Teammates in the 'hood

It's been a looooong time since I last shared a meal with my old team, so I decided to take them to my favorite restaurant. That would be Neighborhood, for anyone who doesn't know me well enough. I cannot claim to be the restaurant's most loyal customer, but I think this being my 76th visit since the restaurant first opened in 2014 surely counts for something!

I was glad to see the restaurant being reasonably busy on a Tuesday night. This is one restaurant which I must support to ensure its continued operation, as I would be lost without it. For tonight, as everyone else is coming for the first time, I pre-ordered one of the signature dishes, then left the rest up to the Kitchen Nazi. As usual, I asked him to not kill us with food. I mentioned that a mutual friend had recently visited and came away relatively unscathed, only to be told by The Man in White T-shirt that in that instance, there had been a dish which suffered catastrophic failure... hence a significant reduction in the amount of food being served. So... we shall see!

We were served plenty of sourdough bread together with our first two dishes, but I was a little late in warning my friends about the perils of enjoying too much bread too early in the meal. But how could I blame them when the bread is so irresistable?

Kuruma prawns - these days a meal here inevitably starts with these babies, seasoned with some piment d'espelette as well as some fennel, as the sweetness and anise flavors really showed.

Smoked Hokkaido mackerel - another fixture on the menu these days. Beautiful, smoky flavors here. That horseradish cream does make things more interesting.

Potato salad / truffle - this may have been inspired by a simple potato salad that The Man in White T-shirt enjoyed very much in Kyoto, although this has been given the "luxe" treatment with shavings of black truffle on top.

Japanese fruit tomatoes / burrata / caviar / lychee - this has now become a familiar combination to me, with the pronounced sweetness and fruity acidity of the tomatoes working very well with the salinity from the caviar, helped along by the creamy burrata. Tonight the surprise addition of lychees brought along additional sugar plus a wonderful floral fragrance. Quelle surprise!

Of course, the reason why I save my quota for the sourdough bread till later during the meal is because I love to have it with many of the dishes. Creamy cheese, tomato, caviar... etc. are all great companions for bread.

Hokkaido scallops / bottarga / mandarin - the current iteration of scallops with bottarga comes with slices of mandarin oranges. Of course, seasoned with more piment d'espelette.

Local beef shin, ravigote sauce - my third time enjoying this dish in as many months. It's so interesting to have cooked beef served cold, and the texture was so crunchy. And that acidity is not something that many people are used to. Of course, I let my friends know that this beef goes very well on sourdough...

Grilled baby squid - the perennial crowd-pleaser. Comes to the table sizzling on a hot pan, releasing the aromatics from parsley, piment d'espelette... etc.

Aaaaand YES, this is another one which MUST be taken with bread. Soooo satisfying to drip the squid ink sauce and have it absorbed by the bread.

Mt St Michel bouchot mussels / chorizo - this came with the signature fish soup as its sauce, along with red bell peppers. The flavors of saffron in the fish soup was very lovely, and the chorizo brought with it that smokiness along with acidity and a tiny bit of spicy kick.

Porcini / fried egg - I don't think my friends have had fresh porcini quite like this... simply pan-fried. And a fried egg with runny yolk just adds a little bit of oooomph.

Handmade garganelle / crab - I am grateful that the Kitchen Nazi nowadays serves me their wonderful garganelli on a pretty regular basis. This variation came with crab meat, with piment d'espelette of course. Very tasty. My friends enjoyed the al dente bite of the pasta.

Mangrove snapper head - this came as a shock to the others at the table, as they've never had a fish head this big. I was having difficulty getting the goodies out from the bony head, so this went back to the kitchen... I do love that very thick and crunchy skin, and of course the classic accompaniment of potatoes, tomatoes, and basil - all in a sauce with a good deal of fruity acidity.

Salt baked chicken / griblets / morel mushrooms - first-timers need an introduction fo the signature salt baked chicken, so they watched as the salt crust was broken up to reveal the whole 120-day Ping Yuen Chicken (平原雞) inside. Then it went back to the kitchen so that the bird was carved up, then served on a bed of rice along with morels and giblets like chicken hearts, testicles, gizzard, liver... All with a creamy sauce and lots of herbs. This was so delicious that the two ladies - who had previously protested about being too full to eat anymore - actually had seconds. Of course, we had zero hope of finishing this dish, so I took out the silicone box and managed to fill it with the leftovers for someone to take it home.

Canelé - I didn't want the other desserts but I would never dream of passing up a canelé. What a happy ending!

This was not a drinking crowd tonight, so I only brought along 2 bottles.

2009 Joh. Jos. Prüm Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Kabinett - mildly sweet on the palate. Classic nose of flint and petrol.

1995 Hospices de Beaune Corton Cuvée Charlotte Dumay, élevé par Dominique Laurent - started drinking 20 minutes after decanting. Nose of black plums and stewed prunes.

OK... so we only got 10 of the small dishes instead of 12 on my last visit... which meant that, in a way, the Kitchen Nazi had already lightened up tonight. Very grateful for all the delicious food tonight, and really happy to hang out with my old team again.