No flowers for fourth anniversary

Four years ago at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, the two of us exchanged our vows to be with each other for the rest of our lives, in the company of just two witnesses and a lawyer. Tonight we are back at the place where it happened - Caprice - so that I could celebrate the fact that I'm still alive after four years of marriage. When I booked the table, Saffron Bae had asked me whether we were there for a special celebration, but I pretended it is "just dinner". I figured there was no reason to make a big deal out of it.

I told the chefs that we didn't want to have too much food, and the kitchen was kind enough to set up a menu based on the bottle of wine I had brought. I just love the way they cater to the needs of their clients.

As usual, Victor very graciously came to pour us a glass of Champagne to start our evening:

Leclerc Briant Réserve Vendages 2018, dégorgée Decembre 2023, en magnum - acidity was pretty high on this, so the palate was pretty crisp. The nose was pretty metallic on the first whiff, but then turned pretty yeasty as the wine opened up in the glass.

For the first time in quite some time, all three of the amuse bouches inside the boîte à bijoux were new. They finally switched out the pita with curry chicken mousse.

Mushroom tart - with a small disc of Parmesan on top.

Crispy roll with onions and anchovies - topped with anchovies. This was pretty nice and the sweetness of onions came through.

Smoked salmon bun - topped with some Kaviari Kristal caviar and lemon gel. The bun was a little more firm than I had expected, and that acidity from the lemon gel really blended well with the smoked salmon and the salty caviar.

Brittany scallop, Kristal caviar, mashed potatoes, Champagne sauce - this was, apparently, a new dish that just got on the menu today. But in reality... Saffron Bae just took the old dish of caviar, mashed potatoes with Champagne sauce and shrank that by more than 50 percent before putting a scallop on the same plate...

OK, so the scallop from Brittany was very nice, and nicely executed. While the center was mostly mi-cuit, it was clearly more seared on one side and looked a little familiar... and reminded me of this one I had in Paris last year. Of course, the Champagne sauce was just MUAH!

Royale of pumpkin, ovoli, foie gras, mushroom emulsion - the royale at the bottom was very fluffy, and while the sweetness from the pumpkin was obvious, that little bit of black pepper gave it some kick. The cubes of foie gras were seared on the outside, but they were soooo squishy and semi-liquefied on the inside... it was almost like biting down on marshmallows that had melted over fire. The slices of ovoli were a real treat, and the emulsion of dried mushroom was flavorful, but the tarragon really punched through all of that to provide a nice, refreshing highlight.

Nodoguro, sudachi, coriander, and shrimp consommé - well... I joked that this the perfect example of a French guy who's been living in Asia for so long that he started to steam fish like the Cantonese! The Japanese rosy seabass (喉黒) was very, very tender as one would expect, and well-executed versions of this fish have been known to bring tears to my eyes. The consommé has strong, savory flavors from the shrimp, but is a much lighter and cleaner version compared to the soy sauce mix which usually accompanies Cantonese steamed fish. I also love the aromatics on top of the fish, with ginger, coriander, and sudachi (酢橘). A real fantastic dish and undoubtedly my favorite of the evening.

Brittany blue lobster, pear, ceps, blue cheese sauce - we were told that the dish was created for the Château d'Yquem dinner last year, but I was at that dinner and don't remember having this dish... I then looked up my blog entry, and realized that there was a dish with all the same ingredients except homard bleu. That Roquefort sauce made with calamansi vinegar was just nicely balanced so that the fruity acidity took some of the edges off the pungent blue cheese. Oh, and those ceps were pan-fried in soooo much butter it made me drool...

I do love how they serve zee lobsteur here. So fresh, so springy, so sweet.

As the dish was original made to be paired with Yquem, naturally Victor came over with another imperial to pour us a little glass...

1987 Yquem, en imperial - nose of saffron, polyurethane, marmalade, Anjou pear. Good level of sweetness on the palate, but also got that little bitterness, too.

My pre-dessert came with some coconut cream topped with coconut and lychee sorbet, and garnished with meringue.

We see the lychee gélée and the raspberry granita at the bottom. I love all the flavors here.

Roasted peach from Corsica, honey oat crumble, and white peach sorbet - sitting on top of the crumble was a chunk of yellow peach that had been roasted in peach juice and thyme, together with a vanilla bavarois and a sorbet made of white peach. At the very top we have a clear jelly made with mint, garnished with mango and passion fruit gel. I think Astoria knows that I prefer fruity desserts at the end of a big meal, so I happily tried out this light and refreshing creation.

Given the occasion, I had, of course, brought along a bottle from our anniversary vintage:

2020 Le Petit Cheval Blanc - decanted and served about 30 minutes later. This showed really big nose of green apple and some muscat grapes, along with some flint. The acidity of the wine was fairly high, but we've also got a little bit of that roundness on the palate.

The meal was perfect. Saffron Bae figured that since I had brought along a Bordeaux Blanc and didn't want a ton fo food, he would serve us mostly seafood and skip the heavier meat dishes. We got to try out new dishes and enjoyed them all. My only disappointment was not seeing Saffron Bae do his signature move on the new dish he created for the Krug x Flower pairing... which he did not serve us prior to the launch with Olivier Krug next week. It was a pity considering this was our fourth anniversary, where the gift of flowers would have been appropriate. C'est dommage!

We were ready to go home and asked for the bill. Victor told us that, due to a breakdown of their printer, no bill could be printed so they could not present us with one. My request to help fix the printer was declined. Well... they did remember what day it was. Foursheets and I are very grateful to the team for their hospitality as always. We look forward to celebrating our special moment here for years to come.