Relaxing and comfy dinner

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It's been a few weeks since we last saw DaRC and Ro Ro, so we made plans to catch up over dinner.  DaRC thought about trying some place new to him and threw out Roganic as a suggestion.  Since I had a pretty good lunch there last year, I was more than happy to go back.

As it's Sunday night and Ro Ro didn't feel like taking the long tasting menu, we chose to have the short tasting menu while adding a supplementary course for the rest of us.  We figured that would actually work out better.  And it did.

Ragstone tart, pickled onion, shallot confit - nice sweetness from the confit shallots, along with some acidity from the pickled onion jam.  The goat cheese was decent. 

Hong Kong pea, elderflower and radish - there were some peas inside the pile of pea mousse, and some acidity in there somewhere.  Topped with some radish snow/granité and pea tendrils.  The mint oil was a nice touch.

Dry aged beef and oyster, cep, caviar - this was the supplement dish, and here DaRC and I kinda thought there was a minor service fail.  The staff brought out one plate bearing two oyster shells, and kinda put it between us.  I guess we didn't realize that each of us was meant to pick up the shell with our hands while spooning the contents out.  In any case, it would have taken a few spoonfuls to empty the shell, and in the meanwhile we would have had to hold on to the shell with one hand until we were done eating.  A little awkward.  In the end we took turns eating while leaving the shells on to the plate...

And here's where modern menus bother me.  The ingredients were listed, but not the way it was prepared.  I would have never known this was a beef tartare.  I might not have gone for this had I known beforehand.  The beef, which came in rather large chunks and on the chewy side, was covered in oyster emulsion, pickled onions, and topped with mushroom foam along with some caviar.  I thought this was pretty decent, with a mix of acidity and creaminess coming into play with the salt from the caviar.

Soda bread with whipped cultured brown butter - these "muffins" were pretty good, especially with the brown butter.

Dill brined cabbage, mussel, wasabi - again we had a nice interplay between rich, creaminess and acidity, and some fermented flavors.  The Australian green-lipped mussel was OK. 

Maitake mushroom, whey, celeriac, salted egg - the flavors from maitake (舞茸) were pretty nice, The thyme custard was OK, and we had some celeriac purée, black garlic purée, and salted egg yolk flakes on top.

Salmon, leek, roasted walnut and baked potato - the Scottish salmon was finished with some brown butter, and served mi-cuit for that smooth and slippery texture which was wonderful.  Nice with some citrus flavors.  The leek and seaweed terrine was OK, but the walnuts at the bottom were really tasty.

Three yellow chicken, sweetcorn, garlic and chilli - “three yellow chicken (三黃雞)" means that the feathers, the feet, and the beaks are all yellow.  Very tender, and we felt the chicken would have been cooked sous vide.  The jus made with chicken, (veal?), and pickles came along with some sweet corn purée.  But the bonus came in the form of those crispy chips made of chicken skin.  Just... WOW.

Roganic - fig leaf-flavored set cream with compressed nashi (梨) and pear juice with fig leaf oil.  Very nice, actually.  

Bee pollen and chamomile cake, hay with strawberries - this was OK.

A very nice and relaxing dinner on a Sunday. Pretty comfortable in terms of the quantity as well as the quality of the food.

We brought along a few bottles, one of which was from Hello Kitty's vintage.

1996 Trimbach Clos Ste Hune - nice and fragrant, almost opulent, with lots of white flowers and honey on the nose.  Good ripeness on the nose and beautiful.  Good acidity here, with a lean palate.

1982 Guigal La Mouline - decanted one hour after opening, and served 1 hour after decanting.  So fucking beautiful right from the first pour.  So sweet on the nose, like honeydew melon.  Amazing floral notes with violet.  So soft and supple on the palate.  Probably peaked 2 hours after decanting.

1990 Canon-la-Gaffelière - minty, with plenty of fruit like cassis, smoke, leather, really sweet on the nose.  Just beautiful from the start and really lovely, with explosive nose.