Cheesy Wednesday

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I have not been a good friend. My old friend Jeremy Evrard returned to Hong Kong with his family, and opened up Roucou to continue pursuing his love of French cheese. Plenty of friends have raved about the "cheese omakase" he is serving up, but other than a last-minute decision to drop in, I never made any serious plans to check out the offerings. Until tonight.

Foursheets and I were catching up with an old friend after quite some time, so I figured we could just come and have some bites with a couple of bottles of wine. Our friend did not want to have the cheese omakase, so I figured I'll save that for a later date.

Saint Felicien: hamachi carpaccio, daikon raddish herbal oil and cheese dip - this was a little meh, as the fish was still a bit frozen.

Reblochon: duck confit and cheese dumplings, vinegar beetroot and Reblochon sauce - didn't read carefully enough and only realized this had beetroot as it was being served. Thankfully still OK.

Jalapeño cheese bomb, kimchi condiments - one can never go wrong with deep-fried and battered cheese balls, especially when they come with a kick from jalapeños. Adding some kimchi made it even better.

Parmigiano Reggiano: crispy pizza, beef carpaccio, mustard and shallots - this was nice. The crispy flatbread provided a textural contrast with the carpaccio, and all that Parmigiano shaved on top was nice.

Potato millefeuille, beef tartare, grated cheese - what's not to love about potato millefeuille?! And we even had beef tartare on top.

And A TON of grated Comté on top. Even though the potato wasn't as crispy as it could have been, this was still very nice.

Raclette lait cru: pastrami sandwich, jalapeño, melted Raclette cheese and French fries - ah... not the pastrami sandwich one would see in a New York deli, but a distinctive French take.

I gotta say... having the shredded pastrami with a ton of gooey, melted Raclette - and added acidity and spicy kick from jalapeños - was just awesome! This would just make an awesome lunch.

OK... I guess it makes sense to have some French fries as a side for a pastrami sandwich.

Jeremy cheese selection - our friend asked for a selection of 3, which were Rouelle Cendrée that was very ripe, very nutty, and very savory; Comté aged for 44 to 48 months, with classic salt crystals and bitterness on the finish; and Bleu d'Auvergne. We did not finish any of them, and took the leftovers home along with the bread.

Saint Nectaire fermier: spicy lasagna dumpling, braised beef cheek, egg yolk and shaved Parmesan - well.. this wasn't a "dumpling" but a lasagna made with layers of wonton skin.

This was slightly on the spicy side, and despite the acidity this was much too rich and heavy at this point of the meal. I was definitely done after this!

I ordered a bottle of white off the wine list, and brought along a bottle of red for our friend - who happened to enjoy Napa wines.

2023 Jonathan Didier Pabiot Pouilly-Fumé Luminance - nice notes of minerals and flint, but the nose was still very fruity and tropical. Good acidity level on the palate, which was what I wanted.

2007 BOND Matriarch - started drinking 30 minutes after opening without decanting. Very ripe and intense fruit on the nose, very concentrated on the palate. After another 20 minutes we started getting coconut butter and vanilla oak on the nose. Drinking so well.

This was a pretty fun evening, and we even ran into DaRC and Ro Ro - who were celebrating a friend's birthday with cheese omakase. It's a shame Jeremy wasn't around tonight, but I'm sure I'll bump him to him soon enough.