Tuesday, August 28, 2007

hey all,

on saturday, wr turned 27. on sunday, i took her out on town to eat the most amazing meal ever. we went to mikuni, a french restaurant on the top floor of the marriott hotel in nagoya under kiyomi mikuni, one of japan's most renowned french cuisine chefs. it was my fist time at a truly posh restaurant and of course, i was unprepared, dressed in shorts, flip-flops and, my last saving grace, a collared shirt. the lady at the entrance first gave us the menu to pour over, check the prices and see if that was really what we wanted. after some initial empty swallows and gawking, i decided that we only live once, work hard all the time, have never been to a french restaurant in japan (the world's nr. 2 in french cuisine after le sacre bleu) etc.

so we nodded reluctantly and were quickly ushered to our table (at least wr was wearing a nice dress and heels), where we were ceremoniously seated and a waiter soon appeared with a jacket for me. i was confused and already suspected that i had violated the dress code, but the waiter assured me that everything was ok and that i might need it later..the place was heavily air-conditioned and he was right: i had to put it on after about an hour. soon after the sommelier (and assistant manager, as we later found out), a very nice mr. kazuya kodama, rolled up with a champagne cart and a fine selection of grand cru champagnes i had never even heard of, as well as a 'lowly' rosé moët. i would love to have tried one of the grand crus but since there were no price tags, menus or anything else to be consulted i chickened out and went for the moët...to the chagrin of willierose, who had just gotten a little rosé moët bottle from her co-worker the previous night and wanted to try something different. i don't think she knew what grand cru meant and i vowed silently to make it up to her later :)

the (rather tiny) flutes were poured instantly and the sommelier took his lovely cart elsewhere. a few "cheers! wow! this is really nice, isn't it?"s later, freshly baked rolls and some butter arrived with the the first course. i can only remember fragments from the french/japanese menu, but if i had to guess i'd say that it was a very fine pate, so fine that it tasted more like pate-flavoured butter. so i'd go with a 'beurre de pate' or something? no idea, really.

enter mr. kodama and The Wine List. There were no by-the-glass deals this time, just half or full bottles, starting at 8000 yen (about A$80) for half bottles. i remembered that the the next course was a 'carpaccio of kochi' (a type of snapper), which called for a dry white. i went for the 2nd cheapest option, a chablis 04, grand cru, which tasted like liquid gold and went well with the fish, which was topped with gorgeous herbs (red baby shiso leaves, shiso flowers, dill etc), some red pepper corns and drizzled with a light vinaigrette. divine.

this was followed by lightly grilled scallop, prawn and tilefish (blanquillo) on a capsicum puree with some capsicum cubes. the seafood melted on our incredulous tongues and made for more happy comments. the main consisted of succulent kiwi lamb cutlets, arranged on a bed of japanese shimeji mushrooms, negi leeks and potatoes with a kind of demi-glace sauce and topped with a few truffle shavings. scrumptious. i selected a pinot noir from burgundy, which had an absolutely amazing bouquet (it reminded me of the old spice cupboard we had in our first house when i was just a toddler, full of cloves, coriander and cardamom) and finish but was a tad to spicy for such a subtle dish. nonetheless, heavenly.

the dessert, as always my personal favourite, started with The Cheese Board. it consisted solely of french gourmet cheeses, about 20 different kinds, from overripe camemberts, creamy blue cheese, 4 different goat cheeses, etc, accompanied by three types of bread. yummm! next came an amazing vanilla-pepper parfait on a pineapple sauce, which was sublime. the parfait only absorbed the taste of the pepper, completely leaving behind any spiciness, and complemented the pineapple sauce and cubes perfectly.

finally, the man with the cheese board returned, only this time he was armed with a diabetic's nightmare: a selection of fine mousses, cakes and patisserie. we could select as many as we wanted and, of course, chose way too many. we got fantastic coffee with it and were in gourmet heaven.

it cost a fortune, but i dare say it was worth it.

this picture of the main is all i have to show for it, though (well, apart from the gaping hole in my bank account that is). the place was so posh that i barely dared to take out my camera. next time (if there ever shall be another one), you'll get a shot for each course :)

gg; 9:59 pm