We held another gathering at that restaurant we always go to. Going this often might be a problem, but here the wine is always the main event, so it never gets old that easily.
Glasses
As always, they show their diligence by setting out glasses for each type of wine. And polishing all those glasses is no small job, either.
Bread and butter
I wolfed it down so fast that this is the only photo I have left, sadly. Spreading the Le Gall butter I brought back from Ginza on warm bread straight out of the oven was simply out of this world. It just melts away. That said, my palate couldn’t tell the difference between Le Gall and Echire… they’re both just too high-quality. I hear Joël Robuchon uses Echire butter for its mashed potatoes (when I later went to Robuchon to check for myself, it seemed some locations do and some don’t), so next time I’ll buy a big load of butter and ask a cook (well, cook-in-training) I know to make it for me…
Sancerre
We ordered a bottle off the house list. A white from the Loire, and it seems to be Sauvignon Blanc. By my standards, it was reasonably drinkable.
Starter: scallop
The taste was fine… but the portion was a bit small. It was a Saturday and the place was packed, so the service felt a little slow. Doing too good a business can be a problem too, I guess. On nights like this you should go on a quieter day.
Foie gras
Today’s main dish. It had been dropped from the menu, but I specially asked them to add it. I was hoping for a bigger piece, but considering the price this is fair enough. I asked them to sear it in Le Gall butter, and whether because of that or not, it had a pure, deep flavor, and paired with the second wine of Suduiraut it made a perfect marriage that couldn’t have been better. Suduiraut is one of the top estates in Sauternes, so even its second wine was very high quality, but maybe because it was a young vintage it felt a little unsettled. Once it met the foie gras, though, that awkwardness vanished completely and only elegance was left in my mouth. This was the plate that taught me what a marriage of food and wine really means… Thanks to H for supplying it…
Sancerre and Leroy
Next up was the Leroy, but it had gone a bit off, sadly. That really broke my heart.
The El Puntido, being decanted
I had high hopes, but it faded far more easily than I expected… I was looking forward to it because Wine Enthusiast had named it one of its wines of the year, so it felt like a real letdown. Honestly, when I first started decanting it the nose was amazing, but after about an hour of decanting the taste fell apart… I think that was my mistake, or else my expectations were just too high… I have another bottle stashed away, so I’ll drink that one straight without decanting… Also, it got 96 points from Wine Enthusiast and 90 Parker points, and once again I was amazed that old man Parker got it more right… Lord Parker, I believe~
Crab
I eat dishes like this all the time, so sadly they need less and less explanation… Still, whatever 2chef brings out, it’s always good to eat, which is why it’s a restaurant I trust
Pasta
This one doesn’t really need explaining either…
Finally, the main: lamb
I asked for it medium. The lamb here is something special. It’s always delicious. My only regret is that all the wines we brought today were in poor shape…
Dessert
It seems to have changed recently, but it didn’t make much of an impact… Truth is, given the level of dessert I’m used to, nothing I eat anywhere in Korea makes much of an impact, which is a shame…