Wine, truffle and fish

As we reach the middle of the last quarter of the year, we are now in the season where, traditionally, 3 MNSC dinners get crammed into the span of 2 months.  Tonight it was once again Lord Rayas' turn to play host, and he took a page out of Pineapple's playbook by rounding us up at the Hong Kong Club.

Our host deliberately kept the menu simple tonight, but we weren't about to complain when we saw our first course...

Scrambled Italian farm eggs with Alba white truffle - we had a choice of pan-fried or scrambled eggs, and I opted for the scrambled version for its vibrant color.  A beautiful golden hue, and absolutely delicious - with a small square of toast underneath.  It's pretty tough to beat white truffle shaved over scrambled eggs...

Tomato, avocado, buffalo Mozzarella, basil, extra virgin olive oil - the Mozzarella was pretty nice and soft, and the flavors of the basil were really strong.

Whole poached ocean trout, ginger, shiitake, spring onions, soy sauce, white rice, oriental greens - this has become de rigeur for our dinners at the Hong Kong Club.  A big fish from the ocean, cooked Cantonese-style with spring onions, ginger, and dressed with soy sauce.  Tonight our fish was "only" 3.6kg, but that would be more than enough to feed the 6 of us!

The trout was perfectly cooked, and serving it with steamed rice and soy sauce was simply perfect.  The loofah, shiitake mushroom, and Shanghainese cabbage (青江菜) all matched well.  I couldn't resist having a second helping of the trout...

The others shared a couple of soufflés, but I resisted the temptation.  I didn't need the extra calories.

Petit fours

Lord Rayas truly showed his generosity tonight, as he showcased some of our favorite wines... including a few from my birth year.  In fact, he looked through this very blog for past notes on these wines...

1996 Tattinger Comte de Champagne - very nutty and toasty, a little ripe on the nose, with a good acidity finish.  Absolutely fragrant and beautiful right now.

First flight: served 30 minutes after opening.

1970 Guigal La Mouline - very fragrant, sweet fruit on the nose.  Slightly dry on the palate.  Later on some coffee and mocha notes.  A really beautiful wine.  97 points.

1970 Beaulieu Vineyard Georges de Latour Private Reserve - a little more savory, slightly more exotic on the nose.  Some fruit, a little leather, slightly oxidized and caramelized.  Very soft and slightly sweeter on the palate.  93 points.

1970 Latour - very fragrant and beautiful, savory, slightly smoky, slightly earthy, with some fruit here.  96 points.

Second flight: served 2½ hours after opening.

1975 Jaboulet La Chapelle - fragrant and clean nose, with ripe fruit, floral, minty, toasty, and cedar notes.  95 points.

1975 L'Evangile - a little smoky, a little toasty.  92 points.

Third flight: served 4 hours after opening.

1982 Guigal La Mouline - sweet, floral and fragrant, slightly restrained nose.  Later a little leather and cedar, with some toasty notes.  Acidity a little high on the palate after a while.  Very nice.  95 points.

1982 Dunn Howell Mountain - a little pencil lead, some burnt rubber, chalky and dusty.  Second pour showed lots of sweet and tropical banana.  Kinda tannic and still concentrated.  92 points.

1982 Mouton-Rothschild - a little green pepper, sweet grass, with a little toast.  Corked.

A fantastic evening of wonderful food and wines. I look forward to the next edition, which will come up in a few weeks...