How every Sunday lunch should be

I've been craving bone marrow for a couple of days now, and I've been looking around for a place where I could have it for lunch today.  Nowadays a number of joints around Hong Kong have this delicacy on their menus, which is something I'm pretty happy about.  Unfortunately, no one seems to be  serving it for lunch…

…which is when it really helps to be on friendly terms with a chef.  In times of desperation, I reach out to my chef friends and beg for a favor.  In this case I asked my friend David to set me up at his restaurant Bistronomique.  He very kindly indulged me, and got his staff to serve me items from his à la carte menu.

I was joined by the Specialist, who is another friend who very kindly indulged me by letting my satisfy my craving.  She also very kindly brought along a nice selection of wines, knowing that otherwise I probably would have gone through lunch dry.

Rabbit rillette - I was a little surprised at the amount of herbs here, especially rosemary.  The meat was relatively lean, and the texture was pretty fine.  Nice and enjoyable.

Steamed mussels with Pernod - initially I didn't want any, but eventually I relented and took some so that the Specialist wouldn't have to eat it all.  Why is it that I usually don't eat mussels?  Ask Tony Bourdain, or pick up a copy of Kitchen Confidential… In reality these were pretty tasty…

Frog legs 2 ways: meunière & velouté - very interesting.  Of course I'm used to seeing the traditional meunière, and this was pretty yummy.

Interestingly, the rest of the frogs' bodies weren't wasted, but turned into velouté.  Nicely done.

Green peas 'à la française' - nice to have some veggies.

Gruyère bacon macaroni gratin - I'm a sucker for macaroni, and of course I couldn't resist ordering it…

Finally, the pièce de résistance!  The herb-crusted bone marrow arrived, and I was instantly transported to heaven.  The Specialist was kind enough to let me have all the marrow… and I took it in greedily.  Is there anything better than having this rich, wobbly, semi-liquid goodness spread over on some bread?  At that moment, the answer was most definitely "No".

I was pretty full and didn't think I could take in dessert, but ended up sharing the millefeuille.  I didn't have any expectations, and this was surprisingly good! From the flaky pastry to the vanilla cream, this was top quality.

But let's not forget about the wines!  We started with the 1990 Krug. This was clearly an aged Champagne, with the caramelized sugar notes that I would describe as "oxidized", but without any negative connotation as it's exactly what I love about old Champagnes.  However this is still a vibrant wine, with lots of life still left and the acidity was still high.  Also notes of orange and straw.

1997 Denis Mortet Chambertin - a little sharp at first, like nail polish. Opened up to reveal a beautiful nose with black fruits, eucalyptus, cedar and a little toasty corn.  A very lovely wine.

I was invited to have a drink with David in the afternoon, so we headed to On Lot 10 with the two open bottles.  The bottles were soon empty, and David was kind enough to bring out a bottle of Echigoheiya Junmai Ginjo (越後平野 純米吟醸).  Sweet on the palate, with a prominent nose with lots of rice flavor, and somehow I think I'm smelling the protein in the rice.

I definitely had too much to drink… but it was such a nice way to spend an afternoon, over a few glasses of wine and interesting conversation with friends. I thanked David and the Specialist for their hospitalities, and headed to the airport for my flight home.