Pin It
Another Friday Lunch Club gathering - the first for the Year of the Ox. Appropriately a steakhouse was chosen as the venue, and we visited Dakota Prime for the first time. I had heard a lot of good things about this place, both from friends as well as some reviews on the internet, so I was pretty eager to try it for myself.
The 3-course set lunch was a real bargain, and I decided (for once) to go the cheap route and did not upgrade to a better cut of beef. All my research told me that the meat was good even with the cheap cuts...
I started with the mini lump crab cake crayfish remoulade. It is indeed very mini, but I thought it was pretty well done. It was mostly crab meat, and you can really taste it. There was a good amount of seasoning so the natural sweetness isn't as prominent. The capsicum purée around the crab cake provided the sweetness to balance the savory flavors of the crab. A good start to the meal.
The grilled USDA Prime flat iron steak - at 10oz a pretty decent size for lunch - was as good as other netizens claimed. Even though it's not a fillet, strip or ribeye, it's still marbled enough to be classified as USDA Prime. I asked for medium rare, and what I got was slightly more done than I wanted, but it was still very juicy and tender. In fact with every cut made by my Laguiole knife, more jus came running out of the steak... Surprisingly it was the center of the steak that was more done than the edges. But honestly, I'm not going to complain given the price that I'm paying here. The roasted potatoes were very good, as was the side of sautéed onions, tomato and red peppers. The tiny sauce pan came with (what else?) some sauce that seemed to be based on tomatoes and peppers, which was a lighter alternative to the classic Béarnaise.
I actually finished the steak without feeling stuffed, which was quite a surprise. Maybe all the eating I've done in the last 2 months has stretched my stomach? I was actually pretty eager to dig into the Anjou pear poached in red wine and raspberry sauce. Someone remarked that the pear slices - dyed red on the outer edge while the inner edge remained a little white - resembled slices of char siu (叉燒)... Well...they kinda do. Anyway the pear was delicious, with a bit of orange flavor on top of the obvious raspberry. It was gone in no time.
It was a really good lunch, and one that was extremely good value for money. I was completely satiated, not stuffed to the point of discomfort, and no "food coma" ensued - much to my amazement. I would definitely return very soon to try out the other cuts of beef, as well as the burger...drool...
January 30, 2009
January 29, 2009
Mom's special Shanghainese wontons
Pin It
I've been holed up in Taipei for the past week, eating mom's home cooking on a daily basis. It's been a while since I was able to stay in Taipei for an extended period of time, and mom made sure that we ate well despite her being somewhat incapacitated lately.
One of the things in which I had a hand in making were her special wontons. Shanghainese wontons are different from Cantonese wontons in that instead of shrimp, pork and vegetables are used. You will find the stereotypical 菜肉餛飩 in most Shanghainese restaurants. (Yes, Shanghainese call them 餛飩 instead of 雲吞 like the Cantonese...) But nowadays mom prefers to use some special ingredients, and this time it was Indian aster, or malantou (馬蘭頭) in Shanghainese.
I bought a huge bag of Indian aster from a Shanghainese specialty store in Hong Kong, then prepped it for travel by blanching it in boiling water for a few seconds. Once water has been drained from the veggie, it was packed into a big Ziploc bag and got on the plane with me to Taipei. Once back in Taipei, mom taught me to dice the veggie into tiny bits with two cleavers - one in each hand. It's a laborious process, and I can appreciate the work that goes into preparing the classic cold appetizer malantou (with finely diced tofu) that we find in fine Shanghainese restaurants. Since I didn't remove the stems in the process, extra work had to be done to ensure that we wouldn't bite into long pieces of stems.
Mom took over and proceeded to mix the veggie into ground pork, then started wrapping wonton skin around the mixture. It's important to make sure you get a good balance between the veggie and the meat, as you want to be able to detect the special flavor of the veggie. The end result are wontons that have a unique flavor. Indian aster has a fragrance not unlike mint and parsley, only milder. Biting into one of these wontons leaves a lingering, fragrant aftertaste in one's mouth. Maybe I'll try to make these on my own one of these days...
I've been holed up in Taipei for the past week, eating mom's home cooking on a daily basis. It's been a while since I was able to stay in Taipei for an extended period of time, and mom made sure that we ate well despite her being somewhat incapacitated lately.
One of the things in which I had a hand in making were her special wontons. Shanghainese wontons are different from Cantonese wontons in that instead of shrimp, pork and vegetables are used. You will find the stereotypical 菜肉餛飩 in most Shanghainese restaurants. (Yes, Shanghainese call them 餛飩 instead of 雲吞 like the Cantonese...) But nowadays mom prefers to use some special ingredients, and this time it was Indian aster, or malantou (馬蘭頭) in Shanghainese.
I bought a huge bag of Indian aster from a Shanghainese specialty store in Hong Kong, then prepped it for travel by blanching it in boiling water for a few seconds. Once water has been drained from the veggie, it was packed into a big Ziploc bag and got on the plane with me to Taipei. Once back in Taipei, mom taught me to dice the veggie into tiny bits with two cleavers - one in each hand. It's a laborious process, and I can appreciate the work that goes into preparing the classic cold appetizer malantou (with finely diced tofu) that we find in fine Shanghainese restaurants. Since I didn't remove the stems in the process, extra work had to be done to ensure that we wouldn't bite into long pieces of stems.
Mom took over and proceeded to mix the veggie into ground pork, then started wrapping wonton skin around the mixture. It's important to make sure you get a good balance between the veggie and the meat, as you want to be able to detect the special flavor of the veggie. The end result are wontons that have a unique flavor. Indian aster has a fragrance not unlike mint and parsley, only milder. Biting into one of these wontons leaves a lingering, fragrant aftertaste in one's mouth. Maybe I'll try to make these on my own one of these days...
January 24, 2009
Closing down a restaurant
Pin It
Over the years I have found that one thing that my friends and I are good at is closing down a restaurant at the end of the evening. How many times have we overstayed our welcome, with the restaurant staff waiting for us to clear out so that they can go home? Tonight was no exception. We were having such a good time at Chefshow Time (阿正廚坊) that the boss and the staff were literally on their way out the door as we left...
I brought along a few bottles of wine, and we ended up drinking a bottle of white and a bottle of red. We started with the 2001 Ramonet Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Boudriotte, which I bought just before dinner. I've always liked the 2001 whites from Ramonet, and this proved to be a beautiful wine. Wonderful nose of honey, straw, sweet grass, orange blossom, honeydew, oxidized pear and lemon. Very slightly acidic on the finish.
We also drank a bottle of 1997 Beringer Merlot Howell Mountain. I bought a ton of this wine a few years ago when it was offered on sale, and it is still drinking nicely. Nose initially showed mint and eucalyptus on top of red fruits, then it was a bit medicinal and showed sweet vanilla. Since this wasn't decanted, it actually took a bit of time for the nose to open up. This wine is still going strong and I will have a few more years to enjoy and run down my inventory.
We asked the restaurant to put together a selection of dishes for us, rather than having us order each dish. The menu was as follows:
Trio of starters
grilled cherry tomato wrapped in bacon (烤培根蕃茄) - OK but nothing special
grilled scallop with garlic mayo (烤鮮貝佐蒜味蛋黃醬) - the scallop was a little dry for my taste
anglerfish liver with orange ponzu (鮟鱇魚肝佐橙酢) - fairly typical presentation of the liver
Parma ham salad (帕瑪沙拉) - nice and refreshing course
Wild mushrooms sautéed with aged balsamic vinegar (野菇拌炒陳年酢) - pretty nicely done as the balsamic vinegar makes it a little more interesting than the run-of-the-mill sautéed shrooms. The plates were clean in no time.
Grilled veal rib-eye (烤小牛肋眼排) - the veal was tender, juicy and pink. The accompanying pumpkin and okra were interesting. But as I don't like my meat with mustard, I thought the veal jus was a little bland.
Gratinated spicy red king crab (焗烤辣味鱈場蟹) - this is actually pretty interesting, since it's a twist on the typical grilled taraba crab legs. The chef has spread spicy miso sauce on top before grilling, so it's a bit sweet and spicy.
Chicken hot pot (燒酒雞鍋) - this is a variation of the Taiwanese sesame oil chicken (麻油雞). The chicken was pretty nice and there was plenty of veggies, plus some vermicelli (麵線). The soup was pretty nice and light, unlike the traditional soup which is heavy on the sesame oil and rice wine. Pretty good stuff.
Grilled rock fish (鹽烤紅喉魚) - I must admit that it's a little bit eerie to have this fish sitting in front of you, with a big white eye staring at you while one pectoral fin sticks straight up into the air... It seems that every table got one so we decided to get one, too. It was OK but I didn't think this was anything special, other than being glad that I'm having a new type of fish.
We also shared one small bowl of Taiwanese-style braised pork rice (魯肉飯), with each of us having a spoonful. I thought it was only so-so, but it's no big deal.
The best part of the dinner was actually the desserts. We had four of them because the fifth - a chocolate concoction - had just been made and was not ready tonight.
Steamed taro mash with longan (龍眼芋泥) - for a guy who normally doesn't care for taro, this was actually really nicely done. The taro was just sweet enough and the candied longan inside added an interesting element to the dessert.
Strawberry mousse (草莓慕斯) - made with fresh strawberries that are in season, this was very, very delicious. The local strawberries have so much flavor. This was hands down the best dessert tonight and a good way to finish the meal on a high note.
I passed on the tiramisu tonight, and had the almond parfait instead. This was OK and looked more interesting than it tasted.
We were certainly very happy at the end of the meal. Overall I think the quality of the food was pretty good, and the service was very friendly since the staff knew a couple of people in the group. But there was something missing here tonight...creativity. I always thought that this place was supposed to have creative cuisine, but I didn't see much of it tonight. Perhaps I should have specified that I wanted something out of the ordinary... Next time.
Over the years I have found that one thing that my friends and I are good at is closing down a restaurant at the end of the evening. How many times have we overstayed our welcome, with the restaurant staff waiting for us to clear out so that they can go home? Tonight was no exception. We were having such a good time at Chefshow Time (阿正廚坊) that the boss and the staff were literally on their way out the door as we left...
I brought along a few bottles of wine, and we ended up drinking a bottle of white and a bottle of red. We started with the 2001 Ramonet Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Boudriotte, which I bought just before dinner. I've always liked the 2001 whites from Ramonet, and this proved to be a beautiful wine. Wonderful nose of honey, straw, sweet grass, orange blossom, honeydew, oxidized pear and lemon. Very slightly acidic on the finish.
We also drank a bottle of 1997 Beringer Merlot Howell Mountain. I bought a ton of this wine a few years ago when it was offered on sale, and it is still drinking nicely. Nose initially showed mint and eucalyptus on top of red fruits, then it was a bit medicinal and showed sweet vanilla. Since this wasn't decanted, it actually took a bit of time for the nose to open up. This wine is still going strong and I will have a few more years to enjoy and run down my inventory.
We asked the restaurant to put together a selection of dishes for us, rather than having us order each dish. The menu was as follows:
grilled cherry tomato wrapped in bacon (烤培根蕃茄) - OK but nothing special
grilled scallop with garlic mayo (烤鮮貝佐蒜味蛋黃醬) - the scallop was a little dry for my taste
anglerfish liver with orange ponzu (鮟鱇魚肝佐橙酢) - fairly typical presentation of the liver
Parma ham salad (帕瑪沙拉) - nice and refreshing course
The best part of the dinner was actually the desserts. We had four of them because the fifth - a chocolate concoction - had just been made and was not ready tonight.
January 23, 2009
Lunar New Year family dinner
Pin It
I'm in Taipei to spend time with my family for Lunar New Year. Because some relatives are departing early for a trip overseas, our family decided to have the traditional reunion dinner two days earlier. We ate out this year, at the Sogo branch of Shanghai Shanghai (紅豆食府).
Unlike a lot of my friends, traditional Taiwanese fare isn't the norm for us during the holiday season. My maternal grandma is Shanghainese, so that's the food I grew up with. True to tradition there were lots of dishes tonight - I counted 12 courses. Fortunately most dishes weren't too big so I didn't come away feeling very stuffed.
The 12 courses were:
Phoenix-tailed anchovy (鳳尾魚) - I've always loved this fish as a kid, because it was also my grandpa's favorite. Years ago when you couldn't buy mainland Chinese goods in Taiwan, we used to smuggle tins of this from Singapore. Now we can enjoy them in restaurants right here. Tonight this was an excellent starter - the deep-fried fish was light and crispy, marinated with sugar so that it is sweet-tasting. I could probably eat half a plate of it by myself...
Drunken chicken (醉雞) - pretty decent, but this is never a dish that I find too exciting.
Stir-fried freshwater shrimp (清炒蝦仁) - the tiny freshwater shrimps have their shells removed, then are lightly starched before being stir-fried quickly at high heat to seal in the moisture. The texture here is wonderful, as each individual shrimp is fresh, and a bit bouncy when you bite into it. The finishing touches are added with a few drops of vinegar.
Shredded chicken and sweet peas (雞絲豌豆) - this was excellent. The thin shreds of chicken were very light and tender, while the tiny baby peas really were very sweet in taste.
Celery sticks with mustard sauce (芥末西芹) - this was alright, kinda refreshing.
Pork spare ribs in onion sauce (洋蔥子排) - nicely done. I of course picked up the bits with strips of fat... Yummy!
Stir-fried pea shoots, shiitake mushrooms and bamboo shoots (豆苗炒雙冬) - a classic winter veggie dish, although the quality of pea shoots in Taiwan is still no match with what I normally have in Hong Kong. The winter bamboo shoots, however, were sweet and perfect - crunchy enough when you bite into it, but tender at the same time since only the best center bits are used.
Steamed stinky tofu (蒸臭豆腐) - I still can't get used to this so I didn't have any...
Mushy noodles with scallions (蔥開煨麵) - this is more for grandma, as she loves these mushy noodles in soup. Unfortunately the waitress didn't serve it correctly. The tasty bits of fried scallions and dried shrimp were left at the bottom of the big bowl, so we didn't get enough of it in our little individual bowls. Coupled with the fact that the soup could have used a bit more salt, this meant that the noodle was a bit bland for my taste...
Glutinous rice cake stir-fried with Indian mustard and pork (雪菜肉絲炒年糕) - a classic Shanghainese dish that is a must for Lunar New Year. They did it well so that the rice cakes weren't sticking to our teeth - which would have been an unthinkable tragedy for grandma.
Steamed marble goby (清蒸筍殼魚) - this is a wonderful fish that I can never find in Hong Kong. Normally I need to go to Singapore to get this, and it's actually nice to be able to find this in Taipei...although it's not that common here, either.
Double-boiled chicken soup with shark's fin (砂鍋排翅) - for environmental reasons I don't normally eat shark's fin, so I gave up my portion to the others. But I really enjoyed the delicious chicken soup, which has the wonderful flavors of ham, conpoy and sweet Chinese cabbage.
While I think that this is one of the better Shanghainese restaurants in town in terms of food, the service here does leave much to be desired. They tend to bring on all the dishes at once, forcing you to eat non-stop with no breathing space between dishes. We probably went through the first 7-8 dishes in the space of 30 minutes, until the kitchen finally stopped sending them out after our repeated pleas to slow things down. I was getting pretty upset at one point, because I couldn't enjoy my food and was reduced to constant shoving and chewing!
I think good restauranteurs in Asia really need to think about how to improve on their service. The standard of their food may be high, but if the dining experience isn't really enjoyable as a whole due to poor service, they're gonna lose some well-heeled customers who will go elsewhere. This is a pet peeve of mine, and a hot topic these days after the release of the HK/Macau Michelin Guide...
I'm in Taipei to spend time with my family for Lunar New Year. Because some relatives are departing early for a trip overseas, our family decided to have the traditional reunion dinner two days earlier. We ate out this year, at the Sogo branch of Shanghai Shanghai (紅豆食府).
Unlike a lot of my friends, traditional Taiwanese fare isn't the norm for us during the holiday season. My maternal grandma is Shanghainese, so that's the food I grew up with. True to tradition there were lots of dishes tonight - I counted 12 courses. Fortunately most dishes weren't too big so I didn't come away feeling very stuffed.
The 12 courses were:
Phoenix-tailed anchovy (鳳尾魚) - I've always loved this fish as a kid, because it was also my grandpa's favorite. Years ago when you couldn't buy mainland Chinese goods in Taiwan, we used to smuggle tins of this from Singapore. Now we can enjoy them in restaurants right here. Tonight this was an excellent starter - the deep-fried fish was light and crispy, marinated with sugar so that it is sweet-tasting. I could probably eat half a plate of it by myself...
Drunken chicken (醉雞) - pretty decent, but this is never a dish that I find too exciting.
Stir-fried freshwater shrimp (清炒蝦仁) - the tiny freshwater shrimps have their shells removed, then are lightly starched before being stir-fried quickly at high heat to seal in the moisture. The texture here is wonderful, as each individual shrimp is fresh, and a bit bouncy when you bite into it. The finishing touches are added with a few drops of vinegar.
Shredded chicken and sweet peas (雞絲豌豆) - this was excellent. The thin shreds of chicken were very light and tender, while the tiny baby peas really were very sweet in taste.
Celery sticks with mustard sauce (芥末西芹) - this was alright, kinda refreshing.
Pork spare ribs in onion sauce (洋蔥子排) - nicely done. I of course picked up the bits with strips of fat... Yummy!
Stir-fried pea shoots, shiitake mushrooms and bamboo shoots (豆苗炒雙冬) - a classic winter veggie dish, although the quality of pea shoots in Taiwan is still no match with what I normally have in Hong Kong. The winter bamboo shoots, however, were sweet and perfect - crunchy enough when you bite into it, but tender at the same time since only the best center bits are used.
Steamed stinky tofu (蒸臭豆腐) - I still can't get used to this so I didn't have any...
Mushy noodles with scallions (蔥開煨麵) - this is more for grandma, as she loves these mushy noodles in soup. Unfortunately the waitress didn't serve it correctly. The tasty bits of fried scallions and dried shrimp were left at the bottom of the big bowl, so we didn't get enough of it in our little individual bowls. Coupled with the fact that the soup could have used a bit more salt, this meant that the noodle was a bit bland for my taste...
Glutinous rice cake stir-fried with Indian mustard and pork (雪菜肉絲炒年糕) - a classic Shanghainese dish that is a must for Lunar New Year. They did it well so that the rice cakes weren't sticking to our teeth - which would have been an unthinkable tragedy for grandma.
Steamed marble goby (清蒸筍殼魚) - this is a wonderful fish that I can never find in Hong Kong. Normally I need to go to Singapore to get this, and it's actually nice to be able to find this in Taipei...although it's not that common here, either.
Double-boiled chicken soup with shark's fin (砂鍋排翅) - for environmental reasons I don't normally eat shark's fin, so I gave up my portion to the others. But I really enjoyed the delicious chicken soup, which has the wonderful flavors of ham, conpoy and sweet Chinese cabbage.
While I think that this is one of the better Shanghainese restaurants in town in terms of food, the service here does leave much to be desired. They tend to bring on all the dishes at once, forcing you to eat non-stop with no breathing space between dishes. We probably went through the first 7-8 dishes in the space of 30 minutes, until the kitchen finally stopped sending them out after our repeated pleas to slow things down. I was getting pretty upset at one point, because I couldn't enjoy my food and was reduced to constant shoving and chewing!
I think good restauranteurs in Asia really need to think about how to improve on their service. The standard of their food may be high, but if the dining experience isn't really enjoyable as a whole due to poor service, they're gonna lose some well-heeled customers who will go elsewhere. This is a pet peeve of mine, and a hot topic these days after the release of the HK/Macau Michelin Guide...
January 19, 2009
The tycoons' canteen
Pin It
My last meal with my guests from Geneva took place at Fook Lam Moon (福臨門), the restaurant known as the tycoons' canteen (富豪飯堂). Having been here numerous times, I had no doubt that this place would completely cream Lung King Heen in terms of quality of the food...
We started with the roast suckling pig, which has got to be one of the best in Hong Kong. The thin layer of skin is so crispy and crunchy. The tiny legs of the pig are also great to munch on. Yummy!
Next came the baked crab shell (釀焗蟹蓋) with Worcestershire Sauce. After the horrendous crab claw at lunch today, my guests were transported to heaven with this dish. There was so much sweet crab meat here...
Once again I ordered the fried giant pomfret (香煎大鯧魚), which is smoked and then pan-fried. While the portion tonight wasn't as large as what I'm used to, it actually was enough given the number of dishes I have ordered. As yummy as usual. It still amazes me how big the pomfret is...
Stir-fried lobster with black beans and green peppers (豉椒炒龍蝦球) was a hit. For people who do not get to eat high-quality Chinese food, this is an unsual way to do lobster, but it is sooo good! The lobster was so fresh, so that the flesh was sweet and the texture had the right bounciness. Wow!
For veggie we had pea sprouts blanched in ham broth (上湯浸豆苗), since the pea sprouts are in season. While I love pea sprouts and can eat it day in day out, I was really hoping to have something out of the ordinary for the veggie dish. In particular I had hoped for wolfberry leaves, but apparently those are only in season during summer/fall... Oh well, gotta wait a few more months.
The final straw that broke the back of a few camels tonight was the claypot rice with preserved meats (腊味飯煲). The plate of liver and preserved sausages (潤腸，腊腸), preserved meat (腊肉) and the tasty duck (油鴨) was just awesome. What's even better is that we got to have the rice crispies (飯焦), which were so fragrant and crunchy. You can definitely hear it when your neighbor is chewing on it...
For dessert, many of us chose to have almond cream with egg white (蛋白杏仁露), while others had the walnut cream (核桃露). The almond cream was light and heavenly...
I brought along 4 bottles of wine tonight, to make two interesting pairings out of the classic Burgundian varietals of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.
1999 Armand Rousseau Mazy Chambertin - color was very light and diluted. The nose was pretty muted while the palate was a bit acidic. Pretty disappointing to be honest. I expected Rousseau wines to be light, and the Mazy Chambertin would mean that it's quite restrained. But this is kinda pathetic...
1999 Kistler Pinot Noir Cuvée Elizabeth - this is Kister's top Pinot Noir with a production of around only 2,000 bottles. As I expected there was a lot more concentration here. The nose has plenty of sweet fruit, a bit of mint, blackberry, preserved plum and even a hint of mocha. Pretty nice, but still a bit of a let down. This wine can be mind-blowing but it wasn't to be tonight...
1995 Chartron et Trébuchet Bâtard-Montrachet - a beautiful wine with nose of sweet grass, straw, sweet and creamy butter and a bit of lemon. There is a little bit of ripeness on the palate. Not bad for the price I paid.
2004 Aubert Chardonnay Lauren - a very typical Californian Chardonnay, with lots of lemon citrus, minerals, toasty oak, and sweet butter popcorn. Pretty ripe on the palate. I can only imagine what this wine would taste like in another 10 years...
Once again we managed to close down this restaurant. It was a wonderful meal, and I ended up carrying my stomach home for the third evening in a row...
My last meal with my guests from Geneva took place at Fook Lam Moon (福臨門), the restaurant known as the tycoons' canteen (富豪飯堂). Having been here numerous times, I had no doubt that this place would completely cream Lung King Heen in terms of quality of the food...
We started with the roast suckling pig, which has got to be one of the best in Hong Kong. The thin layer of skin is so crispy and crunchy. The tiny legs of the pig are also great to munch on. Yummy!
Once again I ordered the fried giant pomfret (香煎大鯧魚), which is smoked and then pan-fried. While the portion tonight wasn't as large as what I'm used to, it actually was enough given the number of dishes I have ordered. As yummy as usual. It still amazes me how big the pomfret is...For veggie we had pea sprouts blanched in ham broth (上湯浸豆苗), since the pea sprouts are in season. While I love pea sprouts and can eat it day in day out, I was really hoping to have something out of the ordinary for the veggie dish. In particular I had hoped for wolfberry leaves, but apparently those are only in season during summer/fall... Oh well, gotta wait a few more months.
The final straw that broke the back of a few camels tonight was the claypot rice with preserved meats (腊味飯煲). The plate of liver and preserved sausages (潤腸，腊腸), preserved meat (腊肉) and the tasty duck (油鴨) was just awesome. What's even better is that we got to have the rice crispies (飯焦), which were so fragrant and crunchy. You can definitely hear it when your neighbor is chewing on it...
For dessert, many of us chose to have almond cream with egg white (蛋白杏仁露), while others had the walnut cream (核桃露). The almond cream was light and heavenly...
I brought along 4 bottles of wine tonight, to make two interesting pairings out of the classic Burgundian varietals of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.
1999 Armand Rousseau Mazy Chambertin - color was very light and diluted. The nose was pretty muted while the palate was a bit acidic. Pretty disappointing to be honest. I expected Rousseau wines to be light, and the Mazy Chambertin would mean that it's quite restrained. But this is kinda pathetic...
1999 Kistler Pinot Noir Cuvée Elizabeth - this is Kister's top Pinot Noir with a production of around only 2,000 bottles. As I expected there was a lot more concentration here. The nose has plenty of sweet fruit, a bit of mint, blackberry, preserved plum and even a hint of mocha. Pretty nice, but still a bit of a let down. This wine can be mind-blowing but it wasn't to be tonight...
1995 Chartron et Trébuchet Bâtard-Montrachet - a beautiful wine with nose of sweet grass, straw, sweet and creamy butter and a bit of lemon. There is a little bit of ripeness on the palate. Not bad for the price I paid.
2004 Aubert Chardonnay Lauren - a very typical Californian Chardonnay, with lots of lemon citrus, minerals, toasty oak, and sweet butter popcorn. Pretty ripe on the palate. I can only imagine what this wine would taste like in another 10 years...
Once again we managed to close down this restaurant. It was a wonderful meal, and I ended up carrying my stomach home for the third evening in a row...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
LinkWithin
