“Just a little more,” Alain Ducasse says, looking at one of my wine glasses.

The waiter immediately corrects his pour, adding a splash more Chateau Minuty rose. Inside Muni, the world-class chef’s restaurant in Kyoto, he is at turns critical of some missed detail, and then ebullient, praising the Kyoto wagyu with broccoletti and black truffle.

J’adore,” Ducasse says, sniffing his wine.