The vines were flowering in Burgundy and Beaujolais last week….
Photos taken in the old vines of Meursault l’Ormeau behind Boyer Martenot.
the terrace, you know what I mean?
Last day in Casa. I wanted to try the breakfast at Sqala. Close to our hotel, on the edge of the medina. Soak up some last rays of early morning Moroccan sun before heading to the airport.
I couldn’t believe how few tables were occupied at Sqala when we showed up at 9. There must have been only about 3 other tables of people who looked like businessmen having power breakfasts. Not something I think of as typically Moroccan.
Did I mention the terrace at Sqala? Simply a little piece of paradise. Sandwiched right there between the medina and the port. Sun light dancing on the leaves and in between them before falling on the tables and our faces. The sounds of water in the fountain. This place is a delight for all of the senses.
fresh mint, peppermint and other mint for tea
I asked the waiter to explain what some of the choices were. A lot of the words and names of dishes were things I had never heard of. I was trying to make sense of it all…
“Or you can have the breakfast assortment.” My eyes widened as he told me all the things that were included in the breakfast assortment.
“All of that?”
“Oui, c’est costaud.” (Yes, it’s massive.)
He was right. We got one for two and that ended up being more than enough.
The first thing to arrive was the cocktail “Ambassadeur”: a blend of milk, dates, almonds, and orange flower. Delicately aromatic. Not too sweet, but the sweetness of the dates served as a vehicle for the other aromas. The almonds kicked-in in the mid mouth and the length on the palate came from the orange flower.
the spread
Don’t ask me to name the individual Moroccan pancakes. Even tough I asked the waiter to repeat the names…it was too much for me to take in. There was one that was like a doughnut. One that tasted like it was made with cornflower. One that tasted like an American pancake. And one that tasted more like a French crepe. They were all fantastic. What struck me was that none of them were sweet. I liked that. The little assortment of condiments was provided to dress up the pancakes however I liked. Butter. Olive oil. Argan oil. Honey. Fig jam. Peanut butter. So I played with combinations.
Mixed Moroccan crepes and doughnuts
The egg tajine was like scrambled eggs with some sort of dried, cured meet. It tasted a little like bacon, although all things considered, I doubt it was pork. Maybe beef or lamb.r It also had a delicate dusting of spices.
don't forget the scrambled eggs tajine
We had tea too. Fresh mint and peppermint in those beautiful traditional teapots. We requested to have it not too sweet. And then made sure not to let it infuse too long. Over infusing tea brings out bitterness to the detriment of aromatics.
An excellent breakfast. A sensual note on which to leave Casa. And hope to return before too long.
beet root risotto
It was what we call bonus sunshine. Sun when everyone said it would rain.
The kind of day where you feel strange putting on a big coat. But after an hour’s tasting in a cool cellar, you’re really glad you kept the extra lining in your coat. It’s actually a tough season for tasting in Burgundy because the cellars are still so cold from the winter- especially this winter, which seemed interminable. But when you go back outside you are blinded by the light and have to peel off layers so that your blood won’t boil.
The kind of day that makes you want to sit out on a terrace for lunch. But if the wind picks up at all, you realize it’s still a little early. That’s early April in France for you.
I was running around Burgundy in an out of cellars with some Japanese. And in the Cote de Nuits, by far the best place for lunch is Le Castel de Tres Girard in Morey St Denis. Not to mention that the luncheon menu is an absolute steal. They actually have a terrace wherethey can serve lunch and dinner, but it was just a little too chilly.
Historically, they had a lot of ups and downs with their cuisine at the Castel. But now they have an incredible chef. He’s been there for less than a year but Franck Schmitt is perhaps the most creative and audacious chef in all of Burgundy today. His cooking times are perfect. His use of veggies and spice is wonderfully unique.
Nothing but nothing prepared me for this risotto. Certainly the most unique and audacious risotto I have ever had. And yet quite simple. Beetroot risotto with mange tout and cashew nuts. Serving a truly vegetarian dish as a main course in Burgundy is quite rare. Just having it on the menu is a mini revolution for Burgundy.
Besides the bubble gum hot pink color, the beetroot gave a sweetness and a delicate earthiness to the rice. The mange tout pea pods brought a hot green color, stark contrasts with the pink. But the pea pods were also bitter which balances out with the huge amount of Parmesan. In a traditional risotto, Parmesan can dominate the dish with its dry bitterness, but here it was not excessive. And the cashew nuts echoed the nuttiness of rice and Parmesan. Like full circle. Perfect harmony.
All of the bright colors and spring time veggies with sun beaming into the restaurant got me very excited about spring!
The rice was firm but not crunchy. What I consider perfect aldente (the way it feels under your teeth). Finding the right cooking time of the rice is essential, too, for a successful risotto. The more aldente the rice is cooked, the more bitterness in the rice. But for the balance with the other ingredients, a little bitterness from the rice is important. Too much bitterness, too undercooked, can ruin the dish. Too cooked and the rice is like mush, not enough for building a good risotto. Aldente is that perfect moment in between over cooked and not cooked enough.
The Japanese guy I was with ordered the risotto too. He was looking rather perplexed. When I asked what he thought of it, his interpreter told me ‘He doesn’t know if it is good or bad.” We laughed. Previous to our lunch, he had spent 7 days in Italy.
But I don’t think he left one grain of rice in his dish. Neither did I.
This risotto literally blew my mind. And made me think about risotto in a totally new way.
A number of years ago, I worked in the kitchen of the best restaurant in Rome, where for several months I was the risotto maker of the restaurant who happened to be known for having one of the best risottos in Italy.
razor clamsIt’s pretty rare to see razor clams at a fishmonger. Even in France.
So when I saw them in the central Market in Casablanca, I couldn’t help but exclaim, “Look she has couteaux (razor clams)! Lets get some.” They hadn’t had any the day before.
“We’ll take 12 couteaux.”
Zoubida counted out loud as she picked them out of the crate on her stand. “2,4, 6, 8, 10, 12 and one for mademoiselle and one for monsieur. Those are from me” She smiled. They cost virtually nothing.
Then we took them to Bouchra. This was once we’d figured out the system of the central market in Casa. “Lets see how she does them.”
I hardly ever see razor clams in restaurants. For one thing they are tough to clean or disgorge by removing the sand and excess salt. Disgorgement is a series of soakings in fresh water alternated with salty water. And if you don’t get the disgorgement right, they end up sandy. Or worse: rubbery AND gritty, if you don’t get the cooking time right. I’ve only tried cooking them at home a couple of times and don’t think I have the technique down right yet.
But if you get it right, they are delicious! Sweet –like other clams- but perhaps with a little more earthiness. And with signature sea breeze aromas. Not quite briny, like oysters, but a salinity that is almost embedded in the flesh. Plus because of their size, they really fill your mouth with their aroma.
We had just barely enough time to sit down and our platter of razor clams appeared. They were beautiful. And it looked like they had been dusted with cinnamon. The Duc and I were amazed. How could they be ready so soon? What kind of a disgorgement did she do? And where was this cinnamon tinge coming from?
There was no sandiness. No grittiness. No rubbery-ness. Only perfectly cooked razor clams. The best I have ever had. Was there really cinnamon in the light spice dusting? Or were we just imagining it? That’s what Morocco is all about.
the spreadFirst thing: this place is closed on Mondays. A guy we met walking in the old medina told us this. None of the guidebooks did. Even though this place abuts the old medina wall, you have to get in from the boulevard Almohades facing the port.
Once we did get in, it was like landing in a little piece of paradise. In a very sensual garden with a fountain in its center. I can only imagine what it is like when the orange flowers blossom. What intoxication it must be!
Started off with an exciting fresh juice Le Corsaire with Peach, strawberry, pineapple and cardamom that is absolutely fantastic. The cardamom brings all of the fruits together with incredible exotic length on the palate! They have a lot of juices, some of which are fantasmagoric! Like mine.
There is no alcohol served here. I thought maybe it was due to the proximity to the old medina. No alcohol at all in the medina. But a waiter explained that this restaurant was supposed to be typically Moroccan and that alcohol had no place in Moroccan cuisine. Au moins c’est claire ! (At least it’s clear!)
We wanted just a sampling of dishes for an aperitif.
mixed Morrocan salads
The Kemia Mauresque, were actually a selection of cooked vegetables that the waiter told us were Moroccan salads. All served cold.
Artichoke (farthest away) with tomato was delicately spicy. Tender artichokes. Seemed generally typical of Mediterranean cuisine, something the southern Italians might do.
The sautéed spinach with candied lemon (2nd farthest away) was much more exciting and exotic to me. The candied lemon marrying brilliantly with the spinach. Cutting through the bitterness. Candied lemons are really interesting because of the balance of sweetness and acidity. And very aromatic. Its not something I’ve worked with before but inspiring for things I might do in my own kitchen.
Eggplant purée (middle dish). One of the creamiest eggplant purées I’ve ever had. I don’t know how they got it so white! It felt like there was cream in it, although I highly doubt it.
Salad of red peppers and tomato (2nd away), which was more like stewed. Good, but my least favorite of the lot.
Fava beans (closest). Fantastic. A wonderful marriage of the sweet inner kernel of fava beans with the bitterness of the outer skin (that the French remove) and the other spices that were in there!
Assortiment de Briouattes
The Assortiment de Briouattes were little fried Moroccan specialties.
The little triangle ones that look like little Indian samosas were made with fish, and delicately spicy.
The ones that look like spring rolls were kefta filled. That spicy ground meet that they serve in all the restaurants. I’m not a kefta specialist, but this was about as good as I have ever had. Energy from the spiciness. Again, not aggressive spicy, but aromatic spicy. Which is actually a longer and more complex form of spiciness.
And the square one was a mini-pastilla. Here there was much too much powdered sugar and cinnamon relative to the size of the pastilla. We had to shake them off a bit so that we could actually get the aroma of chicken (or whatever volaille they decided to use). I had the same feeling I had at Al Mounia about the power of the sweet element in Moroccan cuisine for added complexity and length of aromas.
If I lived in Casablanca, this would definitely be one of my hang outs…wait till you hear about the breakfast served there!!…
Harira Soup
We were impressed when we discovered that the taxi driver knew where Al Mounia was. Not only because most of the other petit taxis seemed not to know where even the biggest monuments of the city were. But because we thought, “this must really be Moroccan cuisine!”
The comments in the guide book describing the place had whet our appetites: “On y mange la meilleure cuisine Marocaine du centre ville et ça se sait! (The best Moroccan cuisine in the down town, and people know it!)
“You know Al Mounia?”
“Yes, it is a very popular restaurant. Is it a French restaurant?”
“No, Moroccan. Typical cuisine.” Hopefully.
“Oh! I always thought it was French.”
Needless to say, we were a little surprised.
We crossed a courtyard shadowed by a huge tree. A little warmer, and I’m sure there would have been tables set outside.
Inside, a beautiful room completely tiled with a carved wooden ceiling. Big metal trays set as tables. Looking wonderfully traditional and authentic. With the tiles everywhere it was like being inside a beautiful empty swimming pool.
Dates and lemons are essential for the full harira experience. A little plate of dates and a little plate of lemon quarters. And harira soup: a thick aromatically spicy soup, almost creamy from the lentils its based on. Squeeze a lemon quarter and pinch off a bit of date and take off! The lemon gives a burst of citric energy especially in the beginning of mouth. Then the date kicks in with the length. The pasty, gamey sweetness of dates synthesizes all of the aromas and makes them long. So long.
Pastilla with squab
Moroccan cuisine likes to play with sweetness to make flavors last. Linger. Like walking underneath a blooming orange tree. The sweetness is not cloying, as sweetness can sometimes be, but it takes over and makes the aroma long and complex. The date does that in the harira soup. And the cinnamon does it with the pastilla.
Cinnamon and sugar dusted pastilla. No, not desert, an appetizer, actually. With squab (pigeon) and almonds all ground up and wrapped up in dry flaky pastry. A wonderful marriage of gaminess and sweetness that is super complex both aromatically and texturally- with the crunchy almonds. This is pretty much a full meal, even though on the menu they present it as an appetizer.
Pastilla, biting in
The waiter recommended the lamb and prune tajine. “C’est la meilleure!”. It was indeed wonderful. Here again playing with the sweetness of prunes. Marrying it with the gamey lamb for added complexity and aromatic length.
lamb tajine with prunes
Aromatically spicy. Rather than rip-your-mouth-up-aggressive spicy. That is what I liked about the Moroccan cuisine I tasted. A little like Vietnamese cuisine in that aspect. It’s all about finesse of aromas. Just playing with the spiciness to excite the taste buds but not aggress them. And, in Moroccan cuisine, the sweetness drives the spiciness to great lengths by taming it and riding it.
The S de Siroua that we ordered to go with is was perfect. A Syrah based, wooded wine that had just enough residual sugar. It sat on that happy line of balance between sweetness and gaminess inherent in all of the dishes. Moroccan wines have progressed so much, its incredible! Even more incredible, is that they have progressed just like French wines progressed over 5 centuries, in a manner that reflects the cuisine.
A note from The Duc: This restaurant was 80% filled with French and Moroccan business people (both male and female, including the Moroccan business teams). The Moroccan business people appeared to have chosen to take their French business partners to Al Mounia because the restaurant represented the best of Moroccan cuisine and wines and culture and liberation.
100% of the people in the restaurant drank wine. Even the Moroccan women. There were no French businesswomen in the group of men. There were always influential, modern Moroccan women in each delegation of business people of Morocco.
What a liberating sight to see Arabic women drinking wine and making business deals! In a restaurant of modern Moroccan cuisine!
What a symbol of the beautiful modern evolution of this Muslim country.
For short distances in Casablanca, there are the Petit Taxis. Little red cars, beat up like old tin cans. The drivers are useless. Its crazy. Half of the time you get in, the driver has no idea where it is that you want to go.
Petit Taxi Casablanca
So I had a plan : Al Mounia is near the Palais de Justice- a huge building in the very center of Casa. I’d tell the taxi driver to take us there and then we’d walk. It would be faster that way.
“We want to go to the Palais de Justice.”
“The what?”
“The Palais de Justice.”
“Rue Justice? I don’t know it.”
“No, the Palais de Justice. Right in the middle. Here.” I point at the map.
The guy just looks bewildered. “I don’t know where it is.”
So we climb out. Getting in and out of these little tomato cans is a contortionist act.
We find another Petit Taxi and get in. The guy knows where the Palais de Justice is. Progress.
As we get to the Palais de Justice, (huge and lit up and with throngs of people around it-how could miss it?) he asks us where, exactly.
“Well it’s a small street…” I try and read my map in the half light. “Rue Prince Moulay Abdellah”.
“Is it a restaurant?”
“Yes.”
“I know that restaurant. Why didn’t you tell me that you wanted to go there? We’ve gone past it now.”…
Grand Taxi (white) and Petit Taxi (red) with luggage on top
Also: Don’t try getting into one of these with luggage. Throw it on top.
Mosquée Hassan II
roof litter
carpet cleaning
carpet cleaning
parabols
Atlantic
Mint Man in the Vielle Medina
just in time: cat wants your fish!
cutting grass with scisors...
bike kids Place des Nations Unies
chickpea man Vielle Medina
on the way to the Mosquée Hassan II
men walking vielle medina
under the orange tree at place Ahmed el Bidaoui
Good thing we got in on Sunday. There was live jazz at Rick’s. Not quite Sam on the piano, but close enough.
The film Casablanca, was entirely done on set. Rick’s remained alive in our minds after watching it until an American woman brought it to real life five years ago. Its on the edge of the old Medina, a fantastic restoration of 2 riads (old fashioned houses in Morocco).
Downstairs is a bar and restaurant. Upstairs is a lounge where Casablanca-the film is on repeat and you can play cards or chess. If it had rained again, we were going to spend the afternoon there, but that never happened.
The wine list was pretty good for Moroccan wine. We had a sampling of several half bottles.
The Médaillon Cabernet which, in a balanced fruity style, was a successful New World Cabernet. Nicely wooded. The Medaillon white which had too much CO2 and tasted like bad Italian Soave. Volubia Rosé which seemed like a slightly sweeter version of Southern Cotes du Rhone rosé. Vintages were pretty tough to find on these bottles (and wine list) especially in jazz light.
The food menu seemed true to what would have been in the real days of Rick and Ilsa. I started with the Louis salad. A glorified crab salad with a Russian dressing styled sauce so peppery that it almost drowned out the taste of the crab. But it sure had a punch.
The duck confit was good. It’s pretty tough to go wrong with confit. Unfortunately the potatoes were cold.
Gigotin de canard confit au thym
Had I had any appetite left, I would have gone for Rick’s cheesecake for desert.
But we hadn’t come for the food. We were there more for the ambience: the beautiful dining room and the cool jazz. Upstairs was a group of German tourists who ate early. Downstairs were mostly locals and what appeared to be expats. One of the most remarkable things about the restaurant was that everyone was drinking wine. And lots of it.
I fell asleep that night with the delicious sensation of walking out of one dream and into another. As time goes by…
step three: watch the world go by….
Step two : Take it to Bouchra
salad and bread
Zoubida is the oyster lady at Parc Dar Kachon stand in the middle of the market. Apparently she is the matriarch of the Central Market and has been there every day for 39 years. She fed us oysters on the half shell as we stood there. And she explained to us this beautiful system in the central market of Casa. Pick out any fish you want, several different kinds, in the portion that you want and then take it to one of the restaurants inside the market and have them prepare it for you any way you want for a tiny supplement.
Zoubida set us up on the first day. We bought a couple of oysters from her and snails (Might I add that the snails were so good they could put some Burgundian restaurants to shame!)
And we went to one of her neighboring fishmongers and bought sepia (baby calamari), two giant red shrimp and some of the freshest sweetest small shrimp I’ve ever had.
sweet shrimp
At Bouchra’s we sat in the sun and instantly the waiter sprinted over to set up the table with a paper mat and a fork. Almost immediately we were brought some bread and a fresh tomato and cucumber salad. Very flavorful, though so simple. We just barely had time to start eating when our fish appeared. The cooking times were perfect. Nothing was over cooked. The giant red shrimp were almost undercooked, actually! Incredible! But it just showed off the impeccable freshness of the fish.
sautéed sepia
We asked if it was possible to have beer. In a Muslim country, its not always clear when alcohol is possible. The guy sprinted off and what seemed like a long time later he came back with two little bottles wrapped in newspapers. He ran away for mineral water too. It’s an interesting system. The place has virtually no stock of anything. As customers come, more bread is ordered from the baker. As people order drinks, the waiter sprints to one of the vendors and buys whatever is requested. Want more fish? He’ll run and get it for you. Its as if you pay for his legs.
fried calemari
We liked this place so much that we went back 3 days in a row. For lunch. The central market closes around five PM. We had only fish, but on the last day, we saw one client bring meet and vegetables to have them cooked for lunch.
We even managed to get a bottle of Rosé. A one-liter bottle with a plastic stopper. Very low in alcohol. In France, I’d probably think it was plonk, just by looking at the label, but it sure tasted good there. Wrapped again in newspaper. At 10-11° Alc, it was as thirst quenching as water, but still as gay and uplifting as a Rosé.
the famous rosé (unveiled)
We varied very little from our shrimp and calamari and every time the cookings were perfect! So impressed by this we went to see who was actually cooking the stuff. Although the waiter appeared to be the boss, he was sprinting around too much to be responsible for the perfection of the cuisine. There was a boy working the grill who spoke no French or English. And a veiled girl who spoke good French. She was shy but quick to claim full responsibility for all of the cooking besides the grill.
‘Your cooking times are perfect!”
“Thank you”, she looked down.
“Where did you learn to cook this way?” the Duc asked her.
“In culinary school.”
We were dumfounded! Such talent. Such skill. Right here in this tiny market. In a non-descript street restaurant. One would never suspect it!
Before leaving, I asked her to write down her name in my notebook. Bouchra.
“And what is the name of this restaurant?” I asked, realizing that there was no sign out or anything differentiating this restaurant from the others.
“Its Bouchra.”
So I couldn’t figure out if her name was the name of the place or if she hadn’t understood my question.
Bouchra and the kid at the grill
I’d go back and spend more time right there on that little terrace. Eating Bouchra’s cooked fish. It’s a perfect place to watch the world go by.
Step one: buy your fish.
Zoubida Parc Dar Kachon
turtles (not to eat)
skate
eperlan (big!)
set up
selection....
cat keeps and eye on the fish
Even a Boucherie Chevaline...rare, even in France
Butcher
chopped olives
just got back.
more to come.
Hamering it down at Francois FrèresA couple of photos from a most interesting visit in 2007 to Francois Frères barrel makers where everything is done by hand by real human beings!
putting on the 2nd ring
crab meat and taro root mise en boucheThe only problem I have with Tang is that I don’t get to the place often enough! This restaurant is on the top of my list for delicious, precise and digestible cuisine. And all of those are things that I like and look for in a restaurant. And the exoticism of the recipes is like a free trip for the senses to south East Asia and China.
Crab meet and taro root
Tang uses Taro root a lot. And I like that. Its sort of like a cross between a lotus root, a sweet potato and a chestnut. It has a starchy texture and a fair amount of intrinsic sweetness to its flavor. I’d never seen him do chips out of it, but it worked really well with the crab meat which also has a fairly sweet flavor. The crab brought freshness to the taro. And the crispiness of the chips gave energy to the crab.
taro root and white truffle oil
Taro root with white truffle oil
This is one of his signature amuse bouches. The sweetness of the taro is a perfect vehicle for the gamy complex (almost intoxicating) truffle.
noodles with shitake mushrooms
Noodles with shitake mushrooms
Very South-East Asian in style. Some small shrimps in there gave a delicate taste of the sea. And shitakes don’t give a lot of juice but boy are they packed with flavor and have a slight spiciness to them.
Abalone
Abalone
This Abalone dish was new. The most finely sliced abalone I’d ever seen. (Someone must have a really sharp knife in that kitchen!) And the Abalone was very expertly cooked-very tender. However, I did not feel that the dish put the abalone flavor forward enough. It was hidden by a chicken aroma and flavor that must have come from the sauce.
scallop with black sesame
Scallop with black sesame
This is fantastic! One small bite packed with the sweet sea flavor of the scallop and the spiciness of ginger and black sesame. Very long and complex.
Turbot and broccoli with ginger
Turbot and broccoli with ginger
The turbot here is perfectly cooked. Even though it is slightly crispy on the outside, the inside remains very moist firm in texture. The ginger juice makes the fish sing with energy and spiciness. (The broccoli is there because we asked tang to throw some veggies in somewhere along the way, but broccoli and ginger go rather well together…I’ll have to try that at home one day.)
the famous langoustines
The famous langoustines
These were requested specifically by a member of our party who said she could not leave the restaurant without having had them. How do you like that for popular demand! Cooking time is as good as it gets. Firm but super moist and as full of flavor as any langoustine I have had. We found them best on their own, without the sesame sauce, which was a little too sweet and took away from the purity of the langoustines.
Ze Canard Pekinois
Ze Canard Pekinois (Peking duck)
One of the all time classics at Tang. Assembled by placing a thin rice crepe on your plate, spreading one tea spoon of the duck sauce with all sorts of spices and slight smoky soy notes, adding a few finely chopped leeks and topping it off with the crispy skin of the duck –full of delicious duck fat- and perfectly spiced moist duck breast meat.
Trimmings for the duck
It is quite a rich dish- especially by texture and concentration of aromas- not so much by fattiness of the ingredients. Also, this dish was made for Bordeaux! (The spices to go with the smoky, peppery, meaty dish. The tannins to cut through the richness)….which brings me to my next subject: the wines. This Peking duck is so subtle and precise that a lot of people used to large sized, more peasanty like interpretations are left perplexed.
Assembling the dish
The wine list here used to be really, really good especially for old-ish Bordeaux. Now the list has been severely cut back, but there are still some great finds. We started with the 2002 Roederer Rosé. Its not often that you see this Rosé on wine lists. The colour was sort of salmon (orangey pink) and the nose quite subdued. But the mouth was very expressive with lots of pink flower petals and red currant jellies with an oh! so dry finish. A perfect wine to get our juices flowing.
We followed with a Pessac-Leognan Chateau La Louvière Rouge 1998. It was a little smoky but with a fantastic freshness expressed with lots of red currants and red flowers. The mouth was very mineral with lots of salt and pepper giving a lot of energy.
The only problem was it went so well with the food that it didn’t last long. We enjoyed it so much that we almost got a second bottle….
….but we decided to vary our pleasures, both physical and intellectual and order something different. A 1999 St Julien 4eme Grand Cru Classé Chateau Talbot. It was richer and denser than the La Louvière with a lot of more cherry skins and other cooked red fruits. Yes, it was more cooked in the nose. The tannins seemed sweet and ripe when we first tasted it with a lot of black pepper. Pretty soon, though the black pepper turned to more of a baked earth tannic aspect. Ultimately it was less pleasurable than the La Louvière (and a wine to drink quickly or to be numerous to share it.)
Charlie Tang is a man of taste. Of Chinese origin, raised in Cambodia, he runs the front of the house with his wife but he knows taste. He invests in taste by visiting all of the top chefs in France and around the world (S.E. Asia and East Asia) with his wife and often with his chef. He and his chef work very closely to create the recipes of his menu.
One of the best restaurants in all Paris. Some of the plate presentations and portion sizes make some Chinese clients think it is westernized Asian cooking. But the flavors and spices are decidedly Chinese with some S.E. Asian influence and top French restaurant finesse.
Charlie Tang - the man himself
We bought it almost as a joke.
It cost less than 20€ on the wine list at the Castel de Tres Girard. One of the most surprising wines I’ve had recently was a 1997 Saumur Champigny from Langlois Château. It had a lot of precision, and ripe fruit (from a very warm vintage in the Loire- especially during the harvest). This 11 year old Cabernet Franc from the Loire Valley had amazing freshness in the mouth, still a lot of fruit and very smooth tannins. I was so impressed that I wanted to buy one in advance for a friend that was arriving only the next day. That was when I found out that I had just bought the last bottle. So I saved what was left in the bottle (about half) and re-tasted it 24 hours later with my friend. Guess what? It was still delicious!
Why were we drinking Loire Cabernet Franc while in Burgundy?
Its a sign of the times-we’re looking for deals. We’re still out in restaurants-as we are on the road a lot- and we are still looking to drink something good. And there is a trick that almost always works : drink wines outside of the wine region where you are. There are some real little gems to be found.
The result is that-we’ve been raiding some restaurant wine lists recently….
We were so excited that we ordered a 1994 Calon Ségur Grand Cru Classé from St Esteph (it was 4 times as expensive as the Samur but still a steal). The nose was really good. Still very floral with some smoky cedar closet. The mouth was funny. It was sort of dried out at first with a lot of cherry skins and baked earth and then it got a second wind and the fruit became sweeter and the spices less baked.
At some of these prices, you can’t go wrong….
A couple of days later, in another restaurant, we actually bought a magnum of 1995 La Tour Figeac St Emilion for less than most of the Burgundy 750 cl bottles on the list. There were four of us, and we polished it off easily. It was still very fresh although not as complex as we had hoped.
Why so much Bordeaux? Well, another little trick is that in Bordeaux there are hardly any cool and humid cellars at the producer level. Drinking a Bordeaux in a Loire Valley restaurant or in a Bungundy restaurant, chances are high that the storage conditions are better than in Bordeaux. More cool. More humid. Which means better ageing
The Grund has something of a Latin feel to it. The Latin quarter of Luxembourg. Winding little streets-if only a few of them. Small houses. People walking around. Somewhat of a night life. And a true taste of Italy….
Da Mosconi is not just any Italian restaurant. It is a vibrating expression of the place where authenticity of tradition and purity of future meet. Some of the finest Italian cuisine I have tasted.* Marrying the best of the freshest Italian ingredients (which is one of the strengths of Italian cuisine) with the precision and rigor of Northern Europe.
The first amuse-bouche was a crème of Parmesan with balsamic vinegar. Not a unique combo, but perfectly executed-mainly because the Parmesan did not dominate but was very subtle. Like a suggestion of Parmesan with the airy neutrality of the cream and the slight sweet aromas of balsamic.
cream of carrot soup with liquorish
The 2nd amuse bouche was a crème of carrot soup with liquorish chantilly. This was perfect! Even though the description sounds like it might be heavy, it was not at all. The carrots were not creamy and very gently sweet. The liquorish tasted as if it had been made to go with these carrots. Both roots. Both slightly sweet. Just perfect.
The 2003 Poggio Antico Brunello we ordered was served a little too warm at first. The wine was very spicy with creamy tannins, tamarind, chocolate and coffee notes (all roasted aromas) The sommelier appeared surprised by my request to chill it down. But a little cooler the fruit came soaring out and the wine tasted half way between a Bandol and a Burgundy and the marriability with food was heightened.
hot foie gras
Hot foie gras, more cooked than usual on a crostini toast with white bean sauce and a touch of the best balsamico possible. Perfect mixture of textures-soft with crunchy and bitterness with a sweet fattiness. The harmony made the dish perfect.
scallops with artichokes
Scallops- cut in half –well grilled on one side and barely grilled on the other side. Crème of beets and crème of artichokes with artichoke chips. A dish built to walk the fine line between the sweetness and the bitterness of every ingredient in the dish. Perfect cooking times.
pumpkin stuffed pasta
Stuffed pasta with pumpkin on the inside with cherry tomatoes and parmesan on the outside. The pumpkin absorbs the excessive Parmesan aromas. Sweet and sour Italian…sort of like new world Italian cuisine given the spiciness of the pumpkin filling in the pasta and the sweet tomatoes. (Maybe a little too sweet? But maybe that is what people want-the future.)
parpardelle
Parpardelle with sweet garlic, rosemary, rabbit ragu and girolle mushrooms. Big soft noodles like some Chinese noodles. Not too aldente. All of the ingredients melted together in perfect harmony.
risotto with white truffle
Risotto with white truffles from Alba. The truffles came out in a big box and were shaved generously in front of our eyes. White truffles are more animal and sexual than black truffles. The risotto acts as a creamy background for the enhancing of the aroma and almost fleshy-ness of these white truffles.
bar de ligne
Bar de ligne (Sea Bass, wild, not farmed) on a potato pancake with red wine sauce and a little caviar. The fish was cooked with a little grilling on the outside (which brings a little bit of bitterness) and made it go well with the bitter caviar and the red wine. Well executed but not the best dish on the evening.
cinnamon ice cream
Pre-desert was a cinnamon ice cream with a prune sauce and shavings of Parmesan with a few drops of balsamic vinegar. The cinnamon brings spiciness. The prune sauce brings creaminess. And the Parmesan brings a salty kick that gives balance and brilliance to the whole dish.
Sicilian pastery
The Sicilian pastry were simply perfect. A true taste of Sicily with orange flower water, pistachios and candied orange rind. How simply wonderful to have this taste gorged with sunshine and flirting with exoticism here in this blustery northern city!
white truffles and chocolate
Before leaving, we were offered chocolates. And I discovered that white chocolate and white truffles were made to go with each other. Unico! And with that taste lingering on my tongue, we walked out of Italy back into to the Grund.
*I worked in the kitchen in a two star restaurant in Rome
This old thing was kicking around the cellar for reasons that are long to explain. The Duc thought it might be dead. But it was very much alive.
Chambertin 1979 Louis Trapet
(the vintage was written by hand because the neck label with the vintage fell off in very damp storage conditions)
Well, it had lost all of its color.
But it had retained all that is beautiful about Burgundy.
Almost a white wine structure –power of aromas but not necesarly through tannins.
It was long. Complex. Very Chambertin signatured: rich with liquorish, spices and game. There was an earthiness and a sweetness (from the liquorish and spices) that made it feel like it was made for going with truffles. Especially birds and truffles.
Truffle with raw scallops, olive oil, white pepper and salt
This combo is perfect. These ingredients were made for eachother. The scallops are neutral enough and yet have a hint of gaminess that is very subtle. And the texture is suggestive of fattiness that carries the aroma and flavors of truffle. The olive oil gives a fruity, pepperiness that the truffle wears like a fitted dress. Definitely one of the best combos of this whole truffle marrying game.
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