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2013-03-06
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I think many people would agree that Mondays are very hard to get through as many of us are still experiencing weekend withdrawal symptoms, but luckily Mr. C organised dinner for us that night so at least I had something to look forward to~Dinner was to be at Pierre inside the Mandarin Oriental hotel~ This one star establishment is one of Pierre Gagnaire's restaurants offering diners a taste of modern French cuisine. Upon entering the restaurant, it is very dimly lit, with each table being illum
Dinner was to be at Pierre inside the Mandarin Oriental hotel~ This one star establishment is one of Pierre Gagnaire's restaurants offering diners a taste of modern French cuisine. Upon entering the restaurant, it is very dimly lit, with each table being illuminated by a single spotlight hanging overhead. Although I could not really determine the colour scheme of the restaurant, I could sense the overall design was chic with a touch of contemporary elegance. As it was on the 25th floor, one side of the restaurant had full-length windows which offered pleasant night views of Victoria Harbour.
After being seated at one of the tables with a window view, we were warmly welcomed by the manager (yes because of Mr. C as usual ) and were offered a glass of champagne to start our evening. While the sommelier brought over the champagne (only for Mr. C, not me as I am not hugely partial to alcohol) we were then served an assortment of canapes to start off the evening.
A spoonful of fresh salmon roe that popped delightfully in the mouth paired with a dab of sour cream, foie gras and a cube of quince jelly with raspberry vinegar. It also came with crumbed ball of black pudding which tasted very similar to sausage rolls. Another plate of canapes consisted of a soft cake of tomato, a stick of celery with olive paste and thin beetroot crisps immersed in thyme olive oil.
As soon as we had finished with the canapes, our menus were given to us to peruse. Although they do not have a huge variety of selection for both appetiser and main course, we were still able to settle on dishes that appealed to our tastes. For Mr. C he chose the Scallop-Crab and Lamb AAA, while I picked Duck and Goose Foie Gras, and Sole-Oyster-Black Truffle.Once our choices had been noted by the manager, our selection of bread was served. Thin baguette, cheese roll and an olive twist, accompanied by unsalted and chilli butter. I really liked their bread, the crusts were nicely crunchy with soft insides that soaked up the butter easily and surprisingly even Mr. C complimented their baguettes too.
Our amuse bouche was then served. Quail's egg on a bed of cauliflower cream with a side of 49 month aged jambon. I found the cauliflower cream to have a slightly bitter taste, but the jambon was lovely, soft and not overly salty.
When the appetisers were served, I came to realise Pierre likes to serve their courses as a number of components with a focus on visual presentation, almost like artwork. Mr. C's Scallop-Crab featured the main item of crab meat coated in Muscat wine jelly, enoki mushrooms and celery, a side of scallop carpaccio mixed with smoked eel and another small dish of roasted scallop with braised pears and turnip. I actually really enjoyed his choice, the crab meat was the epitome of freshness judging by its natural sweetness, the scallops cooked perfectly to a buttery softness and the smoked eel gave a wonderful flavour to the carpaccio.
My Duck and Goose Foie Gras was gorgeous in presentation, a generous serving of goose liver with yellow wine jelly encased in a cut-out brioche decorated with shavings of pickled red and black radish, a rectangular prism of duck liver terrine coated with gingerbread with a side of condiments and a ball of crumbed duck liver croquette. This could have easily been shared by two people as the goose liver although utterly sinful became a little heavy after a while despite the pickled radish helping to refresh the palate. The duck liver terrine was just as smooth with a slightly less gamy taste, but I did like the pairing of condiments, in particular the one made with 15 ingredients which was a little sweet reminding me of hoisin sauce.
Before the mains arrived we were served something from their black truffle menu, compliments of the chef~Sauteed mushrooms and onion with black truffles on a souffleed biscuit topped with a quenelle of truffled chantilly cream. This was amazing. The souffleed biscuit was pillowy soft and spongy and it just soaked up the essence of chantilly cream which slowly melted over the whole creation leading to the most heavenly truffle fragrance. Something that really needs to be tried~
Our mains took a while to arrive, but it did give us some time to digest the previous dishes. Mr. C's lamb was perfectly seared to a blushing pink with tamarind juice, socca pancake and tomato marmalade as accompaniments. Two other side dishes was marinated lamb shoulder with eggplant and a crunchy stick of polenta while the other was a little salad of lamb's lettuce and a slice of roasted ricotta. From the piece of lamb I had, it was tender with a slight bite to it and had a favourable gamy flavour which sometimes I prefer in my lamb.
My sole fish was very generous in size, a whole fillet deboned and seared with hazelnut butter accompanied with sauteed spinach and champagne sauce. On the side was a duo of oysters in a truffle sauce and a Manchego cheese croquette on artichokes. The oysters were small, but juicily plump and I adored my fish, meaty with a slight bouncy texture it was a pleasure to eat with a smear of creamy sauce. I really enjoyed this, even more so than the lamb.
To be honest, after our mains I was ready to skip dessert due to limited tummy capacity, but Mr. C still wanted to try at least one, so he picked L'Ardechois knowing that the combination would be something I would enjoy too.Before dessert, we were served our petit fours along with our coffees. A play on sweet and sour, there was a spoon of lemon foam, shortbread with apricot jam, lemon curd wrapped with marzipan, a meringue cup with blackberry coulis, pineapple and blackberry jelly and a dark chocolate ganache with citrus peel.
And then it was time for dessert~A layered creation of crunchy biscuit base, chestnut ganache and whisky bavarois it was paired with a bitter chocolate and pistachio ice-cream. Despite my previous unwillingness to order dessert, I could not resist a few forkfuls as the richness of the chocolate paired with chestnut and subtle whisky flavour was dangerously addictive. The chocolate ice-cream was definitely more to my preference as the bitter tones was sinfully rich, and although the pistachio flavour was very natural, I found the texture to be too airy for my liking.
Overall, quite a pleasant experience
张贴
