Birthday dinner, Saturday 11th July

It's always great when your birthday falls on a Saturday. However, mine did not get off to the best start when the party people at McCann Erickson, whose office is just next to my block of flats, suddenly decided to make use of the powerful speakers which had been installed on their balcony for their outdoor cinema season, at 12.20 in the morning. My neighbours and I were treated to 20 minutes of this at top volume, which under different circumstances I might have quite enjoyed.

Fortunately the day improved and in the evening G came round for dinner at mine. After a bracing pre-prandial negroni, we cracked on with my birthday present from him: this bottle of Chateau Montrose 1990.

There is a story here, which I've told before, but will tell again as the context is important. When we were staying at the Crown in Southwold on my 22nd birthday, G spotted the 1970 Montrose on the bin end list and it went down in history as the "Montrose Moment" i.e. the moment I really began to understand what fine wine is all about. On discovering that a friend had some stocks of the 1990 vintage, G thought he'd attempt to recreate the experience 20 years on. The only difference being that 1990 is renowned as a great vintage and this was a very expensive bottle of wine, even at a prix d'ami.

Promising level...

Glossy!

We decanted it just before we drank it, and all was well. It was a wonderful, glossy dark colour. I don't drink much claret, and when I do it's usually Latour, cue sound of tumbrils rolling up outside the door but this was very different. It was very smooth, succulent and had a richness to it that came as a welcome surprise. We found ourselves using words such as "voluptuous" and "hedonistic", and noted that it didn't seem very blackcurranty, but the fruit was more like mirabelle plums. It was drinking perfectly at the age of 25 and went down very easily - once I'd made my notes, we didn't feel the need to sit there thinking about it too hard, it was sensual rather than intellectual, and therefore in some ways rather like a Burgundy! G will report back to his friend that it's good to go, no point in hanging around.

Massive piece of rosbif

We had it alongside a mighty fine piece of roasted sirloin on the bone which I'd got from the Ginger Pig earlier in the day, and some roast potatoes, naturally.

Ultimate cheeseboard

And to finish, we had some cheese. For once, I braved La Fromagerie with its notorious Door of Shoulder-Dislocation, as I hadn't been there in ages. I have to admit I was impressed with the range on offer. The Ami du Chambertin was particularly excellent and lasted us till Thursday, and I'm very likely to be going back for more soon.

We polished off the vieux marc from Lyon, and that was that. Another year down. Enormous thanks to G for such a generous and thoughtful birthday present. Now, about 2035...

Dinner at mine, 4th July

Last night, ACC and Baron McG came round for dinner at my place. G and I had revised the menu several times due to a massive heatwave earlier in the week - my garret penthouse flat tends to get quite hot at this time of year so I didn't want the oven blazing away all day. G had braved Borough Market very early to avoid the battalions of yummy mummies with double buggies (apparently the first one was sighted on the horizon just as he was leaving at 9.15) and had procured a variety of goodies for us, while I focused on important matters like playlist creation. As the hour of arrival approached, I had to restrain G from opening the aperitif too early.

This was a particularly enormous magnum of Laurent Perrier champagne, which G got at auction recently and judging by the other lots it was in with, thinks dates back to the mid-80s. It was so big it wouldn't fit in his fridge and it took considerable efforts to get it and a spare into mine. We then had the thorny question of how to keep it cool once open, as it wouldn't go in vertically. Between us we had the genius idea of using the slow cooker as an impromptu ice bucket, which worked very well.

The fizz was a beautiful golden colour and, to our relief, it was fine. In was old and rich and everything you want in a mature champagne - ACC described it as "seamless". It also went well with our starter of pate on toast. As my grill is out of action, G made the toast downstairs in his flat and brought it up to mine in a Planet Organic brown paper bag, which reminded some of us of a restaurant in Nuits-St-Georges where they used to serve the bread warm in a little paper bag. Maybe we need to start a supperclub.

Next up was this Meursault 1er cru Genevrieres 2006 from Bouzereau. I'm a big fan of the wines of this domaine, which we visited several years ago, but they're normally out of my price range so I was happy to pick up three bottles of this Meursault at an advantageous price at auction recently. G and I had already had one to make sure it was all right. It certainly was, and we think this bottle was even better. "Nectar!" say my over-excited notes. It was classic Meursault, big, fat and rich, but still with good acidity, and Baron McG detected caramel. It was fully mature and drinking very well now but the remaining bottle should be drunk soon. Next weekend, perhaps?

With this, G served some cold sea trout baked earlier in the day with ginger, lemon zest and sherry, along with a herbaceous salad, broadly following Nigel Slater's recipe here.

There was then a pause in the proceedings while we necked some of this Monthelie 2012 from Florent Garaudet, which ACC had brought back from his recent travels. This was already drinking well and I found it pleasingly savoury with a great finish.

Then, with the cheese course, we drank this Ladoix 1er cru Les Joyeuses 1986 from Caves des Paulands, which ACC had picked up in Beaune. There's always a risk with a bottle this old but the level was very good and it was still going strong after all this time. We had it slightly chilled and was piquant, with some black cherry going on. A rare find for the Premier Cru Project, as it was one we hadn't had before!

Then we moved on to this Banyuls 2010 Les Clos de Paulilles from Cazes provided by the Baron, who had picked it up at the estate while on a recent holiday. It reminded me of panettone on the nose, and was dense and intense, like fruit cake in a glass, but also with a certain chocolatiness. The Baron told us that the estate is right next to the Mediterranean, and that the wine is aged in glass demi-johns outside for 30 months. It's 17% alcohol. I can't say I've drunk a lot of Banyuls but this one seemed distinctly superior and went down very easily.

We rounded off with a glass of vieux Marc de Bourgogne from L'Heritier-Guyot. This was one of my finds in Antic Wines in Lyon, and although there was no obvious vintage on it, the chap there told us it was from 1950. He also pointed out that it was a litre bottle, and at that point I was sold. G and I motored through it very quickly when we got back from Lyon but left enough for this occasion. It seems that L'Heritier-Guyot are now primarily makers of cassis, so this is a little piece of history, and it's a very nice drop of old marc.

It was now 11.00 and G turned off the playlist allegedly to avoid complaints from the neighbours, but more probably to prevent any singing. It had been a lovely evening and various future plans were hatched which I hope will see the light of day in due course. Thanks to G for the food and the fizz, and to ACC and the Baron for your wines and company. Until next time!

Lunch at ACC's, 20th June

Yesterday G and I made our way to the wilds of south-west London for lunch chez ACC. Our journey was made more complicated than usual owing to various transport connections being disrupted by some march, which meant I managed to forget not only my umbrella but also my camera. Fortunately I didn't forget my phone, or the bottle of wine I was bringing, or the latest edition of Bourgogne Aujourd'hui which gave its best chablis award to Domaine Nathalie & Gilles Fevre.

We arrived, somewhat damp and grumpy, but our spirits were soon restored as ACC put on a semi-vertical tasting of two whites from the Vondeling estate in South Africa. I say semi-vertical because one was from 2006 and one was 2008 and they were a mixture of chardonnay, viognier and chenin blanc but in the case of the 2008, there was some grenache blanc in there too.

It was very interesting to try these, especially as they had some age on them. The 2006 was elegant but I preferred the 2008 which was fuller and reminded me of a Volnay. They weren't massively alcoholic either - 13% and 13.5%. Certainly the best South African whites I've tasted.

To eat, we had some pate to start and then ACC served this roast chicken which was very fine...

... as was the stuffing, served in a Le Creuset aubergine dish shaped like an aubergine! I'm quite jealous.

My contribution was this bourgogne rouge 2000 from Leroy, which was one of my finds in Antic Wines in Lyon.

I enjoyed this very much - very 2000 said ACC - and particularly towards the end as it opened out it had a lovely sweetness and red berry fruit reminiscent of summer pudding.

G provided the cheese board, which came from La Fromagerie. His ability to open the incredibly heavy door to their cheese room is greater than mine. The Langres in particular was wonderful and can be seen oozing all over the cheeseboard here - clearly it was necessary to eat it all immediately.

With the cheese, ACC served this fantastic 1990 Jurancon, which I understand he got from Philippe at Mon Millesime in Beaune. It was absolutely lovely, with caramelised pineapple flavours, and it was not too sweet by any means. A real treat.

Merci beaucoup to ACC and I look forward to the re-match at my place in a couple of week's time!

Leon de Lyon and our last day in Lyon

Monday was our last day in Lyon, and we had a few plans which came to nothing. A lot of places were closed due to it being Monday (how civilised!) and/or Pentecost, so we were unable to visit Les Halles de Lyon and the Musee de Beaux Arts. We ended up returning to the old town and exploring a bit further south. As we walked along the river we noted once again the laid-back, more leisurely approach to life here. G described the traffic as "courtly" - it was a far cry from the road rage I witness on a daily basis trying to cross the cycle path of carnage by Tavistock Square.

This part of town was remarkably deserted yet still very picturesque.

We came across this wine shop, which seemed to be some sort of offshoot of Antic Wines, and spotted a load of vintage Madeira through the window. Sadly, it too was closed. Next time... We also passed Daniel et Denise which looked worth a visit next time round. Then we found ourselves back on the street where Antic Wines was.

We spotted this establishment and the sign with the magic word "Bonnat". Bonnat has become my and G's chocolate of choice over the last couple of years but we can only get hold of a limited range here. This shop had loads more.

We picked up several bars, which we've been enjoying, particularly the "Surfin" which always causes me to break out into a rendition of Surfin' USA when G gets it out. He may not allow me to buy any more of it ever again. 

Then we walked back along the river and made our way to our lunch destination, Leon de Lyon, a brasserie. We didn't have a reservation but we didn't need one, there was plenty of space and the clientele seemed to be mainly ladies of a certain age having lunch with each other or in some cases by themselves.

G had been in the mood for steak and chips but Lyon brasseries don't offer that kind of thing - it's more local specialities here. G had a pork thing while I had duck which came with lovely caramelised pears. The service was very efficient and our main courses arrived remarkably quickly.

To drink, we had this "prestige" Morgon from Georges Duboeuf, which was another of these heavyweight Beaujolais but to be honest we found it a bit international for our taste.

The wine cellar did look quite tempting though!

For pudding, I had this "Comme un vacherin" which I'd hoped was going to be a hilarious visual joke but turned out to be a meringue with loads of cream and pistachio ice cream. Anyway, it hit the spot.

We still had some time before the train left, so did some more walking round after lunch, visited Monoprix and returned to the Grand Cafe des Negociants for a final Ricard, where we sat on the terrace for a change. Then it was back to the hotel who had kindly looked after our luggage, and we took a taxi to the station as our suitcases were significantly heavier on the way back than they had been on the way out. Our taxi driver spoke English and was very chatty and enthusiastic about Lyon.

We were in plenty of time for the Eurostar back, which left at about 5.30. It's always slightly depressing to be going home but we were given more nice food, a coronation chicken type thing this time. The journey was fine except for everyone having to get off at Lille, complete with luggage, and we spent a rather miserable hour queueing in the cold station, passing through customs and security and then hanging around in a waiting pen for ages. G had done it before and told me it wasn't painful - well, not physically, but it was tedious and put everyone in a bad mood. I think part of the delay was that they needed to change our train over, I'm not sure why, but the people in front of us were very upset when they realised they'd left a hat on board which had disappeared when we returned. I was quite impressed when a member of Eurostar staff returned it to them a few minutes later. But (at the risk of sounding like Tyler Brûlé) if Eurostar want to make this service work, they'd do well to invest in some handheld technology that allows scanning of luggage without everyone having to get on and off the train. Failing that, they could consider saving the nice meal till after Lille - all we got was coffee and biscuits. Fortunately we had a half bottle of claret saved up but a bottle might have been better!

I don't want to end on a bad note though. We had a very enjoyable few days, it was fun to explore a new place together, we had some memorable meals and brought back some interesting wines which I'll be blogging about soon. And since we didn't get to do everything this time, we have a good excuse to go back!

Paul Bocuse again, 24th May

On Sunday evening, we revisited L'Auberge du Pont de Collonges. This time we had a better idea of what to expect. Rather delightfully, they put us at the same table we'd been at before. I immediately felt at home.

This time, we were having the serious Grande Tradition menu, which we'd seen most people having on the Friday night. A sign of the attention to detail in this place is that instead of the guacamole etc. amuse-gueule which we'd been given on Friday, and which most people were getting this evening, we were presented with this little lobster delicacy instead. It was wonderful. Some have apparently questioned why the lobster comes from Maine, but G told me that American lobster is sweeter and that certainly seemed to be the case here. It was one of the highlights of the meal.

Next up was this duck foie gras, which came with a particularly delicious crisp on top. They ought to sell these in packets and I could start an import business.

To drink, with the first few courses we had this Meursault 1er cru Les Boucheres from Deux Montille, the brother/sister operation consisting of Alix and Etienne de Montille. We thought this was maybe a premier cru we hadn't had before, but consulting my trusty spreadsheet just now I see we did have one from the 2000 vintage but with a strangely-unspecified producer, six years ago, which received a 7. This one was from a much better vintage and was very enjoyable.

The next course was this truffle soup with a pastry lid. It seemed to be the same pastry as the sea bass the other night, which pleased us. This time I was determined not to eat it all (and we'd resisted bread rolls at the start) in order to save space for later.

The soup was very fine, almost like a consommé with small chunks of beef and big pieces of truffle. I thought it would go very well with some Sercial.

Then it was the fish course, this sole on a bed of noodles in the most amazing cheesy sauce. I absolutely loved this, it was my favourite thing out of everything we ate. Again, the fish was cooked how we like it - not semi-raw - and that sauce! Once again, the only challenge was to leave some on the plate. But I didn't want to end up completely stuffed like I was on the Friday, so discretion prevailed.

A Beaujolais sorbet acted as a palate-cleanser halfway through.

On to the red wine - G picked this Chambolle-Musigny 1er cru les Feusselottes 2007 from the Meo-Camuzet negotiant operation. We're both fans of the Feusselottes from Domaine Felettig and this had a distinct similarity, being very elegant and mature. The sommelier told us it was their penultimate bottle.

As there was a little pause at this point, I entertained myself taking a photo of this thing on the sideboard in the corner. I thought maybe it was a duck press like the one at Otto's, but G thought it was more likely to be a citrus press. If anyone actually knows what it is, I'd be very interested.

Finally, our main course arrived. Check it out! It was a chicken cooked in a pig's bladder, which is the sort of thing I can never tell my mother about. The American couple across the room had also been quite horrified by the concept until the waiter told them "you don't actually eat the bladder". I'm guessing that the balloon-like nature of it means that the moisture stays inside.

This was what we actually got to eat. Note large quantities of morels. It was as good a piece of chicken as you could hope to eat in your life. We idly wondered what they did with all the leftover legs and bits and pieces - you can come back for a second serving, but I doubt whether many people do. We assume the staff meals here must be pretty enjoyable.

On to the cheese course. I was delighted by this Roquefort guillotine. Every establishment worth its salt should surely have one of these! That reminds me - on several occasions the hurdy-gurdy in the room next door swang into action and played a jaunty little tune. We think it may have been some sort of Happy Mother's Day song, as although Mother's Day was the following weekend, some parties seemed to be celebrating it early.

G managed these cheeses. I just went for Comte and Roquefort on this occasion. If I'm brutally honest, the cheese at L'Auberge was a slight disappointment. I've had better elsewhere. But it's a small complaint coming after all those amazing courses.

As a pre-dessert we were given this little chocolate mousse. When I saw them coming out, I thought "that's what I want for pudding" and then we all got one anyway! It was the Platonic ideal of chocolate mousse, and the perfect size. For pudding I did in fact manage another of those red fruits in Beaujolais numbers that I'd had on Friday. Then I was done.

So, the verdict on this restaurant... it's a truly special, surreal experience. I've never been anywhere quite like it. They do what they do, they've been doing it for years, and they do it very well. If chicken served in a pig's bladder isn't your kind of thing, don't go there. I certainly got the impression that for at least one couple, it wasn't their kind of thing - they sat there being grumpy all evening. Also, it's not the sort of place where you're going to find fashionable food, or lots of vegetables. But who cares when there is the most amazing pastry, properly-cooked fish and divine cheese sauce?

Paul Bocuse himself is now 89 and no longer cooks here himself nor was he doing the rounds saying Bon Appetit to everyone. In some ways I prefer it like that, as I'm there for the food, not the cult of personality. But this restaurant is a monument to a particular style of cooking, and it doesn't depend on the great man being in the kitchen. They have a lot of talented people, and I understand that many of the staff have been there a long time. The place runs like a well-oiled machine. Sometimes it's easy to take consistent excellence for granted.

G and I were discussing it the other night and he made a remark about how the food wasn't as good as Taillevent which I could not allow to pass. The food at Taillevent was very good (the spelt risotto being the highlight, weirdly) but looking back on it a year later, for me the highlight of Taillevent was getting to drink some Coche-Dury Meursault. It's hard to say what was the highlight of L'Auberge du Pont de Collonges as so much of it was amazing, particularly the fish, the pastry, and the sauces. And the lobster. And the chocolate mousse. And that crisp thing. Our second visit was even more fun than the first and I can't wait to go back.