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2008-10-31
My friend and I went to the Spoon last night. We both ordered 6-course Sexy Menus with pairing wines. I had great experience in the Spoon before. The ambience, the service, the food and the wine were just next to perfect, with little surprises coming up throughout the meal. My expectation, therefore, was pretty high. What I experienced in the Spoon last night, to be frank, did not really live up to that.The menu started with a jelly with caviar, which was not bad. The jelly melted in our mouths
The menu started with a jelly with caviar, which was not bad. The jelly melted in our mouths into a rich seafood booth. The caviar was rightly salted and the cucumber gave an alternative texture to the whole dish. The ingredients were perfectly balanced.
Lobster bisque followed, which was OK but quite ordinary. It was the kind of lobster bisque you can taste in any proper French restaurant, but one would naturally expect more from the Spoon. One small comment is that I think the soup can have a stronger hint of Cognac.
The third course was terrine of foie gras. Again, no surprise although it came with three different kinds of condiments. The portion was atypically large for French cuisine. The piece of terrine was larger than an octopus card, and, given its texture, was extremely filling.
The next course was the weakest link in the entire menu: baked pumpkin with French mushrooms and beef gravy. I must admit that I am not a pumpkin person and so I could be biased. Everything just tasted what they were supposed to be tasted. There was no sparkle at all. Pretty mediocre a dish, if you would excuse me.
For the main course, we shared the sea bass and the steak. Unlike its Western counterparts, the Japanese sea bass had a strong seafood flavor and a hint of sea water, which I quite enjoyed. On the down side, however, it was not as silky as the ones we used to have. I hope it was not because the fish had been over-cooked. The steak was fine, tender and juicy. It did not have a strong taste of beef though, but it is not uncommon unless you order dried aged steaks nowadays.
The desserts were strawberry duo and chocolate brownie with coconut sorbet. You don’t miss much you are already too full at this point.
The pairing wines were quite nice though. For $688, you will have a white wine, a red wine (a Pinot Noir from Alsace) and a Sauternes. OK, they were not Cheval Blanc or D’quem. But as far as 688 bucks for 3 glasses is concerned, they were all very drinkable. Last night, we were served by a new sommelier, who was apparently very green and nervous. We heard that the chubby sommelier, John Chan, had left, which, I believe, was a great loss to the Spoon. I always like John, who is very knowledgeable and will never advise you to order something above the price range in your mind. I started drinking Chateau Musar because of his recommendation.
The coffee at the end of the meal was strong enough to set your mind ready for the bill. They even deprived us of the last bit of surprise from the petit four. They used to serve a home-made chocolate which tasted like ordinary chocolate but with a special spicy aftertaste, which lingered in one’s back palate. They said they had stopped making that, and instead were now serving only truffles and fresh-juice jelly cubes.
All in all, everything was so square for the whole dinner. Nothing was bad or unacceptable at all. That said, for $1800 a person, I would greedily expect more.
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