The shop across the river

We were in a hurry to get from Zurich to Geneva, so we didn't have the luxury of grabbing lunch in Zurich... and ate on the 3-hour train ride instead.  I took a break in the dining car, and ordered something that seemed totally appropriate for the journey...

Zürcher Geschnetzeltes - the veal came with mushroom cream sauce, spätzli, and carrots.  Kinda interesting, even if the veal was fully-cooked and the spätzli was a little limp and mushy.

After checking into the Mandarin Oriental Geneva, we asked the concierge to check whether La Bottega had a table available for dinner.  While the dining scene in Geneva appears to be pretty sad by most accounts, this was one of the places consistently recommended by foodies.  As it was only a short walk away on the other side of the River Rhône, it seemed like an easy option.

I had unfortunately run out of battery in my Sony camera, and for some reason I forgot to bring my usual backup battery.  Since I also forgot that I could charge my battery in-camera via USB, I ended up spending the rest of the trip snapping pictures with my old iPhone...

We started with a glass of bubbly after being seated, which went along with the crispy sticks:

Clandestin Les Semblabes - very fresh and vibrant.  Later some marmalade notes.

We chose the 5-course tasting menu with wine pairing.  The snacks came pretty quickly...

Gougères with parmigiana - nice little bit of eggplant purée on top.

Puffed pasta with tonnato - the crunchy texture was a lot like Fritos...

Olive sponge with lemon confit - the lemon confit purée was nice and elegant.

Rosemary and potato foccacia, herring roe butter

Crispy cannolo with boletus mushrooms, brown champignon carpaccio, champignon cream -  pretty nice with all the fall mushroom flavors.

2015 Bandini Villa Pomona Chianti Classico Riserva - lots of sediment here.  Really fragrant, with lots of herbs and potpourri nose, also a bit fruity.  Nose was beautiful about 2 hours later.

Gnudi with Parmesan cream and white truffle - pretty solid and tasty.  My friend described the color of the white truffle shavings as "白裡透紅, 像羞澀的女孩"... a phrase used to describe the rosy cheeks of a shy, young girl...  Très poétique, n'est-ce pas?

2016 Villa Guelpa Sizzano - minty with eucalyptus notes.

Ravioli with beef sauce - with more white truffle shavings, of course! Simple and tasty.  For me, this is what good Italian food from a trattoria is all about.

2014 San Lorenzo Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi Classico Superiore Campo delle Oche - flinty, a little stinky, but really ripe on the palate... almost polyurethane.  An hour later it was really like a Bordeaux Sauvignon Blanc, toasty, almost coffee.  Stinky but not quite pipi de chat.

Duck breast, pumpkin flan, duck reduction - I didn't catch the description of the "flan", but it was pretty decent in texture.

The duck breast, though, was a tad overcooked for my taste...

2015 Riccardi Reale Cesanese di Olevano Romano Càlitro - ripe and pruny, a little peaty and bretty, woodsy, smoky, almost a little peppery.  Later on after aeration pretty tannic, and really medicinal. Not a fan.

Our palate-cleanser was a parsley and yogurt sorbet with oyster leaves.

Gâteau moelleux au citron, stuffed pear, Bronte pistachio, Miyagawa mandarin, zibibo raisin ice cream - the Miyagawa mandarins certainly came with that bitterness we were told about.  The ice cream was made with zibibo and figs, and a little like zabaglione.  The pear was stuffed with bitter chocolate and nutmeg.

2018 Marabino Moscato della Torre - lots of Anjou pear, flinty, mineral, and acetone.

Lemon apricot tartlet, chocolate with red fruits, puff pastry with fig cream

Gotta say... this was a pretty decent dinner.  While this wasn't top-end fine dining, it was very tasty and satisfying.  Pretty happy I made it here.

As we were leaving, I noticed a few bottles of Toro Albalá Don PX Convento Selección in a cabinet.  Turns out one of the bottles is from 1929.  I was tempted to ask for a glass, but maybe next time...