Dinner at The French Window with a 1951 bottle and a Jayer

28 Jan 2012: Dinner at The French Window. As it's a slightly special event, we organised a bottle of 2002 Cristal, Louis Roederer from the restaurant's wine list to be opened.  (We had brought the other bottles with us.)  We all had the champagne served in white wine glasses as it's still rather closed, and needed better aeration to release aromas of blossom, granny smith apple, pear, citrus and toast.  On the palate, minerality, herbal and cardamon notes abound, leaving a slight almond aftertaste, in the rather long and crisp finish.  Racy and classic, with beautiful delineation.  This is still very much in its youth, with plenty of evolution to look forward to. 17.5/20



Foie gras terrine

 I had the foie gras terrine, served with intensely flavoured blackberry and fig preserve, as starter, because I thought it would go well with the 1951 Laville Haut Brion.  This wine went through the most amazing evolution during the 2.5 hour dinner.  Medium golden colour.  A whiff of musty stink at the beginning was not enough to put us off the rich undertone of honey, honeysuckle, spicy and smokey bouquet.  The mustiness gradually disappeared and a note of ripe fruit returned, like guava and gooseberry. The rounded and viscous texture was laced with very fine acidity, rendering a timeless freshness to this 60-year-old wine.  An intense spicy note of ginger preserve and rich fruit character dominated the palate.  As the evening progressed, the bouquet took on a macadamia nutty and nougat like complexity.  The finish lasted almost 2 minutes, leaving us with a most memerable smokey and spicy honeyed aftertaste.  We were all totally gobsmacked with how this wine transformed during dinner and it was just the most wonderful revelation.  17.5/20  (We bought this bottle with a very special purpose: 1951 is the birth year of our dear friend and it's just the most wonderful experience to share it with him on this special occasion!)

Our red wine was a bottle of the 1985 Vosne-Romanée Cros Parantoux by the legendary Henri Jayer.   We wanted to try this bottle ahead of the Christie's auction next week of wines directly from the cellars of the domaine!  Well, our bottle, though with a stained label, was absolutely stunning!  Still showing much youthful vigour and energy.  Rose pot pourri, redcurrant, cherry and blackberry aromas, layered with leather, mushroom, star anise and mineral notes.  On the palate, the wine shows a freshness that belies its age and a concentration and power that is understated but very much present.  For me, this wine is nowhere near its apogée, which may come in 4 - 5 years' time.  There is already a very harmonious structure of vibrant acidity and fine tannin.  The velvety texture leading to a nice long finish that could easily last a couple of minutes for me.  A very fine example of first rate burgundy from a master at the top of his game.  Drink till 2025+.  18.5/20  (Just a thought: what price would you pay for a bottle of wine like this?  Does the market price really  justify the enjoyment?)

Pheasant in soya sauce

I chose a rather creative dish as main course: pheasant cooked in soya sauce with celeriac puree and grapes.  It's the best pheasant I'd ever had. I normally don't like pheasant much and find it quite bland.  This version however was moist and tender, and full of lovely soya sauced flavoured meat jus, which married rather well with the somewhat challenging flavours of the celeriac.   The restaurant has a page dedicated to some creative game dishes.  I rather liked the sound of the venison dish too (wish they would call it venison, rather than deer on the menu though) - another visit would be necessary!  Richard and Frank shared the côte de boeuf which was juicy and cooked perfectly rare!  Anne had the lobster dish for main course which looked rather nice too.  Decoration is a big thing at the French Window and all the dishes came artistically decorated - quite appropriately served in plates that took the shape of an artist palette. 

We ended the meal with a 1996 Yquem in half bottle.  Just perfectly sweet, with great balancing acidity within a more delicate and elegant framework.  Honey, marmalade, apricot and rye bread came to mind. Nicely harmonious, but it's not a massively rich, unctuous and concentrated Yquem.  Rather delicious, with a very long life ahead!  17/20    

We enjoyed it over a couple of desserts and a cheese platter to share.  Not a bad selection either: we had munster, comté, mimolette, livarot and Ossau Iraty.  When we asked for bread, they had to bake the rolls again.....which took quite a bit longer to arrive.

It was a very high quality experience at the French Window, from the quality of the food, the presentation, the service to the ambiance. (Quite a change from our experience there last time. The most improvement came from the service.) Pity that it wasn't busier, the restaurant looked half empty.  Located in the shopping mall, quite a few people started their dinner rather early.   Our waiter came round to ask us for our feedback on the dinner - a rather nice touch!

1999 Bonnes Mares, Roumier

25 Jan 2012: Garnet-ruby core.  A sophisticated wine marked by finesse and elegant structure, subtle complexity of primary just turning secondary, raspberry, dark cherry, tea leaves, mushroom and undergrowth with mineral nuances.  Very 3-dimensional, rounded mouthfeel, and a long-lasting finish with hints of sweet fruit.  The fine tannin not fully integrated, and there is a good level of acidity.  This is drinking well today, with food, and has the material to last a couple more decades.  Totally indulging! 18.5/20

Rousseau Chambertin Clos de Beze

23 Jan 2012: Chinese New Year Day.  French bistro-themed dinner and everyone brought a bottle.  Rachel brought us some really delicious home-made pissaladière (3 types - plain onion, with anchovy and with olive), accompanied by a 1979 Lanson in magnum (48% Chardonnay and 52% Pinot Noir).  A bright lemon colour, with fine bubbles and a creamy mousse.  Tasting very fresh on entry, with complexities of brioche, ripe pear, marzipan and a little savoury on the nose, but a little simple on the palate.  Still pretty remarkable for its age to show such verve and freshness.  

1983 Corton Charlemagne, Louis Latour was a golden colour, but did not taste madeirised at all, just a mature bouquet of honey, apricot and oatmeal, rather characteristic of a vintage that delivered a bundle of over-ripeness to healthy Chardonnay grapes (evidence of noble rot in certain patches).  The richness was perhaps not matched with sufficent acidity to give the wine the ideal balance, now that the wine was almost 30 years old.  I found it rather cloying and this certainly did not go well with the much-praised jambon persillé (from Monsieur Chatté), complete with dijon mustard and cornichons! Drink now! 15/20


The reds


The still robust structure, with the still to be resolved, yet fine-textured tannin, of the 1988 Pommard Les Vignets, Leroy was true to form.  It showed some rustic characteristics, meaty and earthy, but also managed to retain remnants of the rich fruit of the vintage, with some spicy nuances.  Good level of acidity.  This wine is drinking now, further development in bottle would probably help integrate the residual tannin, but I am not so sure the fruit will hold out that long!  16/20

The 1978 Volnay, de Montille was one of the star performers of the evening.  It showed a bright ruby-garnet colour.  A raspberry and mocha bouquet, infused with minerality, and some hints of caramel.  The feminine characteristics suitably delivered in the soft silky texture.  The palate lifted by the just right amount of acidity.  A divine expression of Volnay and testimony to the very fine and ripe fruit from the vintage of 1978, with a lot of ageworthy material.  This wine was made to last the ages and this fine example at the Village level just went to show what a fine craftsman Hubert de Montille was!  Drink now and with at least 6 - 8 years ahead of enjoyment at this peak.  17.5/20

Finally, we had two vintages of Chambertin Clos de Bèze, Rousseau to go with Richard's coq au vin: 1985 and 1995.  The 1985 showed a completely tertiary bouquet of mushroom, gamey and savoury notes,with some nuances of Asian spices.  The velvety palate, though very approachable and appealing, revealed a less robust structure, less stuffing, for this wine to age much further.  Long finish.  A beautifully aged wine for drinking now and over the next 8 - 10 years.  (I thought the wine collapsed a bit in the glass after about 2 hours.)  17/20

The more youthful 1995 version was totally different: pure red fruit of strawberry and raspberry, violet, spicy and toasty oak, with some Asian spices.  A lot of energy still contained inside the robust structure of ripe tannin and a medium level of acidity, with plenty of complexity on the palate.  A wine graceful and elegant on the one hand, and powerful and structured on the other.  Drinking beautifully now and will continue to drink well for next 10 - 15+ years.  18/20

Continuing with the theme of bistro style supple, we had lots of cheese (Maroilles, Epoisses, Comté, Mimolette and Wasabique) served with proper bread (all the way from L'Atelier de Robuchon - thank you Eric!).  And then my pear tart!

My pear tart!

To finish, I served a half bottle of Autumn Glory from Chiltern Valley Winery in Hambleden, England.  I cannot really remember the grape variety, was it Huxelrebe or Seyval Blanc??  Herbal, grapefruit, white chocolate and nougat.  Luscious, well-balanced.  Finish a little on the short side.  Not a shabby effort at all for an English dessert wine!

1988 Richebourg vs 1988 La Tache

19 Jan 2012: Richard's birthday.  We had a good honest meal at the Hong Kong Club and a couple of bottles of 'grown-up' wine.  The 1997 Meursault-Charmes, Comtes Lafon showed a golden colour with amber glints and was unfortunately madeirised, which didn't bother me as a dessert wine to go with cheese!  So we ordered a bottle of 2005 Corton-Charlemagne, Bruno Clair.  White blossom, lime zest, green fruit, flinty and chalky, with the slightest hint of toast.  Crisp acidity.  Medium-full bodied, in a rather delineated and muscular style, with some complexity and understated power.  This perhaps could do with a bit more time to develop in the bottle.  16.5/20

1988 Richebourg, Meo-Camuzet. Medium garnet colour. A mature and developed bouquet of tinned raspberry, coffee, Asian spices (cloves and nutmeg), tobacco, leather, earthy and gamey. The wine effortlessly coats the palate and gives the most ethereal and enchanting sensation of what great burgundy at its peak must taste and feel like: silky, elegant, sublime, harmonious and otherworldly!  A very classy finish.  Drinking totally at peak now and will drink well at this plateau for another 4 - 5+ years (depending on storage)?  18.5/20

1988 La Tache, DRC: Deep garnet colour. As if the two wines were separated by a good decade, the La Tache was still relatively developing its bouquet, a little closed on the nose initially. After some time in the glass, it revealed a nose of bright cherry and strawberry, floral, tea leaves, savoury, floral, Asian spices, with a hint of eucalyptus on the nose.  Medium bodied, tannin still not fully integrated, needing a bit more time to round off the edges. Though a little backward and unforthcoming, I was rather impressed by the power yet to be unleashed, and its vibrancy and energy. It was for me the better wine to go with food...It might not be as elegant and accessible today as the Meo-Camuzet Richebourg but I am confident it has the potential to develop into the better wine in 5 - 6 years' time?  18.5/20

So happy to finally taste the 1988 Richebourg, Meo-Camuzet as our last effort was met with cork taint!

Guincho a Galera

20 Jan 2012:  As part of Richard's birthday present, I took him to try out a new restaurant - the newly opened Guincho a Galera in Hotel Lisboa, Macau.  It is in the same spot where Robuchon used to be, the latter having relocated to the top floor of the Grand Lisboa.  The only change the hotel did was the uniform for the waitresses, who all donned a cheerful-looking polka-dot patterned apron as part of the uniform and a smiley face!  Forteleza do Guincho is one of 10 Michelin-starred restaurants in Portugal and is the main restaurant of Hotel Forteleza do Guincho at Cascais (south of Lisbon), situated inside a 17th century fort overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.  Presiding over the kitchen is Antoine Westermann (Le Buerehiesel, Strasbourg) who has been with the restaurant since 1998.  The cuisine there is French with a Portuguese accent.  This offshoot in Macau opened on 9th January.  On this Friday night, there were not too many diners at the restaurant, which suited us very well, as we would get more attention from the kitchen!  The private room was occupied, as was another table for 2 next to us. 



Salt cod cakes

 As amuse-bouche, we were given 2 pieces of deep-fried salt cod cakes (bacalhau) with tomato chutney.  Very tasty and the cod fish mixture with potato was not heavy at all, covered with a light batter, which made it look a bit like a bird's nest, very similar to the one that Cantonese use for deep-fried taro dumplings.

Caldo Verde Soup

For first course, Richard took the Caldo Verde soup, a soup made with cabbage and potato, a Portuguese staple.  According to Richard, it was the best Caldo Verde he'd ever had!




Spring Vegetable Salad



Treasure hunt inside veggie salad

For first course, I had the spring vegetable salad.  I had very little expectation but what arrived was an artistic and colourful display of freshness and an impression of intense flavours.  It's an assembly of lightly dressed steamed baby carrots and turnips, courgette, onion, asparagus and fresh salad leaves, crowned with an intensely flavoured tomato, all of the above atop a caramelised thin crisp covering some delicious sauteed wild mushrooms inside a crouton ring. An absolutely delightful way to start the meal!

Slow-cooked pork loin

Richard's main course was a slow-cooked pork loin, with wild mushrooms and potato cake, accompanied by a few pieces of crispy skinned pork belly.  The pork was ever so tender and intensely flavoured.




Duck Rice

 I chose the traditional Portuguese dish -duck rice as my main course.  Probably the best duck rice I've had!  The duck breast was beautifully cooked, tender and full of flavours, served with a mire-poix of beans and vegetables, and some baked rice with a crispy top.  The dish came with a savoury and rich duck blood sauce. It really was a marvellous interpretation of a great classic!  So tasty that I ate all of it and felt rather full afterwards!




Petits fours - with Macanese egg tarts - Richard rather impatienty snatched his egg tart.........hence only one here!

Not sure if it's the case that the more stars the restaurant has, the daintier the portions get....but I certainly appreciate these healthy without being too generous portions.  Service was attentive and professional.

The wine list was presented in an ipad - it's the only practical way of presenting the wine list as the hardbacked version is more like an encyclopaedia!  (Richard could not resist asking for it and they dutifully brought it round, together with an extra stool to put it on!)  The Portuguese section is a relatively small one, compared with the pages and pages of high end Bordeaux and Burgundy.....but there are some real gems there and I cannot wait to go back to the restaurant to try the other Portuguese reds that I identified!

For the white wine, we had the 2009 Renoma Branco, Niepoort.  A blend of many grapes including Codega, Rabigato, Donzelinho, Viosinho and Arinto, with average age around 60 years old, planted at altitudes of 400 - 800 metres. Aged on lees for 8 months in French oak (228 litre and 500 litre casks). Straw colour.  Citrus, dried apricot, candied fruit and honey on the nose, with nuances of almond, eucalyptus, spice and mineral on the palate. Refreshing and savoury, showing great character, a rounded mouthfeel and a nice long finish.  Crafty balance between lovely ripe fruit and acidity. Entry level wine but did a perfect job for us as a first course wine. (Great value on the wine list at only MOP 250!)  Drink now and over next 1 - 2 years. 16/20

For the red, I took a long time to choose from the relatively smaller Portuguese section (as I was tempted by so many possibilities in the Douro section, which dominates at the moment) but in the end went for the 2007 Pintas, Wine and Soul. It came with an alarming 15% alcohol!  Deep ruby.  Black cherry, berries, lifted with notes of liquorice, herbal, tobacco, chocolate and violet.  Full-bodied, with firm acidity and ripe tannin.  Sweet entry, followed by an explosive mouthfeel, and a spicy and long aftertaste.  A powerful wine, as intensely flavoured as the food, all wrapped inside a velvety texture and robust structure with balance and elegance. Can be enjoyed now with 2 - 3 hours of aeration and over next 10 - 15 years. Fabulous wine!!! 17.5/20 

Husband and wife team behind Wine and Soul:  Jorge Serôdio Borges ( ex Niepoort and Passadouro) and Sandra Tavares (winemaker at Quinta do Vale D. Maria in the Douro, and also Chocopalha, her family’s property in Estramadura).  Pintas came from a 70 year old vineyard, with about 30 different grape varieties.  Fermentation took place in lagares at a controlled temperature. Grapes were foot-trodden for about 12 days.

If you're visiting Portugal soon, here's a very good article with tips for top restaurants: http://portugalconfidential.com/2010/12/2011-michelin-star-restaurants-in-portugal/

I am convinced that Portugal is an exciting place for wine discovery and I believe it has great potential for those seeking something different and indigenous! I just wish the alcohol management could be improved slightly to come under 14.5%!

As for the Guincho a Galera in Macau, definitey looking forward to returning to try out the other dishes and more exciting wines from the wine list!  Hopefully, we may see more wines from other Portuguese regions next time, such as Alentejo, Dao and Bairrada??!!

Old Australian Wine

Scampi and scallops - best scampi ever!

12 Jan 2012: Robert's last dinner in HK before he headed back to Sydney. I decided to take him to Amuse Bouche to regain his confidence in fine dining in Hong Kong.  He once again ordered the tasting menu at Amuse Bouche....and this time he had nothing but compliments for the quality of the cooking.  The black truffle capuccino was a particular highlight for him, as was the scampi and scallop dish - Robert said best scampi he'd ever had.  I had the same dish as main course - the freshness, flavours, and texture, all in perfect proportions.....

I took 2 old Australian bottles along to dinner.....



Chicken liver pate and quail



Yellowtail carpaccio in ginger/wasabi dressing - isn't it like a bouquet of flowers?

1981 Leeuwin Estate Art Series Chardonnay: Golden colour. A nutty, spicy and honeyed bouquet of honeysuckle, macadamia nuts, dried apricot, dried mango, oatmeal, liquorice and preserved ginger, with hints of smoke.  Full-bodied, luscious, still fresh with good acidity.  Very long finish, almost sweet......Melanie made the best selection of first course, pairing this wine with a chicken liver pâté and roast quail dish.....I probably made the worst selection in terms of food-wine pairing: a very colourful (and tasty) dish of yellow tail carpaccio with salmon roe and ginger/shallot/wasabi dressing......The wine which was so impressive initially, however, did not last the evening and 2.5 hours later, it had lost its zing a bit and became a little dull..... Drink now!  17/20

1987 Cullen's Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot:  Garnet-ruby. Quite a reductive nose (brussel sprouts, cabbage) dominating the other aromas, cedar, earthy, mocha and cherry/plum. Rather lacking in fruit and rather austere/ungenerous on the palate. Slightly drying finish. Tried to give it the benefit of further aeration...but to no avail.  It became less and less interesting. The little fruit it had at the beginning had disappeared by the end of the evening......14/20

The Cullen's might not have been a great example but I have no doubt that great Australian wines do age (and rather well, in the case of the Leeuwin Estate Chardonnay!).  Perhaps it's time we tried the other old bottles from Australia.......otherwise, we'll never know, will we??  

Dinner at Lung King Heen

11 Jan 2012:  Robert, our house guest, took us to dinner at Lung King Heen, the 3-Michelin starred restaurant at the Four Seasons Hotel, HK.  As Robert was our host, we deferred to him for the choice of food.  As a lover of the fine cuisine and visitor from Australia, Robert came to the most logical conclusion - the tasting menu.....menu degustation that normally would allow you to experience the high quality culinary skills of the chef in a Western cuisine restaurant.  From memory, the tasting menu at Lung King Heen was:

Trio of barbecue pork, roast suckling pig and roast goose
Sweet and sour seafood soup - which I had changed to salt and pepper seasoned frog's legs as I thought sweet and sour soup would not work well with our wine
Lobster in a spicy sauce
Steamed garoupa and braised abalone slice in oyster sauce
Sautéed wagyu beef cubes with morel mushrooms and capsicum (I had the capsicum removed because of Robert's allergy)
Fried rice with scallops and vegetables - which I had changed to plain stir-fried noodles in soya sauce, as Richard is not a big fan of scallops
Ginger flavoured crème brûlée
Petits Fours

Mount Phoenix organic tea

This menu came with wine pairing which we didn't need as we had brought our own wine.

The meaty first course trio included some Cantonese classics and while they required great roasting skills to ensure juicy meat and in the case of the suckling pig, crispy skin, I could not see how this dish could be a fine demonstration of the creativity and culinary skills of the chef. 

Salt n pepper seasoned frog's legs

The salt and pepper seasoned frog's legs were quite yummy but again its production did not require much creativity. 

Lobster smothered in spicy sauce

The lobster dish didn't work so well for us - it was completely smothered in spicy sauce, that it was hard to taste any freshness in the lobster.  We all slept rather badly because of something not so agreeable and digestible in this dish, possibly the garlic and spice?

Abalone and garoupa in oyster sauce

The next dish was drowned in intensely flavoured oyster sauce, so much so that the sauce completely overpowered the not-so-tender garoupa and there was just too much sauce. 

The wagyu beef was tasty and well-executed but you could frankly have this dish in less prestigious institutions.

I liked the plain stir-fried noodles in soya sauce best - simple, tasty, not too oily, with the just right texture for the noodles - moist and not quite al dente!  But sigh!  This is a daily 'dai pai dong' staple, along with your plain congee and deep-fried dough stick!

The ginger-flavoured crème brûlée was tasty but it's a rather common local interpretation of the classic French dessert - seen in more than one restaurant in HK. By this time, we concluded that we had had a most ordinary Cantonese cuisine meal, with no highlights at all, rather disappoing for a restaurant with 3-star fame!  We were at least delighted with the superior quality of the organic Mount Phoenix tea, which was rather sublime, bitter sweet, elegant, lovely fine-textured tannic finish.  Marvellous!

Service was impeccable, but it was the food that really disappointed.  We probably should have gone for the a la carte, but anyone would have expected the tasting menu of a 3-Michelin restaurant to provide you with the opportunity to sample the culinary skills of the chef.....one that would leave you thinking that you had had a very refined dining experience...instead we felt that we had just had an ordinarily good Cantonese dinner, with no intention to return in a hurry (rather a relief because it's so difficult to get a table there nowwith its starry fame J)!  The restaurant may wish to rename the Tasting Menu as the Cantonese Classics Menu and have another menu that would be more representative of the quality of this institution.

We were quite pleased with the wines I took to dinner:

1992 Meursault-Perrières, Comtes Lafon: Golden with some amber highlights. An intensely rich and hugely complex bouquet rose from the glass, layered fig, guava, pear tart, brioche, and honeysuckle, with lashes of honey, nougat and liquorice.  Simply stunning and utterly fulfilling on the palate, a harmonious and totally integrated medium-full bodied wine, well-balanced and eleganty structured with firm and vibrant acidity.  I felt compelled to take time to allow the complex flavours to fill each part of the palate, with a finish that went on for a very long while.  Drink at peak now but will go on drinking well for at least 5 - 6+ years.  18.5/20

2007 Hospices de Beaune Corton Grand Cru Cuvée Docteur Peste, élevage by Jadot: Lovely ruby colour. A very pure nose of red fruit (cherry and raspberry), rose, nutmeg, cloves, developing into earthy, mushroom and tea leaves with time in the glass. Some well-integrated fine-textured tannin with not too much acidity. Classic, charming, expressive and well-structured given the vintage. Drink now and over next 10+ years. (I have become a big fan of 2007 vintage - the best, even the Grand Cru (with a bit of aeration), is drinking so well in youth, with so much more going for it! Very much underappreciated and misunderstood!) I still have a bottle of this and it will make interesting comparison with the same wine, but 'tended' by Faiveley (one of the barrels we bought for the 2007 vintage). 17.5/20

Suffice to say we're not in a hurry to go back to Lung King Heen.....another rather disappointing Chinese restaurant experience....next time we'd better go with someone who's well known to the restaurant to ensure a first class experience (not being a 'who's who' is a real handicap when it comes to these famous Chinese restaurants in HK - so what about the consistent quality that the Michelin guide values so much??!!!).