Relaxing Friday lunch

My colleagues and I went for a relaxing lunch at Pierre today. The excuse today was to have a belated celebration for my colleague, who took delivery of his prized 1994 Porsche Speedster earlier this week.

For this occasion, I brought out a bottle of 1994 Von Schubert Maximin Grünhauser Herrenberg Riesling Spätlese to match the vintage and the country of origin of the car. This is an aged bottle, and showed a big nose of urethane/plastic, acetone and petrol. Then lemon notes emerged with green apple following. Initially fairly dry, it gained a bit more sweetness as it opened up. A wonderful wine to drink at lunch.

As it was with our last visit, we had a special pre-starter after the amuse bouches. This looked suspiciously similar to what the chef sent us last time... cold, springy/chewy sole coated with a layer of solid cream sauce. Each piece is topped with a bit of caviar, and served with tiny balls of crème fraîche. The lone oyster packed a wallop of incredible flavors that took me completely by surprise.

My first course was 63° eggs, yabbies Nantua and chicken mousseline with green olives. I am a fan of these soft-boiled eggs, served with two marshmellow-like morsels made from yabbies. The mousseline was pretty yummy - a little rich but not enough to make you uncomfortable.

I didn't get myself a second course. In fact, none of us did except for our colleague G-girl. As someone else put it, she decided to "press Button #1, #2...and #3..." I guess she was hungry.

My main course was filet of seabream, couscous, confit lemon and oriental vegetable broth. The seabream was pretty tender and moist, topped with dried mushroom slices. The bed of couscous tasted of a light curry - I guess it is Oriental after all. The overall combination worked well together, and I'm reminded of a rice dish from my lunch here in May.

I chose not to have dessert today, since I most definitely over-indulged last night. The final nibble of bonbons on a stick was a nice way to end the meal.