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It was
three years ago at Caprice that we brought along a couple of big bottles for Geruhage, then finished the evening with pours from some even bigger bottles. Well, seeing that we had a group tonight that *supposedly* can drink, I prepared a small lineup of magmums for our feast tonight. Then I worked out tonight's menu while
tasting some of the new dishes last week with the Hairy Chevalier at the Caprice Bar last week.
I usually prefer the chef's table for its lighting, but it would be a tight fit for this group. I do have to say, though, for visiting tourists the view from the restaurant's private dining room can be pretty spectacular.
The signature
boîte à bijou came bearing the three
canapés:
Foie gras tartlet - the foie gras mousse sat on a crispy black garlic biscuit, and came topped with black garlic jelly and hazelnut. Smooth and rich.
Lobster tartlet - the lobster came with a shellfish sauce, and surrounded by dill and lemon gel. Tonight this was much more fruity and fragrant than in the past, with more finger lime pulp.
Crispy anchovy roll - I've always loved how the sweetness of the onion melded so well with the anchovies.
Royale de courge potimarron et d'oursin, mangue fraîche et émulsion au wasabi - I was lucky to have tasted this last week with the Hairy Chevalier. We can see the sea urchin and wasabi emulsion on top.
The
royale was made with pumpkin and sea urchin, topped with some raw sea urchin and mango. This worked very nicely thanks to the mango, and a hint of kick from the wasabi.
Hairy Chevalier's carbonara is one of my favorite dishes from his repertoire, and I requested this dish tonight for our visitors. HOWEVER, I found out 2 nights ago that someone doesn't eat squid and needs a substitution, so... I had originally suggested that instead of the squid noodles, the kitchen should just use plain old spaghetti instead, turning this back into the "regular" spaghetti carbonara. But this, of course, just isn't luxurious enough for a place like Caprice... so the kitchen offered a completely different alternative to our visitor.
Calamar Japonais Spaghetti à la carbonara - well, since I had brought up the subject of spaghetti carbonara, I told the Hairy Chevalier that *I* wanted to have this instead. I've had this squid carbonara (and the original abalone version before it) plenty of times, but I've never had spaghetti carbonara from the Hairy Chevalier before. I wasn't about the pass up the chance of A FRENCH CHEF COOKING ME SPAGHETTI CARBONARA IN HIS FRENCH RESTAURANT WITH 3 MICHELIN STARS!!!
Of course, the dish gets better in this season with white truffle from Alba shaved on top.
I was so, soooo happy! My friends know how much I LOVE spaghetti carbonara, and to have this signature dish from the Hairy Chevalier done as a pasta - with the
jamón ibérico chiffonade, caramelized onions, quail egg yolk, and a sauce made with squid... this was so beautiful! My life is complete.
Rouget, consommé de fruits de mer, poivre timut - this is another dish I wanted the visitors to experience, but given Geruhage had enjoyed the langoustines on his last visit, I asked for the red mullet instead, with the slice of fish coming from the south of France sitting on top of a layer of "fish cake" made of razor clams and mussels.
The magic of this dish, as always, is the shellfish
consommé. It is so, so delicately balanced and elegant, with a touch of Timut pepper. The red mullet itself was steamed, and just as in Chinese cuisine, we have micro coriander and ginger
chiffonade on top. I really do love this dish, and always amazed that this comes from a hairy Froggie...
Homard bleu de Bretagne, sauce de chasse automnale au Roquefort - my second taste of this dish, which really floored everyone last year when it was first presented to us. The perfectly cooked, slightly crunchy
homard bleu was glazed with blue cheese sauce and garnished with white truffle and tarrgon. Paired with a sauce made with
lièvre, accented with Roquefort, and also came with some pear infused with vanilla.
Things are slightly different this time around, but this was still FUCKING GOOD. The rich, gamey flavors of the wild hare stood up to the strong and pungent Roquefort, but as always the sauce also came with some fruity acidity to lighten things up. The hazelnuts were also a nice touch.
Pigeon de Bretagne et foie gras, betterave, emulsion de persil et sauce cacao - the pigeon "Rossini" was once again beautifully-executed. I loved the doneness, as the pigeon remained succulent and all the gamey flavors were there. The parsley sauce and the cacao sauce each brought something to the table. And they subsituted artichoke for me so I didn't have to have mud in my mouth.
Mont d'Or à la truffle blanche - the luxe alternative to having the standard cheese course - which is wonderful in its own right - is a whole Vacherin Mont d'Or that is baked...
It gets better when the Hairy Chevalier shaves a whole bunch of white truffle on top.
Of course, what really made this dish was the diced onions buried inside the baked cheese.
Our pre-dessert was kiwi sorbet, perilla cream, and rice crispies in
yuzu white chocolate.
Soufflé à la citrouille, crème glacée au safran et truffe blanche - I had tasted this last week and asked for this to be served tonight. The ice cream with Iranian saffron is so, sooo good.
Once the ice cream gets into the pumpkin
soufflé, all the flavors just work so well together. And the caramelized pumpkin seeds add a nice crunch.
I was too full for the
mignardises, but I did have the
Speculoos choux... which was very nice.
Tonight's performance was pretty weak when it came to wine, but maybe that's a function of the visitors not caring for the wines I brought... I did ask Victor and Danny to save me a bottle of a wine I wanted our visitors to try.
2018 Clemens Busch Marienburg Felsterrasse Riesling Große Lage, from magnum - started serving 40 minutes after opening. This was more ripe on the palate than expected, but thankfully it's not sweet. Showing a fragrant nose of white flowers along with some lemon citrus. Very smooth on the palate with good acidity balance.
2024 Clos Mao Light - this was sooooo fucking beautiful! The nose was so open, and so powerful with lots of toast, and very reductive. Good acidity on the palate but it was more rounded and ripe than I had expected. After 30 minutes this opened up more to show vanilla oak.
2000 Sine Qua Non The Boot, from magnum - opened and stoppered immediately, then served around 1½ hours later. This was showing beautifully, with a wonderful floral nose and also some sweet marzipan.
2010 La Pousse d'Or Bonnes-Mares, en magnum - very smooth on the palate, with nice amount of sweet fruit together with the leather and some eucalyptus.
Well, this was it. The last night of my friends' tour of Hong Kong, and I've spent the last five evenings with them. I've been lucky enough to spend time with them in France last month, and happier to have helped to host them here in Hong Kong. Now I'm looking forward to seeing them again in December.
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