[Pink Pig Time Machine by Wilfrid: December 10, 2012]
That was a pretty good week of eating ten years ago. It started out in New York, in the snow, and continued in a chilly London.
It featured two memorable restaurant meals. First, a tasting at Alain Ducasse at the Essex House, then still comfortably the city's priciest table (Masa was still two years away).
Gougères containing sauce Mornay
Filet of red mullet, bouillabaisse sauce
Pâté of venison, partridge, teal and foie gras, en croûte, pickled vegetables, balsamic reduction with black truffles
Tronçon of sole, mustard crust, oysters, mussels, shrimp, black truffles
Roast Maine lobster, macaroni with lobster pâté
Savoy cabbage stuffed with squab and foie gras, sauerkraut, squab liver, black truffles
Taleggio, Brindamour, Cabichou, Cabrales
Parline with chestnut ice cream, candied nuts
Warm apple and chestnut parfait
Macarons, chocolates, candy cart
Curiously, the evening concluded with a sweet South African cider. No, I don't remember that.
Next day, a break for something simple: the very good Hainanese chicken at the Malaysia Restaurant in that little alley off the Bowery. Then an overnight flight to London.
My first day in London was very splashy. Must have been a good bonus that year. I visited Favourbrook on Jermyn Street, then Gentleman Court for a brush up. That evening, after champagne at the French House, my first dinner at London's most classical French restaurant, Le Gavroche.
Soft gull's eggs
Crabmeat salad
Heart of artichoke Lucullus
Assiettes des Chausseurs (teal, snipe, roe deer)
Les Fromages
Les Petits Fours
Taittinger with the first rounds, then a bottle of '97 Côte-Rôtie with the game plate, and a '78 Bas-Armagnac to finish. I remember I took a charming guest too. Must have been a good bonus.
We continue in London next week.
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