Guest of Centurion

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Mr Birdiegolf is normally the silent one, so I was a little surprised when he pinged me... and not in our usual chat group, either. Would I be interested in attending an American Express Centurion gala dinner with him? Ahleeso, not surprisingly, has a date with sushi and would be unavailable. Well... I didn't know what this gala dinner was about, but hey... since I didn't have to pay for it, I was more than happy to be the 'plus one' for an evening.

As it turned out, this was to celebrate the 25th anniversary of American Express Centurion card in Hong Kong. The powers that be asked The Great One to 'curate' the dinner for the evening, but no one knew the details about dinner. So of course I checked with my friend, who mentioned to me that she asked Vicky Cheng (of VEA and Wing), Zaiyu Hasegawa (長谷川在佑, of DEN 傳), and "Pam" Pichaya Soontornyanakij (of Potong) to come and create a menu together. Well... that made things more interesting for me... and I thought it would be worthwhile to show up.

The event was held in the Grand Ballroom at the Rosewood Hong Kong. The dress code was "timeless elegance", and neither Mr Birdiegolf nor I had any clue what it meant. I knew that with this kind of crowd, many of the ladies would be dressed to the nines in cocktail dresses or something more formal, and many of the men would be in suits or black tie. I knew damn well that Mr Birdiefolf wasn't going in black tie, and not even in a boring suit... so I down-shifted on my outfit and wore something nice enough but not quite formal for the evening.

The two of us knew practically no one - and we had zero interest in having photos of ourselves taken with hired models in Roman centurion costumes - so after entering the event space we quickly found our way to the very back of the Centurion Bar like a couple of wallflowers, and just sipped on some Champagne. The one person we did know was The Great One, and I managed to coax her out of hiding to come talk to us for a while. We all felt a little easier in each others' company.

We took our seats at our table as dinner officially started. Guests were asked to scan a QR Code on the table, which initially revealed only the identities of the chefs cooking for us tonight. This had, apparently, been a secret that Amex staff either did not know or could not reveal to Centurion members - in what they called a "Black Box". In addition to the three chefs The Great One mentioned to me, Jonathan Soukdéo - the Executive Pastry Chef of the Rosewood Hong Kong - would be presenting two desserts. There was some fuss made about the "revelation" of the black box, after which the full menu became available after scanning the QR Code again.

The trio of starters were served together:

Monaka | foie gras | dried persimmon | smoked radish, by Zaiyu - ZERO surprise that this showed up on our plates. The monaka (最中) is DEN's calling card, with slight changes of ingredients with the seasons.

This is a version I've had a few times before. In addition to the standard foie gras marinated in white miso, we've also got dried persimmon (柿干し) and smoky iburigakko (いぶりがっこ) aged for a few months. For many people who likely never made it to DEN in Tokyo, this served as a nice little introduction.

Hamachi | rose apple | peanut | lime, by Pam - this came with some diced pickled rose apple, so we've got some fruity flavors along with acidity from lime and a spicy kick.

Kristal caviar | smoked coconut | water bamboo, by Vicky - underneath the caviar and the lobster jelly was a layer of smoked coconut cream, with diced bits of water bamboo hidden inside. Smokiness works well with sturgeon caviar, but I didn't get too much of the coconut.

Brittany blue lobster | sour cabbage | chilli oil, by Vicky - I'm guessing Vicky got first dibs and chose to serve homard bleu, which had been poached with "lobster butter" made with its head. He's added some scallion oil and chili oil to the tasty lobster sauce.

Execution was just about mi-cuit, which isn't easy when one is serving a few hundred guests at a time.

Wagyu beef ribs | sate | brioche, by Pam - no signature dish from Pam with the Thai flag, but we get the first of our two beef dishes. The ribs were pretty tender, and we've got a "sate/satay" sauce that carried a decent amount of heat together with acidity and the classic peanut flavor.

DEN's seasonal rice, by Zaiyu - this is, apparently, the first large event that Zaiyu has ever cooked at... and he only said "yes" because The Great One was asking. The downside of serving this dish on this scale is that one does not get to see the presentation in donabe (土鍋), which I always like because it's so pretty.

The beef was tasty, and came with seasonal mountain vegetables (季節の山菜) in the rice. Unfortunately the rice itself was somewhat undercooked, and I'm pretty sure Japanese people don't usually want their rice to be al dente and a little raw and hard in the center. Oh well... things like this can happen at a large banquet, especially with a chef who's used to cooking for a party 1/10 of the size.

Miso | melon | almond, by Jonathan - this was pretty nice, as the mirepoix of melon was sweet and refreshing, and we've got a hint of almond fragrance on top, while the miso ice cream brought a little umami and savory notes.

Coconut | lychee raspberry | rosé Champagne sorbet, by Jonathan - lychee and raspeberries are always a good combination, and here we've got diced bits of lychee along with coconut cream and sago. I'm so glad we finished with fruity desserts and not chocolate.

I was a little reserved with regards to wine consumption tonight...

Ruinart Blanc de Blancs - decent acidity on the palate, not as bland as I remembered from drinking many bottles. The nose was actually perfumed, and it wasn't even from the room.

2021 Alain Chavy Bourgogne Chardonnay - some elegant toasty notes on the nose, with a bit of lemon. Interesting that it almost smelled like Champagne.

2021 Coudoulet de Beaucastel - initially the nose seemed a little chalky, but this faded and the nose was almost a little floral.

I was grateful to have been the "guest of Centurion" tonight, but halfway through dinner I thought there might not be enough food for someone with a big appetite like myself... so I started thinking of round 2. I was kinda shocked that The Great One did not organize something with the guest chefs after service, and apparently they left the hotel when desserts were being served... So we decided to cross back to the Hong Kong side to join Ahleeso, who had finished her sushi and was now having drinks.

I know that my old friend Jeremy Evrard had opened a little place called Roucou serving, of course, his favorite cheese but also something more. I just hadn't gotten around to checking it out with Foursheets. Well... Ahleeso was there so we figured we could use something nice to drink, too.

Jeremy was surprised to see me unannounced, although The Great One has already had a chance to try out their "cheese omakase". We squeezed in with Ahleeso and her friend, and the boss immediately started to send us some snacks.

We started with some crispy Gruyère sticks. Very tasty. I could eat 5 plates of this myself easily.

My old friend remembered how much I love aged Comté, and this was 4 years old. The flavors of the cheese were really deep and intense. Of course it was salty, and a little bitter. Served with some passion fruit jam that helps to tone down the salt. 

Next came a foie gras crème brûlée. Just wonderful.

Finally, we had something really interesting... Jeremy scooped up some Brillat-Savarin that was only about 3 weeks old, put it on nori (海苔) from the Ariake Sea (有明海), and added some caviar from Royal Caviar Club. There was a real nice interaction between the acidity in the cheese with the umami from the seaweed, and also the salinity from the caviar. Doesn't really work with the wine we were drinking, but there are worse problems when you've got a tasty bite in your hands.

I picked out a bottle from a producer I don't see often...

2013 Peyre Rose Les Cistes - this was really fragrant, and also a little pungent with earthy tones. A little bongwater-like but I loved the sweet and ripe fruit as well as those floral notes. I could still feel the tannins on the palate a little bit. Later on this showed minty and really nice, toasty notes, and something that wasn't quite coffee-like, but this was so nice.

It was so good to see my old friend. We found out in the middle of enjoying our drinks that Vicky had taken the visiting chefs to supper at a popular restaurant on the Kowloon side, but I was OK with missing out on that session. Catching up with very old friends always takes priority, and this was a great way to end my evening.