I Finally Ate at Tokyo's Sezanne After Losing Its 3 Michelin Stars — Here's My Honest Take

Sezanne's recent Michelin star demotion from three stars to two was a major talking point in Korea's passionate fine dining community, making this detailed first-hand review especially timely and sought-after. Korean food enthusiasts are actively debating whether the demotion was deserved, and this post offers rare insider perspective from someone who visited right after the change.

Sezanne, the French fine dining restaurant inside Tokyo's Four Seasons Hotel, caused a stir in the culinary world when it was stripped of its third Michelin star — a brutal demotion for a place that had been considered one of Asia's finest tables. One Korean food enthusiast decided this was actually the perfect time to finally book a reservation, and their detailed, unfiltered course-by-course review has been making the rounds on Korea's omakase community boards.

The meal kicked off with a single bite: a 48-month-aged Comté cheese amuse-bouche paired with Yebisu beer and sherry vinegar. Rich, funky, deeply savory — the reviewer compared it to a gougère and was immediately hooked. They stuck to just one glass of house Champagne for the evening (responsible choices were made).

Then came the parade of dishes that had this person absolutely losing their mind. A white shrimp with cucumber, tomato essence, and Espelette pepper was a revelation — the tomato-cucumber-chili combo somehow erased any fishiness while amplifying the shrimp's natural sweetness. Scallop with finger lime, katsuobushi cream, and dill delivered a buttery, sweet shellfish flavor with just enough acidic edge to keep things interesting.

The Amao strawberry tart with foie gras and port wine sauce was a flex of a dish — the berry's tartness hits first, then the foie gras swoops in and turns the whole thing into something impossibly creamy. The reviewer called the combo "absolutely fire."

But the undisputed highlight of the night? Hairy crab with Provençal green asparagus sauce and crystal caviar. The reviewer declared it one of their top three dishes of the entire meal — sweet crab meat with a bright citrus note, grounded by the gentle bitterness of asparagus sauce, finished with the salty umami punch of caviar. "I hit a wall after this one," they wrote, meaning they reached a moment of pure culinary transcendence. "Now I understand why the Four Seasons brought in this chef as the successor to a three-star restaurant."

The coq au vin course — chicken jus sauce, mushroom duxelles, and a brioche made with chicken fat instead of butter for sauce-dipping — was delicious but felt slightly heavy in the sequence. The reviewer genuinely wondered about the pacing decision. Then came the squid and firefly squid pasta with tarragon-basil tomato cream sauce, which clawed its way into the top three: the squid ink pasta had wheat fragrance and a hidden squid liver paste inside, and the firefly squid's innards were described as intensely nutty and rich.

Brioche arrived alongside Bordier butter — the legendary French cultured butter that Korean fine dining fans have been obsessing over — and the reviewer's reaction was essentially a keyboard smash of joy. "FINALLY tried Bordier butter. It's insanely good lmaooo."

The alfonsino (kinmedai) with white asparagus, mussels, sea asparagus, and vin jaune sauce was another standout: perfectly crispy skin, flawless cook on the flesh, and white asparagus that was sweeter and more tender than the green variety. Then came the Brittany pigeon — only the reviewer's second time eating pigeon (the first was at Nemo, another acclaimed restaurant) — and this one made the first experience look amateur. Served with cherry purée, chicory, and a Madeira wine jus, the bird was cooked to a deep rosy pink, firm but not tough, with that distinctive gamey quality fully intact. "The cook on this thing was absolutely insane," they wrote. A side of pigeon offal tart and pigeon bone broth served in a thermos-style vessel rounded out the course — the reviewer half-jokingly said they wanted to carry the broth around in a flask all day.

Pre-dessert was a musk melon with Champagne espuma and mint — refreshingly sweet rather than the usual palate-cleansing sour, which the reviewer appreciated as a creative detour. The dessert itself was a buttermilk parfait with crystal caviar and white chocolate. Yes, caviar in a dessert. The reviewer's initial reaction was pure confusion, but one bite made the intention crystal clear: the caviar was functioning as an expensive, luxurious salt to amplify the sweetness of the white chocolate and buttermilk. Clever and genuinely delicious. The meal closed with kumquat custard tarts and mini brownies.

A Korean-speaking staff member helped facilitate a brief conversation and photo with the new executive chef, Steve Lancaster, who took over after the legendary Daniel Calvert departed. The reviewer's verdict: don't worry about the star demotion. Sezanne at its current form still outclassed a two-star Tokyo restaurant (Esquisse) and even edged out their experience at the three-star Joël Robuchon. The three stars are coming back soon — probably.