Finally some exciting news about the noma cook book! René Redzepi has named his new book “Time and Place in Nordic Cuisine” and it’s going to be released this autumn. You can already pre-order it from Amazon.com here. There’ll be both an English and a Danish edition. Can’t wait!
With only three nights in New York City Corton was one of the restaurants I initially, but sadly, had left out of my dinner plans. Mainly for two reasons: There was no available tables on OpenTable.com and because of Corton’s strict no photo-policy. I had sent an email to the restaurant in advance to ask for permission to shoot photos for my blog, explaining that I never use flash and am most discrete and conscious about not disturbing the other guests. I received a polite rejection.
But when my return to Denmark got delayed by the now so famous ash cloud I decided to go for dinner at the two-stars Michelin Corton anyway. I planned to enjoy it without taking photos at all and not writing a VGF post on it.
I arrived in the evening on 20th April and got warmly welcomed by the maitre d’ and shown to my table in the middle of the elegangt and cool room with good view to the whole restaurant. To my big surprise she informed me, that if I just happened to have my camera with me, then it would be okay to take pictures as long as I didn’t use the flash. Apparently Chef had seen this blog and okayed my photographing his dishes. Flattering, and thank God I DID bring my camera after all.
I took a look at the menu and quickly opted for the chef’s tasting menu because I didn’t feel certain that only three dishes would be enough to provide me with a good impression of the restaurant and the style of the food.
Appetizers
Three appetizers arrived and accompanied the nice glass of bubbly from Jean Claude Thévenet Blanc de Blancs, Mâconnais NV.
All three of them were very rich and rather complex. In fact they were small hints and a very good impression of what I could expect to come. The little cup with the green stuff and foie gras underneath was very delicate and tasty. To die for, really.
Kusshi Oyster, Smoked Beet, Horseradish creme, Smoked Pecan
My first dish presented oysters in two ways. Both were very fresh, pure but rich in taste. Excellent.
Foie gras
Flowering -miner’s Lettuce, Black Olive, White Asparagus
Again I loved the foie gras and the same sweet sweet note to it like the appetizer had. The balance was marvelous with the right amount of salt, sweet, balsamic acidity. The sphere was apple cider and had a fruity and slightly acidic note – it reminded me of the taste of wine gum. The toast was perfection: Crunchy and fragile, full of taste with a slight sweetness to it.
Before I was served the next dish the chef came to my table and showed me a bag with the fish inside. It was cooked slowly sous-vide.
Black Bass
Morels, Puffed Buckwheet, Mussel Ramp Bouillabaisse
The black bass was wonderful, fresh, juicy and full of delicate taste. Again there was more than one dish in the course, and there was a hugh spectrum of different tastes. I was still drinking the nice white Jacques Bavard Saint-Romain, Burgundy 2007 I ordered earlier for the first dishes, but think that the Pinot Noir I had with the following course would have matched the fish even better.
Elysian Fields Lamb
Yogurt Gnocchi, Sweetbread, Spiced Mole
I think it’s the first time I encounter mint served with lamb. Here it added freshness to the somewhat intense, gamy taste of the good lamb. Mint sauce, by the way, is a traditional English accompaniment to lamb roast, as far as I know. The quality of the lamb shoulder was also very good. The texture of the meet was firm but also cooked long enough to easily come apart.
The Patrick Javillier Savigny-lès-Beaune, Burgundy 2007 was terrific. The nose was intense and intriguing, huge fruity taste and offered a long aftertaste.
Idiazabal
Taleggio, Golden Raisins, Citrus Coriander
I’m a big fan of cooked cheese dishes and I only get it on rare occasions. Each mouthful here comprised both melted and firm cheese with a rich but delicate taste of Taleggio cheese. The taste was combined with a crunch to it and sourness from the citrus coriander and a slight fruity sweetness to the finish which came from the raisins, I think. All in all it was a wonderful example of a cooked cheese serving.
I had saved a bit of the Chardonnay to accompany the cheese and to see how it would work. The wine had a nice cleansing effect and the acidity gave balance to the rich taste. The Pinot Noir was a little to powerful for the cheese.
Pine Nut Palette
Cassis, Fennel, Orange Blossom
This worked like a cheesecake with the cracker crumbs replaced by the pine nuts and it worked well with the refreshing fruit blackberry sorbet on the side.
Baba Bouchon
Bitter Chocolate, Creme, Yogurt Crumble, Muscovado Caramel
The final dessert was much fruitier and lighter than I anticipated, and it was great. The chocolate cake on the side in the brown bowl had the most rich chocolate flavour you can imagine.
This was a great meal with dishes served at a nice pace. I very much liked the food, which was flawless by the way. Most of the courses were highly complex and many comprised side dishes. Although I enjoyed the food I found that the complexity was somehow unnecessary. It made the impression a bit muddled. Chef-owner Paul Liebrandt’s relation to Pierre Gagnaire is evident by the multiplicity of ingredients and plates in one serving and by the cooked cheese.
After the desserts I was invited to see the kitchen and was explained about each station there. Liebrandt had left at that point.
Tea, mignardises and a friendly chat with maitre d’ concluded my great evening at Corton.
The service was all evening kind and efficient and left nothing for me to wish for.
What had actually impressed me the most was the service of the maitre d’ which was of the kind I only very rarely experience. She was most professional but friendly at the same time, addressed me by my name at all times, occasionally came down to my tabled to ask how I was and whether I enjoyed the food, she knew about the ash cloud and the possible delay of my flight back, and was genuinely interested in hearing about my blog and my background.
I agree with Michael of Wandering Epicures, though, there is something about the name of the restaurant, Corton, and the food being served that puzzles me. To me Corton suggests Burgundian cuisine and this wasn’t that. With the strong link to Pierre Gagnaire why not call the restaurant Paris or even Rue Balzac?
Sensmaking name or not, I still very much enjoyed my night at Corton!
Thank you, Susan and thank you Paul!
On June 3rd to 6th Brussels is hosting the outdoor food festival Culinaria at Tour & Taxis and forming the most Michelin stars ever owned by one restaurant:
50 Exhibitions
23 Michelin stars
16 Chefs
11 Workshops
4 Menus
Amongst the participating chefs are Peter Goossens of Hof van Cleve*** (#17 at The 50 Best’s list), Sang-hoon Degeimbre of L’Air du Temps**, Bart de Pooter of Pastorale**.
I’m proud to present that Very Good Food is part of FOOG Magazine – the new web community created by me and my friends.
We are 6 European FOod blOGgers:
- Very Good Food (Denmark)
- Cuisiner en Ligne (France)
- High-End Food (Germany)
- Food Intelligence (France)
- Food Snob (UK)
- Gastros on Tour (Belgium)
Our aim is to share our blogs into ONE single foodie community in order to provide unique and added value for you, foodie, gastronaut, looking for reports, pictures, videos from meals, events or even simple human meetings we are doing in our daily life. And this life is quite busy as focused on our passion which sounds obvious: Eating in restaurants.
In this new web community, you’ll find more than reports: Interviews, restaurants selection, live broadcasts, pictures and videos gallery, we want to share our experience, also behind the scenes. We want to provide the new trends in the world of gastronomy. 
WD~50 stands for Wylie Dufresne in 50 Clinton Street, NYC. Wylie is the head chef and owner. He holds one Michelin star.
I knew WD-50 was a bit of a gamble, the reviews are mixed and opinions are many. The style of WD-50 is experimental, using modern and to some extend molecular techniques. Comparing my taste in restaurants with the positive feedback, I felt certain that this creative place was a must visit for me if I wanted to experience the probably most experimental side of NYC dining. I went there the night I got to New York City, 15th May. At home I had without any luck tried to book via OpenTable. Thus I decided to walk in at 6pm at opening time and planned to eat at the bar if no table was available. Fortunately I didn’t need to sit at the bar. There was a free table for me.
Right from the start it was clear that the service was something special. I really felt taken care of in a genuine way. My server was patient and gave me all the time I needed to dwell on the food or providing extra time for getting more appetite.
I chose the tasting menu, of course, and a glass of champagne to celebrate that I was back in NYC again.
Bread basket
Then the bread basket arrived full of nice thin sesame crackers. Light and tasty.
Fluke, carob peanut, fennel
This was a super delicious piece of fluke and a light and pure starter. The peanut stuff at the bottom reminded me of peanut butter.
Everything bagel, smoked salmon threads, crispy cream cheese
The salmon was subtle and balanced with flavours of sweet onions and this was certainly a new presentation of the bagel. I enjoyed it.
Foie gras, passionfruit, Chinese celery – signature dish
The quality of the foie gras terrine was excellent, completely smooth. The dehydrated celery was sweet and crispy. The foie gras terrine was hollow and when cutting through it liquid passion fruit floated out. The passion fruit was highly acidic and had a slight bitter note to it. I can understand certain people may not like it, feel it’s too sour or too overpowering for the terrine, but not me. I really liked it.
Scrambled egg ravioli, charred avocado, kindai kampachi
It’s the potatoes in the front. They had a taste similar to pop-corn. It was a somewhat odd dish this one, it kinda lacked distinction. The flavours were creamy and mild. I felt it was missing a counterpart to provide some character. Still good, though.
Cold fried chicken, buttermilk-ricotta, tabasco, caviar
The next dish is said to have been inspired by leftovers from a chicken dinner. The tabasco had a surprising effect on my taste buds, because after eating a little of it the flavours of the caviar and the dough around the chicken came more out. The whole dish tasted much better, lifted by the tabasco. Brilliant. Again, I found the composition and the ingredients a little strange, like chicken and caviar but, I also found that I really enjoyed it.
Sweet shrimp, red pepper, black sesame, shiso
The prawns were very good and I loved the black sesame that was subtle and not strong. This dish was clearly a much richer course than the previous and it bridged nicely to the following.
At this point I asked for a glass of the Oregon Pinot Noir from Evening Land 2008. It was a rich but structured wine with lots of fruit and spices. It was quite powerful, very nice scent. There was a creamy touch to the long aftertaste. I loved the wine, and I find that after this trip, I have taken to Oregon Pinot. Not bad at all.
Beef and bearnaise
Another nice and surprising dish that played with textures. The beef was the most liquid part here; of course I would have expected the bearnaise to be that. I love both consommes and bearnaise sauce, so it was an easy thing for me to like this inverted steak bearnaise. It was marvelously balanced and the tarragon was pure and clear with the delicate beef soup.
Lamb loin, black garlic romesco, soybean, pickled ramps
The piece of free range Colorado lamb was a tender little thing. I’m a little difficult with lamb and very sensible to a woolen touch which this piece had. But the garnish really matched the lamb – especially the burnt garlic and the crunchy ramps.
Chewy lychee sorbet, pistachio, lemon, celery
A rather rich but nevertheless excellent cleanser followed.
Hazelnut tart, coconut, chocolate, chicory
The first of the two desserts was absolutely to die for. It was full blown, no holds barred hazelnut flavour enhanced by the salt on top and combined with the subtle coconut. I’m not sure which part of this was the chicory.
Caramelized brioche, apricot, butter-cream, lemon thyme
The second dessert was even better. The brioche was filled with apricot with such a pure and intense taste, and the dish as a whole was incredibly distinct and matched the sweet but fresh flavours.
Cocoa packets
After the desserts two pieces of chocolate accompanied my Jasmine tea. The chocolate shortbread, milk ice cream was a new representation of chocolate and biscuits. The packaged comprised tiny and crunchy chocolate balls inside the edible chocolate leather. The chocolate was developed by genius pastry chef Alex Stupak. His desserts were the best I had in New York.
At the end of the meal the kind server asked if I would care to see the kitchen. Wylie was there and we shook hands. Great thing. Great evening.
The unpretentious style, the creativity, the playfulness and the brilliant tossing about with American classics, like the up-side-down bagel and the inverted Steak Bernaise, is what I love about WD~50.
Full and well I strolled back to the subway and got off at Grand Central station, which was my stop. What a fine first night alone in NYC.
Thank you!!
When I attended the Flemish food event in early February (sorry this post has been waiting for months) I connected through Paris and had a nice opportunity of lunching at Le Meurice on 9th February 2010.
Appetizer 1
Appetizer 2
Pierre Gagnaire was my first 3-star experience in Paris and I felt I needed to explore the more classical type of cuisine of the highest Michelin standard. Furthermore, I was curious to try one of the most opulent places in Paris.
Luckily, this time Luxeat was able to accompany me and she was fine going for Le Meurice. For a long time we had tried to align our schedules to share a meal.
I was late to the restaurant. Parisian traffic is… well, Parisian traffic, and Luxeat was already at our table waiting for me.
The waiter immediately asked what I would care to drink amongst his offerings and I randomly picked 1996 Bruno Paillard Blanc de Blancs. A full-bodied and wonderful champagne.
We chose the menu decouverte since the price of two courses is almost at the same level as the tasting menu, and because I wanted to try as much dishes as possible to get the best impression of chef Yannick Alléno’s cuisine.
PRAWNS AND SEA URCHIN CORAL UNCOOKED Steamed turnip in a broth, shiso and delicate jelly with Yuzu
The scrimp, sea-urchin dish was interesting and the more I ate, the more I liked the Asian-inspired flavours dominated by sweet and bitterness.
DUCK FOIE GRAS IODIZED IN SUGAR CRUST Turnip chutney with vinegar and seaweed
Despite the few veins in the foie gras, I really liked this one. The liver-taste and fattiness appealed to me and the sugar and vinegar suited it.
SEA SCALLOPS WITH TRUFFLE STEAM AND SPINACH Champagne butter sauce
I liked the scallops a lot, but the black truffles had a too light a taste to them, and as a whole the dish wasn’t that interesting to me.
THINLY-SLICED SEABASS WITH CHOPPED PARSLEY Stuffed macaroni, clams prepared simply
Then followed the sea bass. The taste was good and in particular the pasta was great and tasty, as were the small clams. But the sea bass was no way near the incredibly tasty sea bass I got at Oud Sluis.
PRESERVED FLANK OF VEAL IN JUICE Asparagus from France with olives and crunchy onions, parsley
The veal had character and more distinct taste than the previous dishes. The strong flavours of the parsley and olives balanced the richness and fattiness of the veal which was good but somewhat too bland for a 3-star place like Le Meurice. By the way, we had flipped this veal with the lamb course which was originally part of the tasting menu.
MONT D’OR VACHERIN WITH CHÂTEAU-CHALON Warm potato salad with shallots
The cheese was very delicious and full of taste, but the potatoes were a too heavy thing for me after many, quite rich, courses.
Baba au rhum
Mignardises
POACHED ALOE VERA AND CHILLED WITH PINK GRAPEFRUIT Peppered soft fresh cheese and olive oil juice
COCOA MERINGUE SHELL WITH LIGHT CHESTNUT MOUSSE Tender chocolate heart and Cognac jelly
Desserts and pre-dessert were very good too with surprising textures and intriguing flavour combinations.
The highlights for me were the sugar-baked foie gras and the first light and fresh dessert of aloe vera and pink grape fruit. They were both completely balanced in flavours and delighting at the same time.
From a 3-stars point of view, though, I had expected more. Food-wise I wouldn’t characterize Le Meurice worth planning a trip for. To me, it is not on par with neither Fat Duck or Schloss Berg, not to mention Oud Sluis. I felt that the menu was clumsily composed and that the dishes were randomly picked without a clear target.
As I said, the foie gras and the aloe vera were really special but the rest of the meal missed something – it was good but not memorable. It may well have been me having a bad foodie-day, not being at my best in taking in the food, analyzing and appreciating it, as I had a plane to catch at six from CDG airport. But the feeling I was left with was that it should have been better.
I loved the luxuriousness of the room, the very comfortable chair, the sound of the my heals against the floor when I walked, the escort to the loos, the way that my suitcase, jacket and sweater I took off during the lunch were taking care of while I concentrated on the dining experience. It was awesome and only to be found in places like this.
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