Very fine indeed

Pin It

It's been a couple of months since the Film Buff and I sat at the same table, so we made plans to try out a new place while polishing off a couple of bottles.  We eventually settled on Le Bec Fin, which is a place both of us have wanted to check out for a while.  

Amuse bouche was a chanwanmushi (茶碗蒸し) with white truffle.  Very nice and comforting to warm up the stomach, but a little too big as an 'amuse bouche', to be honest.  A little interesting that the texture was not consistent throughout.

Smoked eel sushi - the eel tasted a little muddy, and there was no sansho (山椒) powder to help neutralize it.  This came with a piece of nori (海苔) at the bottom, and a small chunk of foie gras in the middle between the rice and the eel.

Salmon and scallop terrine - this was a surprisingly beautiful presentation, and I was really impressed.  Wrapped inside the cabbage were pieces of red carrots, okra, sweet potatoes, asparagus smoked salmon, scallops smoked trout (or was it salmon?) roe, eggplant, zucchini, French green beans, shiitake, purple yam, broccoli, and yam propagules (零余子).  I was particularly impressed to find a little piece of progagule, since that's such an esoteric Japanese ingredient.

Baked onion soup en cocotte - so, soooo nostalgic that I just had to have this.  I would have tried out their Japanese turtle soup otherwise.

Sea urchin and white truffle pasta - this was delicious, but much, much too rich.  I would always put my hand up for a pasta made with sea urchin cream, but the cream here was just much too thick and rich.  I had real trouble finishing this, and they should definitely serve a smaller portion.  Interestingly, I found what I thought was a small chunk of tomato skin in the sauce... so that must have been the other ingredient...  Of course, the slices of white truffle didn't hurt.

Charcoal red snapper with vegetable puree - the snapper was really tender and succulent, but the real surprise was the crispy and charred skin which, to be honest, came with a totally different texture than what I had expected.  The liberal use of perilla flowers added nice aromatics, and the smoked eggplant purée worked well with the fish.

Wagyu steak sandwich - I stared at this and blinked, hard, a few times.  SERIOUSLY?!  After all the food we'd been given, the steak sandwich was this size?!  And we got TWO PIECES?!

I didn't ask where the beef came from, but these were really, really tender and juicy hunks of meat.  I think I spotted a Josper Grill.  Man!  These were good!  I only wish I wasn't so full.  

Monaka soy sauce ice cream - I liked this more than I had expected, and really enjoyed the savory flavors.  I was surprised there was a chunk of warabi mochi (わらび餅), but then again, it's a natural pairing.

Coffee - I surprised myself when I asked for regular coffee instead of something more intense, and let's not kid ourselves... This was not coffee.  It's what my mom say how coffee tasted like in America - 洗杯水- or what you get when you add some water to the cup to rinse out the little big of coffee that remains at the bottom of the cup.  It really wasn't worth putting in my mouth.  

But when I lifted up the cup... quelle surprise!  There was a little chunk of brownie on the saucer.  And it was just... the most incredibly smooth brownie I've ever had... almost like a piece of raw chocolate that just melts in the mouth.  I was instantly transported back to Paradeplatz in Zurich, as I shopped for the Cru Sauvage at Sprüngli.  You know what?  I'll drink a few more sips of that dish water if it means I get another piece of this!

We brought along a few bottles to get the evening going...

2006 Kongsgaard Chardonnay The Judge - definitely too ripe, but improved significantly with chilling down to a lower serving temperature.  Showed a good amount of mineral and flint, with a big toasty nose.  Still ripe on the palate and the finish was kinda short, with a little bitterness.

2005 Pascal Lachaux Clos-Saint-Denis - served 45 minutes after opening.  Fragrant nose with sweet fruit like strawberries, with dried herbs and meaty notes underneath.  Two hours later showed more black fruits.

2017 Comte Ligair-Belair Nuits Saint Georges 1er Cru Clos des Grandes Vignes - really fragrant, definitely red fruits, and also black cherries.  Nice toasty notes, too.

I gotta say that this was a pretty good meal, although the amount of food we were given was just too much.  I'm glad to have finally made it here, and hopefully I can come and revisit more often... and in kakigori (かき氷) season.