Amuse Bouche and Yin Yang

26 June 2010: I thought the two restaurants we tried this week were really worth mentioning. One was Amuse Bouche and the other Yin Yang.

Amuse Bouche is run by Ken, formerly at Restaurant Petrus. There were so many appealing items on the menu that we all decided to have two starters and one main course. Prepped by a little Louis Roderer, I started with the house special rich lobster bisque with morels, intensely flavoured, perfectly textured. Then I had a half portion of pasta with shaved truffle and chicken-flavoured rich gravy - I actually thought I could taste a little of the water that the pasta was cooked in. I think this dish could have turned out better as a risotto dish rather than a pasta dish. Then came the house special duck confit - just perfect! Other praisworthy dishes included the deep fried egg with langoustine and asparagus, which looked really tasty and quite original, as well as the slow cooked short rib of Welsh lamb.

As for the wines of the evening, our white was a 1996 Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet Les Pucelles. It was divine, with an intense and complex bouquet of smoky, toasty, toasted hazelnuts, honeyed notes, and a vivid minerality. The wine tasted still youthful and well-balanced, with vibrant acidity, roundness and concentration. Lingering finish. Drinking at peak now, and will drink well for another 3 - 4 years for maximum enjoyment. 18/20

The 1988 Mugnier Musigny that followed was rather disappointing. Very obvious brettanomyces detected on the nose. After a while, the red fruit and spiciness came through. The wine tasted lean and unattractive, with not much of a mid-palate. Drying on the finish. Past its peak. 14/20

Our friend Richard brought us a 2000 Les Forts de Latour and what a change from the tired and uninteresting Musigny. Lively fruit of blueberries and blackberries led to violets and tobacco notes, adding to the complexity. An attractive and pleasing wine with fruit concentration, complexity, balance with acidity and firm but fine tannins. Medium plus length. A perfect accompaniment to our various main courses. Drinking well now, and will evolve over 4 - 5 years. 17/20

I thought the service at Amuse Bouche was really excellent. Very good ambiance, with a few private room-like areas. The lovely sight of so many great wine bottles was inviting and assuring! The only thing that annoyed me slightly was the way they calculated the bill....they decided to charge us "a la carte" prices instead of the more reasonably priced 4-course menu for us, because I picked a half portion of pasta and Richard picked the coco bean soup from the menu degustation. At least we were able to use the 10% discount voucher that I cut out from some magazine! My ratings: food (4/5), service (5/5), ambiance (5/5), price (4/5).

Yin Yang's chef/proprietor is Margaret Xu who uses a lot of organic ingredients in her cooking. All the dishes were very creatively presented, with interesting names sounding like "satin and laces"! I thought the main courses were really tasty - I particularly liked the crisy skin pork and the salt-baked fish. Very generous of our hosts Marcus and Su-Mei. I remember trying a very minerally 2002 Jobard Meursault Clos de La Barre and a 1999 Brunello bursting with fruit, with a strong backbone of acidity and firm tannins. I also quite liked the Henschke Shiraz blend. The Cornas was elegant, spicy and well-made but unfortunately on this occasion, rather shadowed by the big fruit neighbours! My ratings: food (3/5), service (5/5), ambiance (4/5), price (3/5).

The weather took a rather nasty turn this morning. Torrential rains and gloomy skies! Just the perfect excuse to stay at home and recover from an indulgent and exhausting (on different levels) week!