The taste that I would never forget @ Le Dôme de Cristal (by invitation)

When I was invited to this tasting, I wondered if the quality of the food offered could match the Cristal champagne, one of the best brands of its kind. Any residues of doubt was dispelled after the first few dishes. Before the dinner had started, I had a cocktail at the outdoor balcony. I am hardly a big fan of cocktail as I dislike the artificial taste of syrup, but this cocktail surprised me. No syrup was used, only nice bits of fresh fruits. The ginger gave a kick to the drink. This was one of my favourite that night.

After the drink, we moved into the dining room. I would love to try the sofa which can be rotated for enhanced privacy, but we had too many people for that. 

Oysters are must-have for a champagne dinner. The freshness and temperature of the oysters were at their optimum. We had the Louis Roederder Brut to match with them.

There were four appetizers on the menu. Organic salad with white anchovy, Carpaccio of yellow fin tuna, scallops and salmon roe, Alaskan crab meat with Imperial caviar in Du Barry cream sauce and Terrine of duck foie gras stuffed with fig chutney. The salad and carpaccio relied largely on their very good ingredients, and the crab meat with caviar in Du Barry cream sauce was also very enjoyable. The crab meat was very sweet and the cream sauce added an extra smoothness to it. The terrine was creamy and rich. I would like to have it with more chutney. It was definitely enough for two to share.

If the appetizers were to show us the high quality ingredients they use, the main courses succeeded in convincing us how good the chef can cook. The linguine with Sicilian red shrimp & Imperial caviar in cherry tomato sauce and the slow cooked lamb loin with gratin potato in Morels cream foam & yogurt were particularly enjoyable. If you have tried Silician red shrimp, you would not forget its unique flavour. It is an awesome partner with tomato in pasta sauce. Apart from the rich shrimp flavour, there was a distinct hint of butter taste in the tomato sauce. My dining companion even cleaned up the dish using the bread.

The lamb loin was perfectly cooked. What impressed me most were the potato gratin and the yoghurt sauce that pushed the lamb loin to another level. Both dishes paired with the Louis Roederer Cristal 2005 amazingly.

Before trying Cristal champagne, I hardly understood how champagne could be "elegant", but I was enlightened that night. Instead of stimulating one’s taste buds through its acidity, it demonstrated its complexity in a subtle way. Not to mention its silkiness and its persistent tiny bubbles. I found it matches well with the slight creaminess of the red shrimp pasta and the yoghurt sauce of the lamb loin.

Although the char-grilled Yellow fin Tuna & Alaskan crab leg with fennel salad was a bit blan, the char-grilled Canadian pork rack with apple & rhubarb chutney in red currant glaze was a perfect pair. I am not a big fan of pork, but I found this succulent and juicy pork rack very inviting.

While I was still indulging in the elegant Louis Roederer Cristal 2005, the Louis Roederer Cristal Rose 2004 came to our table. With a sweet peach flavour, it was definitely a better companion to the coming desserts.

Even the desserts were infused with champagne. The Champagne caviar with white peach mousse Cake was a demonstration of luxury. Chocolate lovers must not miss the Valrhona chocolate Le Dome with wasabi filling vanilla ice-cream and sorbet. This innovative combination worked unexpectedly well and stroked a balance between two strong flavours. However, my favourite that night was the gold leaf champagne jelly with fresh grapes. I loved the sweetness with a pleasant hint of acidity that was so refreshing. I wish I could have a whole cup for myself.

The romantic environment, superb champagne, and amazing food was an unbeatable combination for all couples….only if my another half could drink a tiny drop of alcohol. Once you have tried this champagne, you could never forget it. This was simply addictive….!

Le Dôme de Cristal
3/F, 9 Queen’s Road Central, Hong Kong

走遍英國的歲月—The Ledbury

來了倫敦多次，都未到過米芝蓮餐廳，因為之前都是挑傳統老館子或是網評好的，再加上café 、下午茶和market，根本就擠不出時間。這次由於大型的market已逛過兩次以上，再訪的時間大為縮短，終於能安排到這家期待已久的餐廳用膳。

很多人挑倫敦米芝蓮餐廳時，或許會選Heston Blumenthal和 Gordon Ramsay的餐廳，我則對The Ledbury的menu更有興趣。Ledbury是米芝蓮二星餐廳，亦是2013年Top 50 Restaurant的第13位，是暫時我到過的餐廳中排名最高的，它亦不負所望地擴闊了我的味覺視野。

甫坐下，侍應便遞上印有店名的掛物勾，精緻高雅。

這裡的午餐價位不算高，兩道菜和三道菜分別索價30鎊及35鎊，與香港米芝蓮餐廳差不多，但食物水準和服務卻高得多。

頭盤、主菜和甜品各有兩款選擇。我對其熱情果疏乎厘更感興趣，遂點了兩道菜，另散點甜品。上頭盤之前，先來amuse bouche，墨汁脆片和creamy dressing形成對比，微酸的cream正好清一清味蕾，頂層的turbot roe僅為口感增加層次。

 

侍應端上一籃子暖暖的麵包，全都烘得均勻誘人，而且外脆內軟。胃納有限，我這麵包癡只好選上兩件。 牛油卻不及法國Bordier的手工牛油軟滑富奶香，屬輕盈的口味，讓麵包做主角。

我的頭盤是French bean salad with almond, pear and grated foie gras, french bean新鮮爽脆，伴著極為香甜的梨和磨碎了的鵝肝，味道豐富，三種不同的質感異常合拍。其中鵝肝就如雪凍了的mousse，入口融化，丁點都不膩滯，反而帶點清新感。為食慣沙律的我，帶來新鮮感。

 

CM的頭盤, seared scallop with seaweed相對較平凡，雖然煎帶子的技巧出色，食材的配搭就不及我的頭盤，seaweed只令其色彩更豐富。

我倆的主菜分別是veal & turbot。Veal炆得軟腍入味，輕輕用叉就能切開絲絲肉質，肉味濃郁，亦能保留肉汁。

Turbot屬貴價食材，主要生活於北海，所以較常見於歐洲的michelin餐廳。我的turbot煎得非常漂亮，連我都有點妒忌其雪白flaky的魚肉。Turbot的肉質偏結實，味道豐富，簡單的加香草poached已經很好吃。是次turbot輕roast過，面層帶脆，配以青口同煮，鮮味更濃郁，fennel salad亦爽身好吃。

Sommelier 為我的主菜配上杯德國Riesling Kabinett, Maximin Grünhäuser Abtsberg, Carl Von Schubert, Mosel.

金黃色的酒液，中度酒體，peach和礦物味突出，末段帶點citrus的甜，甚具層次。礦物味不會過重，反而提升了魚的鮮味。一口酒、一口魚，愉悅非常~ 感謝sommelier讓我嚐到food & wine pairing 的美妙。 

甜品亦沒令我倆失望，CM的assorted sorbet味道包括芒果、香梨和蜜桃，剛好合他心意，可惜我拍照花了太多時間，以致其sorbet溶掉不少。

 

侍應為我端上熱情果疏乎厘時，特意慢動作地於中間放上雪糕，讓我拍照，服務極貼心。陣陣熱情果香氣先衝擊我的嗅覺，甜匙切開soufflé，放進嘴巴，輕軟香甜的感覺衝擊味蕾。之前吃過的soufflé實在不能相提並論，這soufflé的質感超輕盈軟綿，實在有賴廚師的技巧，將空氣打進batter，烘焙的時間又拿捏得準確，邊位帶些許脆口，真的超好吃。唯一有點不合我心的是其甜度對我而言稍高了，吃到尾段有些許膩。

是次體驗，無論食物、環境，還是服務均令人滿意。雖然未致於每道菜都教我驚喜，但始終我倆沒有嚐過其tasting menu。食齡尚淺的我倆，還是從lunch入手吧~ 最教我倆印象深刻的是其貼心的服務，侍應對我倆「相機先食」不僅沒有不耐或不屑(我倆曾遇過不少)，更微笑地從旁協助，而且餐廳更供應tap water(我倆遇過太多餐廳連水都吝嗇)，感覺更親切。總之，絲毫沒有逼迫感，令整頓午餐時間自在舒適。

The Ledbury

http://www.theledbury.com/

127 Ledbury Rd, London W11 2AQ, England

Food: wwwwwwww
Service:wwwwwwwww
Environment: wwwwwwww

My amateurish experience of cupping @ The Coffee Academics (by invitation)

When I was attending the course of City and Guilds held by Coffee Academics, I asked them whether they would have cupping course in the future. To my delight, I was invited to join the cupping class.

The only experience of cupping class I had was in Rabbithole @ Central. Thus, this is a good chance to compare the two classes and maybe to reflect on my experience. Having visited this Wanchai store twice, I had no difficulty in finding the store (please see my review at Openrice), which is next to the legendary Fuk Lam Moon. It was nice to have lessons in such a relaxing environment. To provide additional privacy for class attendants, the staff enclosed the lovely wooden desk with a glass partition.

When I arrived, the instructor, Raymond, was busy grinding the coffee for a trial and preparing for the class. The grinder he used was Kalita, a common but decent choice for hand brew.

The cupping class involved coffee beans from five origins. The steps are generally the same as those I had learned. We first smelled the ground coffee and jogged down its dry aroma.

We then added hot water of 92-96 degree Celsius (the optimal temperature for brewing) to the coffee and waited for 2 minutes. It was followed by the most important step, breaking the crust, and we put our noses as close to the coffee as we could to enjoy the aroma.

Slowly clearing the foam on the surface, we tasted the coffee and judged its character. Like tasting wine, we had to inhale some air into the mouth at the same time to ensure every taste bud is in contact with the wine. The tasting part was repeated after the coffee was cooled down a bit.

The coffee I liked most that night was Columbia CoE, followed by geisha, with their character quite consistent with my favourite coffee. What surprised me most was the taste of Yirgacheffe which is usually my favourite. It was full of floral aroma as usual, but the fruitiness was not apparent. It tasted like over-extracted. As I did not have much information of the beans we used that night, I was not sure if the roast level is different from what we usually have. There are too many variables. I hope I can ask the instructor next time.

 

Cupping is a standard method of judging coffee quality, especially for coffee traders. Cupping roast enables us to spot the defects as well as the different flavour of coffee beans, be it floral, fruity, or complexity. Though crucial, the issue of cupping roast went unexplained in both cupping classes that I attended. The standard procedures for cupping are rather simple, but one needs a lot of experience to master it. All you need is a grinder, the essential equipment for home brewing, for cupping. In theory, any coffee lover who had some sort of training can practise at home. And it is time for me to practice again~