A Pic-y Friday

It's been more than a decade since I spent 2 nights at Maison Pic (now known as Hôtel Pic) in Valence and dined both at the gastronomic restaurant with three Michelin stars and the casual bistro 7 par Anne-Sophie Pic (now renamed Bistrot André). My one regret was that for our main dinner, we all chose to take the Collection Pic menu which featured more classic dishes from the family's history - thereby robbing me of the chance to get a full taste of Anne-Sophie's own cuisine. She did open an outlet in Singapore just before the pandemic hit, but it wasn't on my hit list and now it's gone.

I wasn't particularly interested on any of the outlets when The Forty-Five opened last year, figuring that most of them were overhyped and not worth my attention. I did wonder a little about Cristal Room by Anne-Sophie Pic, as I have heard positive feedback from friends. But I never took the step of walking in.

I was a little surprised when PR8 extended the invitation for me to join lunch at the restaurant today (especially after my dig at him for the initial press release), but I figured there's been enough time for the kitchen to work out the kinks after opening, so perhaps there wouldn't be any nasty surprises. The surprise, though, came in the form of my dining companions - with whom I shared a table just two days ago.

Billecart Salmon Pic - nice and floral nose. Good acidity on the palate with a little bit of ripeness.

We started with three small bites:

Seasonal mushroom tartlet, meadowsweet and tonka beans - this was OK, with a nice dose of acidity.

Trout pie tee with licorice and cucumber, lemon gel, and seaweed crispy - the use of kueh pie tee is undoubtedly influenced by the fact that the Pic empire had an outpost in Singapore for the last few years. The smoked trout and trout roe on top worked well with the acidity of the lemon gel and the refreshing crunch of cucumber. The crisp in the middle was made with dashi and incorporated seaweed inside.

Seaweed taco with pike fish roe and edible flowers - with perilla leaves, pike roe tarama.

The butter from the Loire Valley came with smoked vanilla and lavender.

Having dined at Pic in Valence, I am of course familar with this butter knife...

Hokkaido uni, kuromame and Nikka coffey whisky, Chanteclerc apple jelly and nasturtium coulis - the presentation was very intricate and beautiful with a collection of delicate and thin milk tuile wrapping and surrounding the center like a white rose.

Inside we had sea urchin, jelly made with Chantecler(c) apples, nasturtium coulis, and an espuma of sea urchin, Nikka Coffey Whisky (not sure if it was Grain or Malt), and coffee, enveloped by a dome of kuromame (黒豆) cream. The coffee was immediately apparent, and the crunchy bits of apple were nice with the apple jelly bringing some acidity. We also had some crunchy toasted puffed rice adding texture. Couldn't really taste the kuromame in the cream among all the ingredients, though... Too subtle for my unsophisticated palate.

2022 Rudolf Fürst Riesling pur mineral - initially the nose wasn't so open, with notes of flint, minerals, and muscat grapes. Good acidity on the palate and a long finish. I could see how this paired well with the Hokkaido sea urchin.

Les Berlingots ASP, pasta parcels filled with Comté cheese aged 24 months and vin jaune, onions consommé flavoured with chamomile and Madras curry - said to be Anne-Sophie's signature dish (with the name copyrighted to boot), it's a dish I never got to taste when I dined at Pic in 2011. The curry-flavored pasta is pyramid-shaped like the traditional candy of the same name but filled with Comté and vin jaune. I loved the flavors from the creamy farce, and the sweetness from the onions in the sauce really came through the curry.

San Francisco Javier Viña Corrales Fino Pago Balbaina, bottled in 2021 - beautiful oxidized nose with green notes, savory and fragrant, and almost a little waxy at the end. Nice and dry on the palate with umami. Just wonderful with the Comté and vin jaune sauce.

Glazed red mullet, eggplant caviar and ponzu, beurre rouge flavoured with assam and buddha amacha - the mullet from Quiberon in Brittany was lightly smoked before being dried for a couple of days and cooked a la plancha. Served on top of eggplant and marine herbs roasted with ponzu (ポン酢), accompanied by beurre rouge made with Assam lemon as well as a sake and red wine reduction. The acidity of the beurre rouge worked very nicely with the fish and the roasted vegetables.

2021 Badenhorst Cinsault Ringmuur - very big and open nose, very fruit forward and juicy, with a hint of smoke. Very light and simple on the palate with a short finish.

Duck from Barbary, "en impregnation" with sumac, corn gnocchi and smoked tonka panna-cotta - this was served with a gnocchi made with corn, sumac gel, tonka panna cotta, duck jus, and corn purée.

The duck was marinated with tonka beans and sumac. My dining companions were unhappy with the doneness of their ducks, and while they thought my serving looked better than theirs, I do have to admit that this was far more cooked than I would have preferred. Yes, the fatty skin was crispy on top with delicious fragrance of tonka beans, but the meat wasn't as juicy and tender as it should have been. I prefer my game birds to be rosé and was rather surprised, in retrospect, that we weren't consulted on this. My only guess is that the chefs have gotten used to the preferences of local Asian diners who prefer their birds more cooked than raw, and for some reason decided that we would be just like the others.

Unfortunately, the kitchen thought wrong.

2021 Les Bruyères Crozes-Hermitage Rouge - a lighter style, more fruity, with nice notes of forest and dried herbs. Really fragrant with tons of eucalyptus.

At this point Paz Levinson, the Cheffe Sommelière Exécutive at Pic, decided I should also try some of their non-alcoholic pairings... so I was poured a cup of Geisha coffee brewed with a Chemex filter. This, of course, worked very nicely with the tonka... and as I know from years of enjoying Saffron Bae's cuisine, coffee works very well with roasted game birds.

Le millefeuille blanc, géranium chantilly, candied ginger and crispy tuile, genmaicha crémeux - this was wrapped in a vanilla and rose chantilly, along with crispy, crunchy tuile, and decorated with oxalis.

Inside we had the millefeuille pastry with genmaicha crémeux, candied ginger, and a little yuzu. Very nice.

As there was no wine pairing for the dessert, I got another non-alcoholic pairing.

Genmaicha collins - infused with geranium leaves.

Madeleine with loquat honey - this was OK, and I guess the honey helped a little in terms of adding sweetness and moisture. The dried flowers and powder looked pretty.

Herbal chocolate stick - with a Madagascan voatsiperifery pepper ganache, tarragon and Thai basil creméux, and topped with herbs.

A very pleasant lunch on a beautiful sunny Friday, sitting high above Central Hong Kong. Very grateful for the kind invitation from PR8 on behalf of the restaurant, and very pleased to meet Paz and Chef Marc Mantovani. Fun to see Chef Aurélien Poirot in the room but hovering off to the side and observing from afar.