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"I didn't think I would come back."

That's what I said to my dining companions tonight, including the nice ladies from Lai Sun Dining who had invited me to dinner. Before accepting their invitation, I made sure they knew that my one and only experience at Plaisance by Mauro Colagreco was not a good one. I was, unfortunately, dining on a night when Heloïse Fischbach had just left the kitchen and they parachuted in Konishi Mitsuru (小西充) from within the group. Two guys flew in from Mirazur and had arrived just hours before.  There were mistakes that night which were unacceptable in a fine dining restaurant.

But the PR team was undeterred, and reassured me that things have gotten better. Besides, Mauro was gonna be in town - since the award ceremonies for Michelin would be happening tomorrow. So I figured... if they still can't get it right when Mauro's around, then the place would never achieve redemption. So I said "YES" to the invitation.

I was relieved to find myself amongst friends. I haven't seen Your Highness in quite a while, and G-Girl's always pretty good company. I was also dining with a compatriot for the first time, having met her briefly last year. Good that there no bitches here tonight... well, except Your Highness.

The restaurant was offering a special Tribute to Blossoms menu while Mauro was in town, so that was what we came to taste. I was really looking forward to this.

First up was a series of amuse bouche...

The round cup-like bread carried roasted trout, roasted pepper, and rose petals. This definitely tasted like smoked fish.

The roll was made of green apple "carpaccio style", with green apple gel and local herbs. This was very nice and refreshing with acidity and citrus flavor.

This was a flower made with discs of sliced carrots, carrot purée, and orange gel that added some acidity.

This 'rose' tart was made of celeriac, substituted for beetroot according to my dietary preferences, with goat cheese, marscapone, and green apple gel. That goat cheese was pretty strong.

Tempera Eterna I - a sparkling green tea made with sea fennel and lemon. The nose was interesting as it showed fermented and savory notes.

The signature pain de partage came, and is based on a recipe from Mauro's grandma. As always, we were presented with a sheet printed with the poem by Pablo Neruda to go along with it.

Next came a showy service with the butter, where waitstaff scooped it out of a bucket, then used two grooved wooden paddles to beat it into shape. I haven't seen this butter service since a dinner I had at Petrus two years ago.

We still have the same lemon and ginger olive oil from the same supplier, but nowadays we've got Mauro's picture on the bottle.

Shimaaji tartare with caviar and cosmos veil - I've seen friends post pictures of a similar dish that was served at the Palais de l'Élysée for the state dinner last year welcoming President Xi Jinping, and tonight we've got some pretty cosmos petals underneath a layer of gelée at the top.

This particular version of the dish was made with striped jack (縞鯵) tartare, chives, shallots...etc. We were told that there were 120 (!) grams of oscietra caviar here, which seems impossibly high and would make this tasting menu completely unprofitable at the price they are asking for, but our server insisted that was the case when I asked... Besides, if they really gave me 120 grams of caviar for a single dish, I'd be reaching for endless glasses of water to rinse the salt from my tongue. Turns out it was 20 grams - which was still a generous amount by any measure. Anyway, this was a pretty nice dish, with the lemon and honey sauce providing some sweetness and acidity to go with the salt from the caviar and, of course, the tasty fish.

2018 Bisson Spumante Metodo Classico Abissi Riserva Marina - some nice, caramelized notes on the nose. Some acidity here, but there was definitely some bitterness on the palate.

Dashi flan with razor clams and borage flower - this was introduced as a "chawanmushi (茶碗蒸し)"... but was that description really necessary just because there's egg and the chef is Japanese? The blue borage flowers were certainly very pleasing to the eye.

The razor clams carried some acidity along with their natural sweetness, a result of being cooked in white wine. But the immediate hit to our olfactory senses came from the sesame oil, followed by the more subtle scent of dashi.

2021 Domaine de Bellevue Muscadet Gabbro Clos des Bouquinardières - nose got plenty of toasty oak, and very flinty. Good acidity on the palate.

Seafood stew with langoustine, clams and meadowsweet emulsion - the langoustine was very, very good. Interesting that it came with sea snails and local clams - and I'm grateful that the latter came without any sand tonight. We had a few pieces of radish that had been cut in the shape of flowers, and the flavors were subtle yet provided some contrast.

2020 Les Quatre Piliers Touraine Bel Air - the nose seemed waxy, more reductive, more intense. It did open up after a while and the nose was a little more buttery.

Amadai cooked over binchotan and saffron mussel sauce - happy to see that the tilefish (甘鯛) was charcoal-grilled over binchotan (備長炭), and it was certainly very, very tender. We've got zucchini ribbons as well as diced zucchini (not sure why it was introduced as "tartare") mixed with diced mussels into a quenelle. The saffron, mussel, and fish stock sauce was pretty decent.

2022 Antonin Cosnier Pernand Vergelesses 1er Cru En Caradeux - very big toasty nose, and very buttery. Surprisingly beautiful.

Next up was a nice little pigeon...

Pigeon with spiced jus, beetroot veil and hibiscus gel - I had a fantastic pigeon when I visited Mirazur, and this bird tonight was pretty fucking good. The execution on the breast and filet was perfect, and I loved the slight crunch and springiness of the skin. The pigeon jus was very much on point, but the surprise was the termite mushroom (雞㙡) from Yunnan at 12 o'clock. So nice.

Yes, I love to nibble on the little pigeon leg... which were decorated with tiny perilla flowers.

The dish originally called for lots of beetroot, so they've made another substitution for me with morels from Yunnan stuffed with shrimp inside. These were very, very tasty, too.

2021 Joseph Phelps Cabernet Sauvignon - very classic Napa cab, with sweet fruit and smoke on the nose, also a little minty. Obviously very young and vibrant.

Fontainebleau with pear sorbet, osmanthus espuma and merengue - underneath the disc of meringue dusted with osmanthus and gold (I honestly couldn't see any gold...) we have fontainebleau embedded with chunks of chestnuts and pear, topped with pear sorbet and pear foam. Pretty nice.

2023 Santo Stefano Moscato d'Asti - fragrant nose of honey, orange blossom water, and perhaps a little pear juice, even. Very pleasant to drink.

We finished with their box of petit four:

This pâté de fruit was made with an "Okinawa citrus" but I was not it wasn't shiikwasa (シークヮーサー).

Passion fruit and mango choux

Madeleine

Tarte aux fraises de bois - with vanilla and pistachio.

Caramel(ized) chocolate - with seaweed cookie on the bottom.

Obviously, the kitchen made no mistakes tonight. Having Konishi-san helming the kitchen for the last 6 months obviously stablized things, and I see very clearly the Mirazur DNA in the cuisine. I had already heard that they've been invited to the Michelin Guide ceremony tomorrow, which could only mean that they've earned themselves a star or two. I could see the relief on Mauro's face as we discussed this, and hopefully this will be a positive step to help turn things around.

Very grateful to the kind invitation tonight, and happy to see Mauro after all these years. The memories from my last visit have turned somewhat bittersweet, but hopefully I can make it out there again.