Steirereck, Vienna

Steirereck, Vienna, 3-31-14, 141 Euro/7 courses (including 6 euro table charge), Austrian-Int’l

I have arranged a few fine dining appointments in Catalan region of Spain after my tour of Greece. There wasn’t direct flight from Athens to Barcelona. I decided to travel via Vienna so that I can have a dining occasion in Steirereck. It is a Michelin 2-star restaurant and is also on S. Pellegrino’s top 10 lists. I have noticed its menu emphasized vegetables and very few dishes of seafood. It offered a 7-course tasting menu. When I saw the bill, I noticed there was a 6 euro table charge. It is the 1st time that I saw a “table charge” item at a Michelin 2-star restaurant.

The restaurant faces a park and is located right outside the edge of the Stadtpark. Inside, its opulence decoration shows the influence of Vienna Secessionism Art Movement (Gustav Klimt was one of them). It has a large number of capacity (80) compared with most of other fine dining restaurants’.

Amuse Bouche

I) there were four items: 1) radish crackers; 2) radish plant cream; 3) radish in rhubarb sauce and radish seeds; and 4) home made Cassini with smoked salt. In addition, I was given a pair of scissors to cut the radish plants. This reminded me of Noma where I had a dining occasion there two years ago. At Noma, I was told to eat the whole plant and soil (edible).

II)there were two items: 1) Ox heart carrot, stuffed with apple cream and pine needles, steamed by pine tea from underneath the plate (with holes for steam coming thru). 2) Purple carrot, black mayo, walnut kohlrabi (texture similar to daikon).

Butter was served with crest and crest seeds. Steirereck baked wide varieties of gourmet breads; I chose 5 different flavors - rye and honey lavender, tomato olive, apricot hazelnut, Parmigiano arugula and bacon.

1st Course – Mountain Trout: ‘Schwarzauer’ Mountain Trout with Melon, Cucumber and Etiolated Pea

It was marinated raw trout with melon, cucumber and etiolated pea shoots. It was fresh water trout from a special source with fine quality. Etiolated pea shoots were done by incorporating some Nordic methods. It required fermenting many bean sprouts cooked in soy sauce, dehydrating and then grinding them.

2nd Course – Asparagus: Green Asparagus with Sheep’s Cheese, Hop Shoots and Bergamot

Green asparagus was boiled to medium soft and served with sheep’s cheese, marinated sorrel, pecan nut pickled with maple syrup. Dressing made of bergamot and green apple vinaigrette with hop shoots and caramel was served on top.

3rd Course – Crayfish: Crayfish with Spiced Parsnip Strudel and Limes

I have requested for this dish to substitute for what was in the original menu. Steirereck charged me extra 6 euros, a practice rather unusual in fine dining. Crayfish was tender and fresh. The parsnip strudel was a nice piece of work by appearance; however, the flavor was not quite in balance.

4th Course – Lamb from Pogusch: Lamb with Jerusalem artichoke, ‘Rosa Bianca’ Aubergine, Pandan Leaf and Button Mushrooms

Roasted loin of lamb was served with chopped artichoke on top. On the side, sautéed marinated raw button mushroom sitting on a bed of Rosa Bianca aubergine (tender eggplant) and topped with pandan leaves.

5th Course – Duck: ‘Schneebergland Duck’ with ‘Schoderleer’ Onion, Chia and Beetroot & Orange Couscous

It was duck breast cooked rare-medium by using a special premium brand of duck. On the side, there were premium onions, orange couscous cooked in beet juice topped with crosne. Crosne is Chinese artichoke shaped like knot root and tasted a bit crunchier than ordinary artichoke.

6th Course – Selected Cheeses from their Meierei (cheese bar)

Steirereck is located on the top floor of the building while the cheese bar ‘Meierei’ is located downstairs. On my way in I have noticed the varieties of cheese displayed. I got a few varieties of cheese including mild flavored goat cheese and some rather unusual 43-month comté cheese.

7th Course – Quince: Quince with Burnt Milk and Lavender

I still remember how much I enjoyed the quince desert at Vendome in October 2012. I expected that I would have a similar experience here. But, I was disappointed. Quince desert at Steirereck was more for visual pleasure than for palatial pleasure.

Petit Four

1) Schoenbraum in spoon was blood orange jelly with crumb. I love blood orange related food. But, it was not flavored enough.

2) Meyer lemon, grapefruit and white chocolate tart

3) Passion fruit and lemon parfait

4) Jelly candies with grapefruit and lime flavor

5)Varieties of dry sliced citrus fruits – pen lime, blood orange, medium lemon, citrus lemon, panache orange and rose apple

To call a restaurant one of the best is not only about food but also about ambiance, services and making it an enjoyable occasion. I made an appointment at Steirereck because it is rated with Michelin 2-star and is on S. Pellegrino’s top 10 list. The decoration is elegant, but I was disappointed in many aspects. The evening when I had dinner there, they were very busy. After the 3nd course, I waited long (15-20 minutes) in between each of the following courses to be served, its service was shambolic. The most important thing – the taste, the flavor was not quite in balance and not sumptuous. I could not find any of the dishes outstanding compared with other fine dinings that I have had. I acknowledged that most of the dishes required sophisticated preparation and exquisite presentation. But, the mouth-watering taste that I expected was just not there. The best thing that I have ever experienced there was the 43-month old Comté cheese.

Spondi, Athens

Spondi, 3-30-14, 143 euro/7 courses, French, Michelin 2-star

I booked a trip to Greece. As I always liked to combine travelling with fine dining, I identified Spondi would be the best choice in Greece followed by Steirereck (Vienna), Pakta (Barcelona), El Celler de Can Roca (Girona), Sant Pau (San Pol de Mar) and Enoteca (Barcelona). Spondi is a Michelin 2-star restaurant located near by the marble stadium in a quiet narrow street. I ordered a 7-course tasting menu.

Amuse Bouche

1) Goat cheese with truffle coated with finely caramelized thin pieces of bacon. It was a great piece of work, goat cheese was not the strong type and caramelized bacon was delicious.

2) Foie gras mousse flavored with green apple and cardamon, and coated with chocolate. It was with mild foie gras flavor so that to keep the balance with chocolate.

3) Smoked eel with chive and cauliflower cream. The smoked flavor was done by the house; it was as good as the smoked flavor that I have in the Nordic countries last year.

Spondi baked excellent brown croissant made of white flour and rye flour. They were very light and flaky.

1st Course – Foie Gras: Terrine and Mousse/Pear/Apple/Raspberry/Vanilla

Foie gras mousse was shaped in a roll and coated with red wine and port jelly coating. It was served with various flavor of sauce: caramelized apple, green apple, pear, strawberry, vanilla and blueberry. On top of the roll, there were thin caramel pieces and green apple slices. The flavor was more intense then what served in Amuse Bouche. It was also well balanced and scrumptious.

2nd Course – Langoustine: Tartar/Citrus Fruits/Horseradish “Remoulade” /Celery/Grapefruit
It was langoustine tartar on celery root and horseradish salad, served with grapefruit jelly, marshmallow, grapefruit ice and caramel sauce. There were two pieces of thin bread wafer placed on top of tartar for decoration. Langoustine was the prime quality and grapefruit jelly and grapefruit ice certainly enhanced the taste.

3rd Course – Sea Bass: Artichoke/Young Cabbage/Oyster/Shrimps Powder
Sea bass was done by slow-cook process; it had a very tender texture different from the normal cooking process. Slow-cook process renders less variance between outer layer and inner layer, and more tender. I confirmed my thoughts with the manager. On the side of fish, there was a small cute piece of oyster coated by oyster jelly, and some local vegetables and artichoke. The highlight of this dish was the powdered shrimps and nori coated on one side of fish. Sauce was made out of fish and oyster. It delivered such a wonderful and well-balanced taste.

4th Course – Milk Fed Lamb: in Herb Cocotte/Candied Lemon Paste/Polenta of Eggplant-Coriander Smoked Garlic Ball
I requested for substitute of Lamb for Duck in the original menu. I definitely made the right decision. My server brought out a large bowl covered with a bowlful of rosemary. Inside this bowl, breast of lamb with rib and a thin layer of fat to keep the juice, was coated with a layer of puréed candied lemon peels. On the side, roasted and mashed eggplants were stuffed in a fillo roll with onion slices on top. In addition, there were some adorable puffs filled with roasted garlic, milk and cheese. They were so good; I can easily munch a dozen of these puff balls. The way this course was prepared reminded me of L’Epicure in Paris. It also prepared excellent lamb with candied lemon peel and candied lemon peel sauce. I inquired my server whether Spondi has a French chef or Greek chef. He informed me that Spondi has had L’Epicure’s chef Eric Frechon as consultant chef. No wonder, there were similar finger marks in Spondi.

5th Course – Cheese
I was very happy when I found out Spondi also had 36 Comte in the cheese trolley. In addition, I also had Charolette goat cheese, wheel, Beaufort, and Tend Morin as suggested by the server.

Palate Cleanser - Green Apple and Orange Sorbet and Marshmallow

Desert 1 – Clementine Sorbet/Caramelized Pecan Nut/ Rum Raisin

This course was comprised of one scoop of Clementine Sorbet and one scoop of Chestnut ice cream with Chantilly and rum raisin. They were all very refreshing.

Desert 2 – Chocolate Mousse: Raspberry/Vanilla

The texture of this desert is a bit firmer than mousse, but still delicious. It was served with Raspberry sorbet with rosemary flavor. It was the 1st time that I ever had raspberry sorbet with rosemary, but I must say that I fell in love with it. The manager was kind enough to provide me with a 2nd serving. I certainly enjoyed it.

Petit Four – Lemon Tart, Chocolate Macaroon, Almond Cookies

They were all too good to resist even though I was full.

According to what my server informed me, Spondi meant the ancient process of serving wine and food to gods and goddesses. At present, regardless you are a human or a god, you would still be well-served at Spondi.

Pierre Gagnaire, Paris

Pierre Gagnaire 10/7/2011

Chef Pierre Gagnaire was the pioneer of nouveau French cuisine famous for his extraordinarily innovative and progressive food. I decided that I would choose his flagship restaurant “Pierre Gagnaire” for my 1st Michelin 3 star fine dining in Paris. The restaurant is located near by le Arc de Triomphe end of Champs-Élysées.

I had a lunch tasting menu which was smaller than dinner menu because I was under tight schedule to catch the trans-Atlantic flight home. The décor is modern in soft brown graduations with bold art works and beautiful floral arrangements in sync with the style of food served. Wine cellar is surrounded by glass walls situated in the middle of dining room.

It started with Amuse Bouche. I was too overwhelmed with the varieties of Amuse Bouche that I did not take sufficient notes while dining in the restaurant that I had difficulties to recollect all the details. There was a macaron with blackcurrant sandwiched in between white meringue. I barely remembered the foie gras pastry and the watermelon jelly. But, all of them were delicious. Chef Pierre Gagnaire, like Chef Joachim Wissler at Vendome, is a master of Amuse Bouche. I personally love Amuse Bouche and fully agreed with what Chef Jean-George Vongerichten said “The Amuse Bouche is the best way for a great chef to express his big ideas in small bites.”



Pierre Gagnaire’s services were attentive and impeccable. One service managers stood at a corner to monitor each guest’s comfort condition and walked around the whole space every five minutes to make sure each guest was well attended. It served wonderful varieties of house-baked bread. My favorite was seaweed bread, they were unbelievably tasty definitely much better than the one that I later had at Guy Savoy.










1st course – “Nettle’s jelly with chives, cauliflowers’ heads and souffléd bread.” This was the 1st time that I ever tasted nettle. My server tried his best to explain it to me what it tasted like and agreed to offer me a substitute if I did not like the taste. I somehow found out nettle’s green taste was a bit too strong.

2nd course – “Salpicon of tourteau, dog cockles and shredded celeriac in remoulade sauce flavored with curcuma.” Dog cockle, one type of shellfish, is edible and enjoyed in many European countries. The flesh has a reputation for becoming tough if overcooked. It has an apparently sweet and almond-like flavor. In this dish, dog cockle was tender and tasty, with shredded celeriac in remoulade sauce flavored with tumeric. Tumeric is in the curcuma family bearing a curry-like yellow color and has a milder taste and milder yellow tone than curry. This dish was well prepared and it was not traditional French cuisine.

3rd course – “Pig’s ear/haddock/small mackerel.” It was a rare combination of sliced meat and fillets of fish.

4th course - “Bouchot mussels mariniére with leeks.” Marinated mussels served with jullienned leeks. Mussels were fresh, plump and juicy.

5th course – “Bloody-Mary sorbet, velvety soup of ewe’s milk cheese.” This turned out to be my favorite course in this meal. It was a perfection of innovation, the alcohol was not too overwhelming and the cheesy flavor was just enough to enrich the taste.

2nd course substitute – I was offered sautéed fresh walnuts and chanterelle mushrooms from the Loire Valley. Loire Valley has thousands of natural caverns ideal for growing varieties of mushroom. It was a very simple but tasty dish.

6th course – “Octopus stew with Nyons olives, crispy jumbo shrimps wrapped in a veil of chickpeas’ flour.” I did not know where Chef Gagnaire got his shrimps. But, they were biggest that I have ever seen. In addition, they were tender and tasty. Octopus was stewed with other ingredients and tomato sauce, and shrimps were added before serving.

7th course – Aubergine cannelloni with craterellus mushrooms.” This dish was made with sliced eggplants. Each sliced eggplant was sautéed and stuffed with shredded mushrooms. The type of mushroom was different from the substitute course that I just had.

8th course – “Avocado scampi.” This dish was made of avocado and shrimp in tempura, served with black olive puree. This was a delicious fusion dish.

9th course – “Rump and caillette of veal roasted and infused in a broth of braised stuffed tiny artichokes; semi-preserved rates potatoes with meniguette.” The vegetables were cooked to the right texture and harmonious with veal. Nothing in the plate has been spared of any detailed attention.

Palate Cleaner – “Lime & Lemon mouse.” It had pungent citric taste and was very light. The sweet taste of lime and the sour taste of lemon made the fused flavor even more refreshing.

Desert: It was a galore!

10th course – Varieties of petit four with beautiful presentation.

11th course – Thin wafer with raspberry and fresh cream.

12th course – Poached pear in puff pastry with wine sauce.

13th course – Fig with orange cake and orange sauce.

14th course – Chocolate cake with chocolate ice cream.

Then, there were some chocolate truffles brought to the table. It was close to the departure time for the airport. In addition, my stomach has reached its limit after I consumed all the courses. I had to ask the manager to pack chocolate truffles in a box. Their staff was so observing and attentive that they noticed that I loved their seaweed breads. When I got home, I noticed they have packed 4 seaweed breads in the box.

Toward the end of meal, Chef Gagnaire came out to greet every guest in the dining room. I did not have much conversation, besides the simple phrases, with him because his English proficiency was as good as my French proficiency. However, I did notice he spent time with a few guests appeared to be the frequent diners. I agreed with them. I would like to come back to this restaurant in one of my future trips to Paris.

Akelare

Akelare 5/6/2011

I decided to visit San Sebastian when I found out it has the highest Michelin star per capita in the world. This classy seashore town has been famous for being the summer resort of aristocrats ever since Regent Marie Christine established it and has four well known gourmet restaurants – Akelare, Arzak, Martin Berasategui and Mugaritz. I made reservations at Arzak and Akelare because these two are more conveniently accessible via public transportation.

I arrived at the restaurant a bit early and the manager let me in through the kitchen because the front door was not open as yet. As I passed by the kitchen I noticed the large number of kitchen staff. Later, I found out many were interns since working in this restaurant offers each prospective chef such a great opportunity to broaden his/her horizon and to cultivate, sharpen and refine his/her cooking techniques.

The restaurant is situated close to the mountain top with spectacular ocean views. It offered two types of 8-course tasting menu – Aranori menu and Bekarki menu. The manger allowed me to have a custom-made menu by selecting the items that I desired out of two sets of menu.

It started with Appetizers – “Tomato and Basil Gel, Idiazabal Cheese Moisturizer, Sea Bath Salts: Directly to the Mouth! Mouthwash Cocktail, Sponge: Take the Onion Sponge and Put Tomato Gel on It!” A jar that looked like a cosmetic jar was served with gel in it. The viscosity of this gel was in between soup and bisque. Onion sponge was like a flavored puff. It was a creative dish.

1st course – “Prawns and French Beans Cooked in ‘Orujo’ Flame." Prawns were cooked with Orujo spirit for no more than 2 minutes in front of guest. Once the fire was extinguished, the lid was covered for another minute before they were served onto a plate. In this plate there were beautifully presented greens that appeared pasta-like and had floral and leaves shapes, green cream and dry shrimp powder interspersed with the prawns. Manager recommended to suck the head and to accompany the tail with the greens and green cream. Prawns were fresh, tender with the extra flavor from the powdered shrimp and liqueur. It was an unusual combination both esthetically and gastronomically.

2nd course – “Mollusks in Fisherman’s Net." It was a combination of various shell fish, with open mollusks on charcoal fire and a cream of rice and borage, covered by a net made of rice flour. This dish was served with tasty seafood broth. The fried net was not just visually artistic; it was crispy but not greasy. When I dipped the net into the sauce, I knew I had selected the right dish.

3rd course – “Sautéed Fresh Foie Gras with Salt Flakes and Grain Pepper.” It was a foie gras dish. But, what unusual about the preparation was the little grain pepper served in the plate. It was made of fully mashed truffles and black rice. This mashed product then was shaped into little balls that looked like grain pepper. Of course, they tasted wonderful. But, think of how much work was involved in making them.

4th course – “Xangurro in Essence, its Coral Blini and “Gurullos.” Xangurro was one of my favorite food items in the Basque region. It is their local crab meat cake. Their local crab meat is sweet, without a fishy taste, juicy and delicious. In this dish, the crustacean’s meat was reinforced by its juice and accompanied with the pasta that looked like rice grain (on the left hand side of plate).

5th course – "Turbot with its ‘Kokotxa.” The preparation was made with the entire Turbot, including its cheeks, pil-pil sauce and crispy chip of its own skin. The green and white color items were not pasta, nor were they jellyr. They resembled one oriental item called koniyaku. I wondered how Akalare’s kitchen prepared the crispy fish skin. It probably required certain special equipment.

6th course – “Charcoal Grilled Lamb with the Wine Lees.” Lean big lamb loin was served with wine extract and wasabi thread (at the upper left corner of the plate). The wasabi thread was thinner than the Chinese transparent noodles. However, it melts in your mouth and its flavor was so pungent that you have the individual taste of wasabi and lamb, and still have the fusion flavor of both. I was amazed with the wasabi thread’s appearance, presentation and it potent taste. This course was a real masterpiece.

7th course – “Chesse.” This cheese plate was one of a kind. I haven’t had any cheese plate more elaborate than this one and I haven’t had any more elaborate than this one ever since that day either. Chef Pedro Subijana’s creativity was everywhere in this plate. There were 6 items in the plate, starting from the left to the right:

1) Grapevine, curded sheep milk and walnut;

2) Powdered fresh cream with chive and grapes;

3) Quark cheese with nutmeg and pink pepper aroma, must of tapioca and tomato;

4) Idiazabal semi-matured with quince jelly and wine dust;

5) Torta of Casar’s grape with soaked raisins in Pedro Ximenez;

6) Brandy syrup with Gorgonzola cheese ice cream.

Chef wanted you to recognize each and every of the different flavors that the milk has, as well as the transformations that the grape and milk undergo from the origin up until the maturity.

8th course – “Citrus Shell and Chocolate Shaving.” A little shell was filled with citric cream, it was refreshing. In addition, there was cocoa ice cream and chocolate cigars served on a bed of shredded chocolate cotton candy. Citric cream complemented the sweet chocolate taste.

This dining experience is a unique one to me. I have been exposed to so many exquisite ways of food preparation visually, technically and gastronomically. I truly love this place and hope I will have another opportunity to revisit.