MNSC Burgundy Trip Day 6: back to Paris

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Our final day in Burgundy started with a visit to Lucien Le Moine this morning.  Tasting notes can be found here.

We had lunch with Mounir and Rotem from Lucien Le Moine at Caveau des Arches. 

I started with the salade de roquette to keep things light.  This was pretty good as it had Parmesan, cauliflower, carrots...etc.

Magret de canard, griottines - the minute I saw the word "griottines" I knew I was done.  These wonderfully sweet cherries were perfect to go with the duck breast.  The duck was perhaps a little bit more done than "rosé", but still very tender and delicious.  The sauce was just unbelieveable... red wine reduction together with the sweetness from the cherries.

2007 Coche-Dury Meursault 1er Cru Perrières - mineral, flint, a bit ripe, high acidity on the palate.  Later on became ripe and sweeet on the palate, with rounded, buttery notes while still flinty.  Honestly this was a little muted for a Coche-Dury...

2006 Rousseau Chambertin - sharp and alcoholic, mint, a little Chinese medicine, root-like, black cherries.  Much later on the nose was really really sweet, but palate kinda died and turned pretty disgusting, like drinking bleach…

A pretty enjoyable lunch, and certainly much better than dinner last night...

We took the long ride back to Paris after lunch, and it rained the whole way.  At one point I noticed that all the animals grazing on pasture were white:  sheep, horses and cattle.  Our driver told me that the cattle were of the famous Charolais breed - which some of us had enjoyed at lunch earlier.

Back in Paris, I checked into the Hotel Concorde Montparnasse and immediately ran some errands before heading out to dinner.

We regrouped at Il Vino d'Enrico Bernardo to celebrate Lord Rayas' birthday.  Even Juliano, who missed out on the entire trip to Burgundy, flew in to join the party.  The lovely wives of Lord Rayas and Juliano also graced us with their presence, so we finally had ladies at our table for the first time in quite a few days...

The restaurant was established by Enrico Bernardo, formerly of Four Seasons George V who won the title of Best Sommelier of the World back in 2004.  The concept is refreshing, and really takes food and wine matching to heart.  There was no food menu.  The diner chooses the wines from the list, and the kitchen sends out dishes to match the wines.

The amuse bouches:

Cream of beet root

Tempura of Parmesan

Rabbit Terrine

2007 Roulot Meursault 1er Cru Perrières - big, explosive toasty nose with flint, minerals, fresh lemon.  The acidity was a bit high.  Drunk together with fish, the acidity disappeared completely, leaving only ripe, sweetness and a round and lovely wine.  Better than the Coche-Dury at lunch today.

Tartar of sea bream with wasabi crème fraîche, chives and caviar - this was pretty good, and the wasabi wasn't too strong to detract from the wines.

2006 Roulot Meursault 1er Cru Perrières - really sweet, lovely and beautiful... decadent.  Sweet straw, honey, nectar, buttery corn.  Smooth and round on the palate.  Absolutely awesome.

Pan-seared scallops with broccoli sauce, topped with konbu and orange - the scallops were done very well here.  The broccoli sauce was a little bland, but the piece of konbu (昆布) was incredibly salty.

Tagliolini with butter and white truffles - this was simply awesome!  The tagliolini was done very nicely, with plenty of yummy butter.  Of course white truffles made the dish, although we were a little surprised that they chose to shave the truffles in the kitchen and not at the table.

1996 Méo-Camuzet Vosne-Romanée Aux Brûlée - nice and open, with a bit of smoke, black fruits, herbs and spices, sweet fruit, a little preserved prunes.  Medium acidity at first but later more acidic, and a bit tannic on the finish.

We celebrated with a birthday cake, which I no longer had the space for in my stomach...

The food was excellent, well-deserving of the restaurant's macaron.  This was definitely a good way to wrap up our Burgundy trip.  I was glad to be able to celebrate Lord Rayas' birthday with him in Paris.