Golden truffles

Back in Hong Kong on business for a couple of days, and quickly filled up my evenings with dinner plans to satisfy some of my recent cravings.  Given some of my recent disastrous experiences in Taipei, it's not hard to guess what I'm looking for here...

The evening actually started with a wine tasting.  My friend was celebrating the second anniversary of her retail wine shop in Central, and I stopped by after my conference to show her some support.  On my way to the tasting, I was chastised by the Specialist over chat for not informing her that I was in town.  She was at the wine tasting and learned of my presence from my friend...

1971 Nicolas Potel Pommard 1er Cru Pézerolles - my friend very generously gave me a pour from this bottle.  What a lovely wine!  Nose of plum and Asian spices... almost floral.  Very elegant after 40 years.  The lovely nose lingered in my glass, and I almost didn't want to move on to the next wine...

2007 Le Petit Lion de Marquis de Las Cases - the first vintage of the "second wine" from Las Cases.  Typical of modern vintage Bordeaux... minty, ripe, very alcoholic on the nose, with cedar and other forest notes.  A little too young.

I had a dinner date with my Birdbrain Cousin, who wanted to have some white truffles.  I shamelessly asked Harlan for a table of two at Gold, since the plan materialized only a few days ago.  The big man was kind enough to accommodate us.

Slow-cooked organic egg on toast of brioche, porcini mushroom and Masala foie gras sauce - I was gonna go for the scrambled eggs, but the minute I saw the words "egg on toast" I was done.  The egg itself was cooked a little more than I had expected.  It was still wobbly and soft, but the yolk wasn't as liquid and runny... which was just as well.  The porcini mushrooms were delish, and the rich foie gras sauce worked really well with the mushroom and egg.  Oh, and of course the white truffle shaved on top was lovely.  What a simple-sounding yet decadent dish!  Birdbrain complained that I got more truffle on my starter than her main course...

Alba's style truffle tagliollini pasta, Italian white butter and Parmigiano - a classic and simple dish that people somehow fail to execute properly, like what I had last week in Singapore.  The execution was better tonight, but still a little off.  I found the buttery sauce to be a little too wet and liquid, at least for my taste.  No complaints about the flavors, though... nor the lovely perfume of the white truffles.

I brought a bottle of wine from Piedmont to match the white truffles from Alba...

2004 La Spinetta Barbaresco Vürsù Vigneto Starderi - pretty young and pretty alcoholic, with nose of black fruits, prunes and dried herbs.  Later on the nose was more smoky.  Fairly smooth.

The Specialist joined us after her dinner, as we were still finishing up our Barbaresco.  She brought with her another bottle from Piedmont - a Barbera which I had deemed a little too young to drink.  I did end up getting a taste...

2008 Domenico Clerico Barbera d'Alba Trevigne - very sweet nose with lots of vanilla and oak.  Definitely alcoholic.  Needs a few more years.