Arrivederci, Toscana!

Today was the final day of operations for my beloved Tuscany by H.  It's being closed down by Harlan and will be reincarnated as GOLD.  Some of us who love the place are wondering whether GOLD would be a step up in terms of poshness - and price...

Anyway, a friend was kind enough to book a table for lunch, and we joined her for the farewell lunch.  There was never any doubt as to what I would order for my last meal here - the wild boar ragout pasta.  It is such an awesome dish, and for a very reasonable price, too!

Unfortunately for me - and Mrs. Dyson - the restaurant wasn't stocking the ingredients for the wild boar ragout on its last day.  I would have to "make do" with one of the pastas offered as the daily special... which I would order half the time anyway!

The spinosini with scampi tail, sea urchin, romanesco in baby shrimp sauce and shaved bottarga di muggine was pretty awesome, and a fitting ending.  The thin pasta was full of flavors of the ocean, although curiously the sea urchin did not dominate thanks to the shrimp sauce.  I loved the scampi as it was really, really good... although it would have been perfect if the kitchen had deveined them.  And I could never get enough of bottarga - it was pretty much the deciding factor which pushed me towards choosing this particular dish.  Then there were the romanescos - technically a broccoli but looks more like cauliflower.

Chef Harlan very kindly served us complimentary desserts, even though we weren't planning on having any.  I dug into the crème brulée first, and later had a spoonful of the milk ice cream on the side.

We decided to play with our food, and shook the vanilla panna cotta to watch it wobble.  Pleasantly surprised to find caramel sauce at the bottom along with fresh fruits.

I haven't eaten a molten chocolate cake in years, as I find it to be really passé.  But this one was wobbly and I was gonna get me some...

We bid farewell to the restaurant, and look forward to seeing Harlan in his new digs soon.