Sunday bastard

A friend had double-booked himself and was looking to give up his table at Bâtard. Normally this is not a restaurant I would stress about booking months in advance... Sure, much of the food is decent, but really nothing special... and who the hell wants to book for bistro food 2-3 months ahead?! But seeing as the booking is readily available in a few days' time and only involved a change in name, Sankala and I decided to take it over and invited the Zhongmeister and Winnie the Chew along - seeing as they've never been there before.

Our friends took the set lunch while Sankala and I picked off dishes à la carte. After all, she don't like no chicken...

Fries - I was a little surprised that Sankala insisted on ordering this, but apparently she found the fries memorable from our first and only visit last year. I have to admit they were pretty good, but the star was actually the Alain Milliat ketchup. I could practically spoon it straight into my mouth and eat jars of it.

Japanese fruit tomato tart with fennel pollen and burrata - I do like this dish and always thought the basil was pretty nice. The sauce tasted nutty and I liked that, too. Sankala, however, is less impressed.

Iberico pork sando - now THIS... This was really good. When you add caramelized onions to the mix... In retrospect, I probably shouldn't have shared my portion with the others...

Grilled threadfin, fennel, sauce vierge - since I knew we didn't have a lot of starters, I decided that I should have a whole portion of Taiwanese threadfin for myself. While the look was impressive, and the skin extra charred and crispy, the fish was actually very under-seasoned. In fact it tasted almost bland, and really needed the flavors of tomatoes, capers, green olives... etc.

Since she didn't eat the fish, there wasn't enough food for Sankala so she decided to order more starters.

Hokkaido scallop, vin jaune, trout roe - this was very delicious thanks to the creamy sauce, and we also had diced scallop skirt for some texture.

Kampachi, seaweed, oscietre caviar - I was surprised that Sankala wanted to order a caviar dish, and this one turned out pretty well. Served with both diced and sliced radish, and the lemon zest left a lovely fragrance in one's mouth.

Gâteau basque - with pear and rose almonds. Meh.

Fresh baked madeleines - sadly these were a little too dry for my liking.

Since the single biggest reason to come here is the wine offered at reasonable retail pricing, I ordered a bottle in advance and asked for it to be decanted before we arrived.

2000 La Conseillante - served 50 minutes after decanting. A little astringent on the palate at first. About 10 minutes after we started this was really fragrant and open, with smoky and woodsy notes, but still grippy on the palate thanks to the tannins. Some black fruits here underneath the smoke and wood. A very alluring wine.

Happy to catch up with our friends over lunch, as our travel schedules meant it's been quite a few months since we last hung out.