Posts Tagged French Laundry

This was indeed a rare opportunity to enjoy the culinary delights of the great legendary chef Thomas Keller right here in Hong Kong. Since our 2007 visit to the French Laundry in Napa, Chef Keller is definitely our favorite. This was specially arranged by the Mandarin Grill to bring the team of eight from Napa’s French Laundry and New York’s Per Se to prepare three dinners and two lunches for food aficionados in Hong Kong. The whole experience took eight months to prepare as almost all the ingredients were flown in specifically for this event. This was to reproduce the French Laundry experience in its entirety. Thanks to C, we were fortunate to secure our table. Even at HK$5,888/US$755 per person, there were more than 1,000 people on the waiting list!

We started off by being bombarded with a wide variety of canapés – blue cheese puff, salmon cornet, pork tart and chilled carrot soup. The salmon tartar filled cornet was the same signature amuse bouche served at the French Laundry and a refreshing start to our 10-course dinner!!

The “Oysters and Pearls” got us off to a roaring start. This is another famous dish from the French Laundry and the Kumamoto oysters with the Californian white sturgeon caviar made a perfect match. The 1997 Salon paired with this starter was heavenly.

The Hand-Rolled Musquée de Provence “Tortellini” included a generous portion of white truffle that was not on the menu and enhanced the flavors of the Mangalista ham and pomegranate seeds. Great for us, as you know, we love white truffle.

The main highlight of the evening was the “Calotte de Boeuf Grillée”. This beef from Snake River Farms in Boise, Idaho was heaven. A cross between Japanese Wagyu and American Black Angus created magic. It literally melted in our mouths and it didn’t have the excessive fat that normally comes with Wagyu. Simply divine. The “48 hour” brisket also added an extra dimension to the dish. Bravo. This was paired with the cult wine Colgin “IX Estate” 2005, which we were told was opened at 9am! That’s more than 13 hours! But the end result was perfect.

After 8 courses and 8 different wines, time finally came for dessert, actually two. The first was Popcorn Sherbet, paired with the 2000 Disznoko, Tokaji Aszu, 5 Puttonyos. To end, the “M&M’s” actually stood for Madagascar vanilla bean mousse and Mast brothers chocolate ice cream. Dow’s 20 year Tawny Port sealed the deal.

After the dinner, Thomas Keller went around the dining room to visit every table and talk to all the guests, take pictures and sign autographs. At the end, we were given a signed copy of Thomas Keller’s The French Laundry Cookbook. Although not personalized for us, we didn’t mind as we already had a personalized copy signed during our visit to Pebble Beach’s Food & Wine Festival in 2009. But we did get his signature on the French Laundry clothes peg. We also received the evening’s menu personalized with our names presented in a nice French Laundry folder.

Although maybe not as stunning as our first visit to French Laundry in Napa, this was indeed an experience that was right up there. And thanks to Mandarin Oriental for hosting such an amazing event.

– 18.5/20

The Thomas Keller Restaurant Group
French Laundry, Napa Valley, USA
Per Se, New York, USA

Mandarin Grill + Bar
Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong
5 Connaught Road
Central, Hong Kong
T: +852 2825 4004
E: mohkg-grill@mohg.com
W: www.mandarinoriental.com/hongkong/dining/restaurants/mandarin_grill/default.aspx

101201 Thomas Keller - Menu setting

101201 Thomas Keller - Blue cheese puff

101201 Thomas Keller - Salmon cornet

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