing for the camera too, really easy going and passionate about anything related to food. He guessed most of the restaurants I went to during my trip after telling him the cities in Tohoku, he said he was friends with most of the owners.  His son went to France to train for a bit, he also trained in other French restaurants like Otowa restaurant in Utsunomiya. 

I really enjoyed the creative dishes served during my meal, the locally sourced ingredients were prepared in a few unique twists and tasted great. The dishes which impressed me the most flavour wise had to be the steak, then john dory and the morel mushroom. Combination of shirako and cheese was also a highlight, weird but wonderful. The dish with the most visual impact had to be the chef’s kiss which was a cheesecake which they used a plate to create the lip impressions and topped with strawberry syrup. The chef blew me a kiss as I was eating it as well. 

Course featured:

1. maguro caviar, pork pate cracker, red wine jelly 
2. Soramame, miyagi uni, shin tamanegi
3. Zao salmon, red radish, ikura, dill, finger lime, curry sauce, fennel herb oil
4. Shirako, blue cheese + camembert sauce, honey
5. Musroom filled with, pea puree, pea, mushrooms sauce
6. John dorry wrapped with potato, mushroom sauce, walnut sauce and walnut shavings 
7. Chateau and venison, red wine sauce, Apple beat puree
8. Cacao ice cream, chocolate cream and powder cacao
8. KISS: cheesecake, berry syrup and love

Definitely one of the more interactive and entertaining meals, the course was ¥17300 which I thought was a good price for quality and service. The meal lasted about 2 hours and when I was about to leave they gave me a goodie bag of earl grey madelines which tasted great and invited me into the kitchen space to take photos. While Yamagata may be known for their soba and ramen, Restaurant Pas Mal is worth the visit (but definitely try the soba its amazing) 

Restaurant Pas Mal (Tabelog 3.86) Yamagata Feb 2025