Latin with Spanish

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It was exactly 3 months ago that our Gang of Pfour washed down some Italian food with a few bottles of Italian wines, so we were now due for another meeting. I was surprised to learn that neither Ms. Hurricane nor Wai Gor had ever been to MONO, and it's been much too long since I last saw Ricardo - both of which definitely need rectifying.

I had a panic attack about an hour before dinner started. Foursheets is currently taking some Chinese meds, and doctor's orders are for her to avoid a whole slew of ingredients in her diet. I hurriedly messaged Ricardo, who very kindly promised to do what they can to accommodate her. And they certainly did.

Seeing how it was our friends' first visit, I suggested that they take the Journey instead of the Soul menu, as there was a course that no one should leave without trying.

Mexican infladita / corn / bafun uni / tonburi - I was here for an event last month so I've already had a taste. The purple corn infladita came topped with some summer cypress seeds (とんぶり).

Inside we've got Japanese green sea urchin (馬糞雲丹), corn cream, and lemon gel that delivered a dose of acidity.

Foursheets had hers filled with eggplant in lieu of sea urchin.

Tarbouriech oyster / Oaxacan mezcal / banana flower salad / banana consommé - at the bottom we had shallot cream with crispy buckwheat, then some gelée made with water from the oyster and some mezcal, along with a reduction made with banana water. The oyster itself came stuffed with diced banana flower salad. This was OK, as the banana flavors helped to tone down the flavors of the oyster for Ms. Hurricane, who is usually not a fan of the shellfish.

Sipping on the Campellanía brought out the savory flavors and completely killed the sweetness from the banana.

Aged madai fish / Peruvian causa / nopal tartare / Colombian cubio / Kalamata olive / leche de tigre - the red seabream (真鯛) slices were cured with kelp and citrus, styled into a flower and served on top of diced nopal as well as some causa and an oil made with Kalamata olives. Interesting to get the fragrance from something like kaffir lime or other citrus.

Inside the "flower" we had slices of oca and mashua which added some crunch to the texture. Note the garnish included nasturtium leaves, a.k.a. oca leaves.

We also had some leche de tigre covered with a potato and chile cracker topped with coriander powder and some ginger gel.

White sesame sourdough bread / Olive oil Aguilera, 100% Arbequina - it's now been 1,917 days that the starter yeast has been alive. The sourdough crust was thin and very crunchy.

Danish langoustine / Ecuador cacao expressions - one of my favorite dishes from Ricardo, the langoustine was cooked in cocoa butter, and served with some of the cacao fruit on the side topped with cocoa nibs. Served up with a sauce made with lobster heads and other shellfish bits, along with cacao of course. After having it a few times, I'm still in love with this combination of shellfish flavors and the rich cacao.

Since she could have neither shellfish nor caffeine, the kitchen made Foursheets a completely different dish featuring pasta.

The accompanying drink was made with the skin of the cacao beans, and the flavors were very light and delicate, and a great palate-cleanser after a rich and flavorful dish.

Next we saw the house mole prepared tableside. Today the key ingredient was Japanese kabocha (カボチャ) pumpkin.

Kabocha pumpkin taco / Mexican pumpkin mole / Amazonian lemon ants / Cajun white corn tortilla / pumpkin cream - the tortilla was loaded up with the pumpkin mole, slices of kabocha, and seasoned with Amazonian ants for their citrus flavors. No meat here, but very satisfying nonetheless.

The cream for our second part was made with pumpkin and came with caramelized pumpkin seeds at the bottom and topped with a foam made with burnt sage. Definitely very fragrant and hearty, and appropriate for the season.

Brittany monkfish / Venezuelan dark fish jus / capers / Lautrec pink garlic purée - the monkfish was aged for 4 days in its seasoning rub, and came with a jus made with fish bones and skin as well as some sofrito. I loved the texture and the flavors of the fish, and that cumin in the sauce reminded me of some curried chick peas...

"Fabien D'eneour" Plounéour-Menez pigeon / huacatay condiment / celtuce / Bolivian tricolour quinoa stew / pigeon leg merguez - the breast and the little strip of loin were surrounded by some chimichurri, huacatay, and pigeon jus with chile ancho. Sadly the pigeon was served tepid, but the doneness and flavors were still pretty good. On the side we had a millefeuille of celtuce stem and kelp, with some Brazil nuts shaved on top.

A second part of the dish came in the form of a quinoa stew with bits of merguez made of pigeon leg and offal. This was pretty good.

Cacahuate / peanut ice cream / Costa Rican soursop / balsamic vinegar - the "squiggle" was a soursop ganache dressed with some orange purée and 10-year old balsamic vinegar, and we've got a very peanut-y ice cream.

MONO-made Ecuadorian chocolate 70% / Japanese mandarin cardamom compote / Argentinian mate ice cream - we have a ganache made with the restaurant's housemade chocolate from Ecuadorian cacao beans, paired with a mate ice cream. The mate flavors were pretty obvious and contrasted well with the chocolate. Then we've got a roselle (洛神花) tuile on top.

We have some compote of Japanese mikan (蜜柑) inside, and of course oranges and chocolate always go well together.

The kitchen prepared a special dessert for Foursheets and replaced the chocolate with panna cotta.

Argentinian alfajor / dulce de leche / dry coconut - well... I guess having these skinny-ass alfajores was better than not having any... but I really do wish they tripled in size so I could enjoy all that dulce de leche!

Colombian tamalito / Williams pear / cinnamon chantilly - interesting to have a tiny tamalito as dessert, and the corn flavors were really nice.

Mate - gotta finish off with some mate!

Ricardo very kindly started us off with some Brazilian bubbly:

Miolo Cuvée Tradition Brut - this was kinda floral on the nose, with a little bit of toast. Crisp acidity on the palate.

Wai Gor suggested that we do a Spanish theme for our wines tonight, so we came up with some interesting choices, most of which have seen some decent aging.

1998 Marqués de Murrieta Ygay Gran Reserva Capellanía - the nose was very oxidized, which was not surprising given the dark color of the wine. The nose was like vin jaune or sherry, kinda caramelized on the nose, oaky. But the palate was acidic. About an hour after opening the nose was showing lovely caramelized sugar with a little marmalade.

1970 Marqués de Murrietta Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva Especial - served without decanting about 30 minutes after opening. The wine was showing well, with a little savory notes, minty, with fruit underneath it all. After 45 minutes in the glass the acidity on the palate got more prominent, and almost 2 hours in the acidity was pretty damn high. The nose now started to show some coconut butter. Drinking really well.

1996 Artadi Viña El Pison - started serving without decanting about 1 hour and 45 minutes after opening. Initially the nose was very chalky and farmy, and I thought it might be corked, but the palate was OK if a little savory and soapy. The second pour some 2½ hours after opening shows that the unpleasant nose had faded, and the wine now showed plenty of fragrant eucalyptus in addition to lovely fruit, and still a little savory. About 3 hours in the wine was showing really well with some toasty oak.

2014 Flor de Pingus - started serving some 1½ hours after opening, but the wine was still closed, with just a little eucalyptus and herbs. A second pour another hour later and now the wine was showing beautifully, with more fragrance and fruit.

At the end of service, Ricardo came to sit with us for a few minutes and shares a few sips of rum:

Ron Zacapa XO - lovely notes of vanilla and caramel.

This was a really good evening, and I was so happy to be able to introduce more friends to Ricardo's unique and interesting cuisine. Kudos to the kitchen team for coming up with an alternate menu for "Señora Chang" on very short notice, which we very much appreciated.