Last toast at the Porn

I was pretty impressed with the food when I last visited the Porn Pawn earlier this year, and have been thinking about going back when the time came for a casual meal. When I found out that they were making big changes starting the middle of this month, I decided to book a table to try their current dishes one more time. I also managed to rope in Mr. and Mrs. Birdiegolf for a night out.

Calamari: sautéed calamari, red vin sorrel, basil, pesto - I confess that I didn't look at the menu carefully, and I really wanted fried calamari hahaha... But this was nicely done.

Carbonara: linguine carbonara, guanciale, free range egg - I just couldn't help it. I see carbonara, I order carbonara. But this wasn't really the true Roman version, though... There was clearly more cream than eggs in the sauce. The cubes of guanciale were nice and springy, and this was still a tasty dish.

Chicken: Earl Grey infused local yellow chicken - this was the pièce de résistance tonight. I was very impressed with this dish on my last visit, and apparently it's a crowd favorite, too. The smoky fragrance filled the table when the lid was lifted from the cocotte.

The chicken was then chopped up and served on a bed of fried glutinous rice with preserved liver sausage. The rice is just so, so tasty. The chicken itself was pretty good, too.

Coconut sorbet - we all got the dessert of the day, but it was a case of "expectation versus reality"... I really thought this sorbet would be made of coconut water and be really clean and refreshing, but this was obviously made from coconut milk - and in that sense was more like a sherbert. Don't get me wrong, this was very, very tasty, with very rich and intense coconut flavors. But I just wanted something different.

This being Monday night, we took things easy and only popped open three bottles.

1996 Pol Roger Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill - nice and ripe, mature, some toast on the nose, and really fragrant. Marmalade on the palate. This was drinking so beautifully!

2012 Lucien Le Moine Corton Blanc - really toasty on the nose. Initially the nose was a little overwhelming, almost showing like paint thinner. This went away and revealed lots of vanilla notes. Very buttery on the palate with good acidity, too.

2010 Hospices de Beaune Beaune 1er Cru Cuvée Rousseau-Deslandes, mis en bouteille par Lucien Le Moine pour MNSC - still very toasty as every other bottle I have opened. Nice, sweet fruit here with leather notes, and lots of Japanese cypress. Showing wonderfully.

A nice meal before the restaurant changes to its new format. Looking forward to seeing it as a Chinese restaurant!