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Last year I had the privilege of being invited to the Hong Kong launch of
Krug x Egg - the 2016 edition of
Champagne Krug's annual ingredient pairing. This year the chosen ingredient is mushroom, and I was happy to have been invited to go on a walking tour of
Krug x Mushroom, visiting three different restaurants in the course of one evening.
Our tour started at
Arcane, a restaurant I have visited once - where I enjoyed my dinner very much. For some reason, though, I never found myself back there for more of Shane Osborn's well-regarded cuisine.
We would, of course, start with a flute of
Krug Grande Cuvée. We are now on the 163ème édition, with the base coming from 2007 and the oldest in the blend from 1990. Good ripeness on the palate, with some marmalade.
Sautéed potato gnocchi with maitake, pine nut cream, and black truffle - the texture of the
gnocchi was very good... very fluffy. The cream sauce with spinach and pine nut was very, very good - especially since the crunchy, toasted pine nuts left a wonderful fragrance in the mouth. And it doesn't take a genius to see that the amount of shaved black truffle from South Australia - which Shane felt delivers better quality than its French counterpart - would elevate the dish to a whole other level. Oh and in terms of pairing, the sweetness from the
gnocchi actually brought out the acidity of the Krug.
We move on to our second stop at the top of the same building.
ON Dining Kitchen and Lounge had arranged a table for us in their private room, so we had the opportunity to sit down for a little.
Egg raviolo, sautéed girolles mushroom, summer truffle, and bellota ham - given this was Philippe Orrico's signature dish, needless to say the egg was cooked at 63°C. We've got mushroom
purée underneath the pasta sheets, then sautéed
girolles on top along with slices of
jamón.
This is a dish that's always on the menu here, and was delicious as always.
But I did joke with Krug's brand manager Vincent Mafaity that Philippe didn't seem to have gotten the menu that this year's theme is mushrooms, not his beloved egg...
Our last stop of the evening was
Beef and Liberty, and I got to catch up with my old friend Uwe Opocensky.
Mushroom and truffle burger - Uwe used three different types of mushrooms:
porcini,
maitake, and truffle. Served with French duck, pan-fried duck egg, and
hollandaise sauce. I loved the duck and of course loved the mushrooms... how could I not love black truffle?!
But the best part of this was the duck egg! Here's another chef who didn't get the memo that Krug x Egg was
last year... But the rich, viscous duck egg yolk drizzled onto the other ingredients and made everything so much better.
We also had some
French fries and
sweet potato fries, both of which were delicious.
What's even more amazing is the pricing on this. During the promotional period at Beef and Liberty - which starts on September 4th for a month - a bottle of Krug Grande Cuvée plus two of these burgers will only set you back HKD 1,388. Now that is a serious bargain! I'm soooo gonna be there!
This was a fun evening filled with delicious food and one of my favorite Champagnes. Many thanks to Champagne Krug for their kind invitation. I look forward to trying more of the pairings around town.
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