Christmas Day feast

It's Christmas Day, and that means one of the MNSC boys is celebrating his birthday.  This year he's decided to host his dinner on his birthday, and extended the invitation to the other halves.  It's almost become tradition that we gather at the I Hate the Handover Hong Kong Club for this last feast, where the menu is simple but Cheetah more than makes up for it by the amazing wines he serves us.

I was a little surprised to find everyone seated at the same table instead of the usual arrangement of separate tables.  What hasn't changed, though, is that the ladies were still being served different wines than the boys... and although some of the ladies complained about the different treatment, I'd be pretty happy drinking their FX Pichler and 1971 Palmer any day...

French pigeon confit and ravioli, puréed parsley, sous vide poached egg, pinot noir reduction - wow!  Am I getting this right?  Sous vide comes to the Hong Kong Club?!  Are we gonna see spherification next?  Anyway... the pigeon was very, very good... and it went very well with the pinot noir reduction, naturally.  The pigeon ravioli was not bad, and of course the sous vide egg just made everything a little better...

Whole steamed ocean trout, chilli, coriander, spring onions, soy sauce, steamed rice - our eyes opened real wide when this was brought out... and I quickly grabbed a fish knife and laid it next to the dish for scale... An Australian ocean trout that weighs 5 kg... very impressive, indeed!

The fish was done Cantonese-style... steamed with "soy sauce"... No, I didn't ask if they used chicken bouillon powder here.  Anyway the fish was absolutely stunning, and I'm so glad they served us white rice.  I honestly really wanted a second serving, but I knew what was coming next...

Whole roasted American Prime beef rib, herb butter, Yorkshire pudding, roasted potatoes, seasonal vegetables - yup, there's always a whole roasted Prime rib which, I gotta admit, is a beautiful hunk of protein...

It's been a while since I last asked for the end cut, so I decided to get it tonight.  I do love the charring on the edges...

... but it meant the center of the beef wasn't very pink and tender.  It wasn't bad, I just usually prefer my beef to be more rare...

Grand Marnier soufflé - pretty decent.

And there was even a cake because, after all, it's a birthday party!

But the boys were here for the wines, and Cheetah was as generous as he has always been...

Pol Roger Extra Cuvée de Réserve en magnum

First flight: opened 1½ hours prior to serving from bottle.

1994 Colgin Herb Lamb Vineyard - very sweet nose, with lots of coconut butter, exotic, tropical notes, minty.  Nice forest and dried herbs on the nose.  Surprisingly dry on the palate and not sweet.  My first instinct was that this was a 94 Colgin, but was thrown off by the dry palate.  I was ready to guess this was a 94 Harlan, but when someone offered a guess of Le Pin, I thought that also made sense... Should have stuck to my guns!  97 points.

1994 Screaming Eagle - lots of forest pine, a little smoky, grilled meats, very classic Left Bank nose, plus some savory black olive at the end.  Lots of sediment in my glass, and still some smooth and round tannins on the palate.

Once again this showed me that for a very good vintage of this wine, I could never tell it was Californian at all... and always mistake it for a Left Bank claret!

Second flight:  opened just prior to serving from bottle.

1984 Henri Jayer Nuits-Saint-Georges Les Meurgers - beautiful, floral nose of Mei Kuei Lu (玫瑰露)-infused Cantonese duck liver sausage (膶腸), and savory black olive.  Nice acidity here.  Had it been anyone else serving this wine without a label, I would have seriously doubted the authenticity of the bottle... 93 points.

1984 Mouton-Rothschild - very meaty, a little stinky... nose of pencil lead, and a little savory.  Acidity on the palate here, but could still feel the tannins.  94 points.

Third flight: opened more than 2 hours prior to serving from bottle.

1964 Giacomo Conterno Barolo Vino Monfortino - very savory nose, with animal, blood, iron, and slightly dusty nose.  Acidic on the palate.

1964 Haut-Brion en magnum - wine was off so we did not taste it.

Fourth flight: opened 3 hours prior to serving from bottle.

1947 Vieux Château Certan - really lovely and sweet nose, slightly metallic, some nice fruit, minty.  Later on the sweet fruit disappeared and the nose turned stinky and very peppery.  90 points.

1947 Canon - big nose of sweet grass, with a good amount of sweet fruit, a little animal, and slightly stinky. 94 points.

1947 La Conseillante - even more grassy and green than the Canon.  Some sweet fruit here, but a little leaner.  A little bit of savory soy sauce in the nose.  93 points.

Wow!  What an amazing evening!  Not only was the food incredibly delicious - a big surprise given that I've never been a fan of this club - but the wines were superb!  My favorites of the evening were the first two Californians (no surprise there), but I was also pleasantly surprised by the '84 Mouton - which I've never even seen, let alone drunk...