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2009-04-11
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今次嘅review係兩份的, 主角會係這兒 Micheline 2 Stars' Amber 同 Caprice 嘅對比, 希望清楚下兩間嘅分別同approach in philosophy. 巧合地, 兩次去都係周六的lunch!AMBER'S Saturday Lunch: Menu's slightly confusing for 1st timers. To clarify it for others who've yet to experience weekend lunch: the $460 - 5 courses nets you the following:Butter, olive oil and breadA) 3 x daily Amuse-bouche startersB) 1 x chosen EntreeC) 1 x chosen Main CourseD) 1 x Pre-dessertE) Either - 3 x desserts or 1 x Bernard Anthony 4 cheeses platter,F) Petit 'Fives'
AMBER'S Saturday Lunch: Menu's slightly confusing for 1st timers. To clarify it for others who've yet to experience weekend lunch: the $460 - 5 courses nets you the following:
Butter, olive oil and bread
A) 3 x daily Amuse-bouche starters
B) 1 x chosen Entree
C) 1 x chosen Main Course
D) 1 x Pre-dessert
E) Either - 3 x desserts or 1 x Bernard Anthony 4 cheeses platter,
F) Petit 'Fives'
G) Coffee or Tea.
If you opt for the equally confusing matching Wines, not explained clearly on the menu, its 1 Sparkling Wine, 1 White, 1 Red and 1 Dessert, a total of 4 glasses, for $648 including above meal. BARGAIN, with all wines explained by the sommelier.
>>BUTTER & BREAD:
I love butter and olive oil, probably the latter even more. Unfortunately did not get to try the olive oil here & at Caprice. Bread chosen was warm Italian style Olive Focaccia (is this made by VERO? Looks so similar) and a Scandinavian style like Sourdough Cracker, influenced by Richard Ekkebus's nationality I guess, that fits perfect with butter. Loved both. The French butter was lightly salted, with a slight soury, creamy texture that was more like whipped cream and had an aftertaste that lasted roughly 3-4 seconds – its below average for a semi-salted butter. French butter is indeed, not really butter in a sense but more like solid cream - you cannot compare French artisinal butter with new world commercial butters, as its much lighter. Afterall, what's really the big differences between milk, cream, crème fraiche, butter and cheese? It all started from milk and butterfat.
French butter lies somewhere between cream, crème fraiche and new world butter in my opinion, its very subtle. The real test of a butter is to try it without the salt – I think people would be surprised that 98% of unsalted butter actually has little taste or finish, even your beloved Japan, N.Z., American, Aussie, Danish, Irish, French commercial butters. Salt is what you normally taste in butter – believe me, even with Caprice no.1 artisinal butter in the world, the unsalted version is very subtle. I actually eat butter directly and let it melt in my mouth. However, today's batch of the very famous and hardly exported Charente Poitou sourced butter was surprisingly subtle, compared to exactly the same branded butter I bought for myself recently.
>>AMUSE BOUCHES:
Lobster Consomme Jelly with Sea Urchin & Cauliflower Cream –
This was really great! The lobster consomme jelly was perfectly aromatic and gelatined, combined with the cauliflower cream was a match in heaven. Could have eaten a whole bowl of this. The Urchin? It was over-powered, unnecessary and a piece of lobster meat would have sufficed as a better alternative.
Beetroot Jelly encased Duck Foie Gras stick –
I liked this, as the Foie Gras Pate inside was perfect, the jelly casing together fitted well with right amount of acidity/sugar balance. This is what amuse-bouche should be like. Fun and opens up your appetite.
Deep Fried Iberian Pork ball with Lightly Spicy Pepper –
This had a burst in mouth effect, but I was surprised to find soup inside but couldn't locate any Iberian pork, unless I heard wrong. Mainly a hint of bell pepper sour and spicy taste. Liked it nevertheless.
Matched with Veuve Cliquot NV Brut, France – Obviously crisp, green yellow, apple and lemon tangy. A mid-range champagne's complexity. Probably too acidic as a first drink early on Saturday personally, as my stomach didn't cope well, but otherwise a great start to the weekend!
>>ENTREES:
Challans Duck & Corn in 3 preparations - Traditional Pate, Consomme with Ravioli, Corn Salad with Delicacies -
1 - Consomme was clarified well but weak, no duck bone taste. Ravioli was nice, in reality I don't like too thin a ravioli skin as thinner doesn't mean better or harder to make, much as crepes/galletes or Xiao Long Bao skins aren't better when they're thinner – so this suited me. Inside the ravioli, tasted more like Foie Gras mousse than duck, surprising. Liked it.
2 - Corn Salad with Duck Delicacy – this was probably a 'kidney' but was soaked and cooked so much, it was 'melty' and tasted of marinades only. The corn? Well it was cold and wasn't that sweet. Didn't enjoy this part of the 3 preparations.
3 - Duck Pate – Mixture of Challans duck meat and foie gras taste. Nicely prepared. Topped with a 'molecular' yoghurty like ball that bursts in your mouth and crisp, sided with a puree (apple?) and chilli powder. The whole dish was an interesting play of textures and taste, and too much decorations that didn't contribute much. The anti-thesis to Caprice's approach. Overall, 7.5/10.
Matched with a white Austrian Gruner Veltliner 2007 – Sommelier said its slightly sweet rather than off-dry, but after hesitation it was still the latter to me - refreshing enough yet slightly thick, green pear and citrus aroma, slight grassiness, unexpectedly not as much minerals as expected. Not the most complex wine, its slightly 'hard', but personally I just love this type of white wine, esp. the often under-rated Gruner Vetliner.
Fine de Claire Oyster & Leek Parcels with Iberian Pork, Snout to Tail & Watercress in warm vichyssoise veloute -
Friend's dish. Only tried a bit of the vichyssoise veloute, which had potato and stock taste more than leek or even watercress. Couldn't find much Iberian pork. Apparently, pleasant. Not rated.
>>MAINS:
Line-caught Cod - Dorsal fillet “demi sel” roasted on the skin, Belly served as a “brandade”, Cuttle fish & Zucchini skin “Tagliatelle”, Hand pounded condiment -
This dish is much more complex than its name. The Cod fish was slightly salted and slow cooked to slightly flaky, even rareness consistency, with side dollops of cod meat and potato mash 'brandade' topped with crispy potato chips. AND on top, cuttle fish thinly sliced, wrapped around Zucchini skins like pasta. This was topped with some hand pounded condiments, supported by a sauce of chicken stock, confit lemon, cream/butter, drizzled with olive oil, sided with black squid Ink sauce, chilli powder, lentil beans, chives, etc. Lost track.
Now to the taste – even so slightly too salty for me, unexpected because I thought this was meant to be fresh and not like salted Bacalhaul cod from Portugal. Could do with some saikyo miso lol. The chilli powder didn't work (as it wasn't necessary in the Challan's duck dish), but the squid ink did work but I think slightly more wouldn't have hurt, rather than just being a colour decoration. The central lemony sauce was good but could do with more acidity to balance with the salty fish. The cuttlefish with zucchini skin was nice on its own, but the chewy textural difference with the fish below was unexpected. Some people might desire a big Spoiler to show-off on their BMW 320ci or Honda Civic, add 20 inch allow wheels, then plaster AC schnitzer stickers all over the main body, yet, others might opt for a lower profile but still exciting, carefully designed bodykit and suitable 18 inch wheels that intergrates with the main body seemlessly. Another might just like it plain as it is from factory, playing it safe with the best of components and built to very high standards anyway. Within this analogy, I see both Amber and Caprice at extreme ends. As PEECH has said, its trying to do too much all at once to impress. This was evident in the Challans duck entree as well, where 1 of the 3 components didn't work that well. Overall, quite pleasant. 8.5/10.
- Matched with a White Chardonnay off the menu - Sommelier started by letting me try the 2 selected reds, the Zaneto Valpolicella came closer but was still way off the mark as reds probably don't work with Cod fish especially slightly salty ones unless it was slightly sweet. Finally, paired with a Waipara based New Zealand Chardonnay, which was a nice gesture and great Plan C. Too much alcohol in the body already by this stage!
Fattened Blue-Fin Tuna centre cut, Olive oil poached with stuffed Baby Calamari, Taggiasca Olive, Preserved Bell Peppers.
Friend's dish, this tuna was quite simply not good tasting. Texturally it was tough and even stringy, despite the pinkish centre. It was slightly over-poached than is necessary in my opinion and had little of blue-fin tuna's special bold flavour characters remaining. I suspect this was Olive-oil infused sous-vide style cooked rather than true Olive Oil poached, because the latter usually retains more oil afterwards than this dry-ish tuna. Did not try the olives and stuff baby calamari's but wanted to. Marinated bell Peppers were a perfect fit with the Tuna however! Tuna rating only, 6/10.
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