Another rainy May night

Pin It

We haven't had a night out with DaRC and Ro Ro in some time, and decided to catch up during the short window that they were both in town. I suggested Jean May for a casual night out, and as it turned out, our friends have never had the chance to go. So we took the early seating tonight, as I have done in the past.

This was a rainy night just like my last visit, but thankfully it was already getting better as we arrived at the restaurant.

Chicken liver parfait, red onion compote - this is always a reliable choice, and the onion compote is a nice touch and helps lighten things up.

Swordfish crudo, rhubarb, ginger - kinda interesting with the rhubarb and ginger, which was a combination I did not expect.

Bouillabaisse - it's nice that they provided some roux on the side. The flavors were stronger than I had expected, without the strong saffron flavors I'm more accustomed to. Texture was certainly on the grainy side, but still pretty tasty.

Egg mimosa, smoked eel - a pretty tasty bite.

Venison carpaccio, celeriac purée, pickled shiitake, Parmesan - it's not often that one sees venison as carpaccio here, so that was nice.

Duck à l'orange - this was cooked a little more than I would normally prefer, but I was happy that the texture was still relatively tender. Gotta say that I was pretty full after taking this down.

Hand-cut pommes frites - always crispy. Always tasty.

Charred broccolini

Honey madeleine

We didn't think we would have time to do justice to more than 2 bottles, so we kept it pretty civilized.

2008 Chavost Terroir du Cœur - good acidity with good depth on the palate, and good ripeness to pair with that acidity. Lots of plum and lemon marmalade, as well as Chinese salted plum. Pretty nice.

2015 Domaine Fourrier Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Champeaux Vieilles Vignes - started drinking more than an hour after opening. Nice and fruity nose. Some toasty oak came out a little later, along with black cherries. Drinking very nicely.

The night was still young, and DaRC needed to pick up some goodies from Yong Fu (甬府)... and waddayaknow! It's just a very, very short walk away. As only a VVVIP would, DaRC asked whether he could have some glutinous dumplings for dessert...

It wasn't long that Chef Liu Zhen was notified of DaRC's presence, and he came to entertain our VVVIP...

Hami melon (哈密瓜) from Xinjiang (新疆), emerald honeydew melon (翡翠蜜瓜) from Yunnan (雲南), and tomatoes from Linyi (臨沂), Shandong Province (山東省). All very tasty.

Ningbo sesame glutinous rice balls (寧波湯圓) - I only asked for two, unlike someone else at the table...

This was a nice and relaxing evening, and it's always good to catch up with friends.