A very long day pt 1: 2 wonderful lunches

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I was planning to take my colleagues out for lunch today, and figured it was time to go back for Gold.  I was checking with Harlan on a particular ingredient I was hankering for lately, and he assured me that they've got it.  Believe me, I was looking forward to this lunch all week.

I was informed that the restaurant doesn't offer any specials at lunch, but I asked the staff to check with the chef on the item in question.  Fortunately Joe came out and offered to make the dish I came for, and also offered to do something a little special for my colleagues.

Carabinero pici in sakura shrimp sauce with bottarga and fava beans - the pici was cooked perfectly, and I love that bite.  The sauce is exactly what I've come to expect from Harlan - tons of flavors of the sea, thanks to the intense tiny dried shrimps and the bottarga.  Not really sure about the fava beans as I would have preferred to do without them.  The carabineros were huge, and I wasted no time in devouring the tails.  Very yummy.  Full-throttle flavors.

When I was done with the pasta, I grabbed the heads and started working on them.  The heads of these prawns are huge, and filled with a ton of goodies.  I basically licked and sucked them clean of any tomalley or anything else.  In short, I was in heaven.  Of course when I was done with the heads, I had to pick up a piece of bread and wipe the bowl clean of all the sauce...

Mission accomplished.  I came for carabineros, and carabineros were what I got.  Satisfied, I left the restaurant for my second lunch appointment of the day...

My friend had met James Suckling a couple of months ago in Bordeaux, and as James was in town this week they had agreed to meet for lunch.  I arrived at Fook Lam Moon (福臨門) with my stomach full, but I wasn't really coming for the food this time.  I had an introductory meeting with James that was more than 4 years overdue...  We were supposed to have met back in 2006 at a dinner for Pineapple's 30th, but I had decided to spend some quality time with my parents in Kansai.

There was a plate of food in front of me, but I wasn't really in the mood to eat.  Eventually I did nibble on a couple of slices of pig's ears, and a couple of pieces of chicken marinated in soy sauce (豉油雞).  Both were pretty tasty, especially the chicken.

My friend had generously brought 2 bottles of wine to lunch, both of which I enjoyed a lot:

1970 Egon Müller Scharzhofberger Riesling Spälese - this bottle came from a lot that I bid on behalf of my friend at Acker earlier in the year, after securing a case for myself.  Classic nose of minerals and petrol, along with clean, sharp lemon rind.  On the palate it was clearly off-dry, but with only a little bit of detectable sweetness.  I had fairly low expectation for this wine, having little experience with the ageability of spälese, so I was pleasantly surprised.  I'm looking forward to opening more bottles of this!

1995 Leroy Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Charmes - minty, fruity, plummy with dried fruits and dried herbs.  Very smooth on the palate.  Very elegant and not the powerful, big wines that we sometimes get from Madame Leroy.  Went very well with the soya chicken.

Meeting James was a lot of fun, and I'm kinda bummed that I didn't get to meet him earlier.  I'm also bummed that I'll be too busy to go to Divino Tuscany, the event he's put together that is taking place in a few days' time.  Oh well, there's always next time.