This afternoon, just before my weekend in Copenhagen, I returned to Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester to try out their newly-launched Festive Lunch Hour for the Christmas season. It was my first visit since late last year and I was attracted by some rather rich and appealing items on the menu as compared to their usually lighter set lunches. Admittedly it is slightly more expensive than the normal set lunch, but still a very good deal at £65 for 3 courses and an amuse-bouche using pretty luxurious ingredients, accompanied by two glasses of red/white wine, the usual array of mignardises and choice of tea/coffee after the meal.
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| My usual seat |
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| Emmental cheese goujons to start, dusted with black pepper and bell pepper powders. Light and fluffy in texture yet rich in taste, with just the right amount of spiciness to stimulate the tastebuds. Very addictive too! |
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| Selection of breads served warm - I chose bacon and black olive, both excellent, as was the velvety and creamy salted butter. |
Amuse-bouche: Scottish salmon coated with sauce verte (a blend of coriander, parsley and spinach), served with caviar on a bed of potato lightly dressed with olive oil and chives.
This was a delightful way to begin the meal - luxurious yet light and wholesome. The salmon was only lightly poached so that its insides were still pretty raw but incredibly fresh and moist, and its characteristically rich flavour was well matched by a thick and aromatic coating of herb sauce. By contrast, the other part of this morsel, a potato salad of sorts, felt surprisingly clean and non-starchy in texture, and its delicate flavour was appropriately complemented by the light olive oil dressing and the refreshing salty juiciness of the caviar. The ingredients of this dish were generally basic, but their composition was both elegant and effective.
Starter: warm goose and foie gras pithivier (puff pastry parcel) with a sauce of white port and cognac, served with a side salad of cos lettuce and baby Swiss chard.
Wine pairing: 2011 Josmeyer Pinot Blanc 'mise du printemps', Alsace.
How complex can a pie be, you ask, and does it deserve a place in a gastronomical establishment? As it turned out, this was probably the most well-made, indulgent and tasty example that I've tried so far. What really struck me weren't the lavish fillings of diced goose breast and foie gras, but the sheer refinement and meticulousness in execution (as you see from the cross-section), and the variety of textures within a seemingly humble slice of pie. A feather-light, multi-layered and flaky puff pastry crust contained a thick wall of pâté en croûte made of extremely delicate and airy chicken mousse. This layer of mousse further encased some truly opulent and robust stuffings by contrast - the goose breast was moist and succulent with a rich gamey flavour, the foie gras was smooth and silky with a pleasant musky taste, and bits of leek and lardo di colonnata scattered throughout the filling enhanced the already intense flavours and aromas of this gourmet pie. The drizzling of a full-bodied and slightly sweet port and cognac sauce was but the icing on this proverbial masterpiece of a cake. A crunchy side salad of lettuce and Swiss chard provided a welcome balance as well as further texture.
Tasting notes for the wine: fruity, dry and full-bodied, with a good acidity and hints of oak, toast and biscuits. An excellent complement for savoury pastries, meats and pâtés as found in this starter.
Main course: roasted brill, baby squid, shellfish marinière (first photo: only shellfish sauce, second photo: additional sauce of parsley, shallots and baby spinach), celeriac.
Wine pairing: 2010 Chataigneraie-Laborier Pouilly-Fuisse sur la Roche, Maconnais (Burgundy).
Light and healthy, this was a pleasant contrast to the preceding starter. Fillets of tender and moist fish with a subtle flavour were aptly paired with bits of shellfish and squid. The latter were fresh and firm, but thankfully not too chewy as they are prone to be if overcooked. Slices of artfully-shaped celeriac made for very pretty plating and also complemented the delicate sweetness of fresh seafood, while the shellfish sauce imparted a greater depth of flavour. The green sauce that was then poured into the dish was not only equally tasty but also extremely aromatic due to the use of herbs and shallots, and only increased the dish's overall appeal.
Tasting notes for the wine: made only from Chardonnay grapes, this was very mineral, crisp and aromatic, with a lemony nose, and a long finish. Simple but appropriate and effective for delicate fish and seafood dishes.
Dessert: 'Christmas bauble' - manjari chocolate sphere and biscuit, enclosing rich fillings of coffee mousse, manjari cream and chopped caramelised hazelnuts. A hot juice blend of passion fruit and lemon was then poured over the sphere to reveal its contents.
This must have been worth 1000 calories - so unashamedly rich and decadent, just as desserts should be! In terms of taste this was pretty straightforward - you can't really go wrong with a combination of chocolate, coffee and hazelnuts - but the experience was elevated by the delightfully theatrical presentation; watching the contents unfold as the outer chocolate shell melted under the heat of the juice was quite a lot of fun indeed. It was a huge ball filled to the brim, and (though I wasn't really complaining) it might have been too heavy for a small eater; fortunately the rather acidic juice provided a most welcome balancing touch for the sheer sinfulness of this dessert.
Meanwhile, the customary array of mignardises had been placed on my table, and looking at my dessert I knew there was no way I could eat any of these in the same sitting, so I asked for a takeaway of these delicious morsels:
New macaron flavours: tonka & passion fruit, mint, coconut & raspberry. I was glad I waited till I got home to fully savour this absolutely stellar combination of flavours - probably the best I've got out of my three visits here so far. The coconut & raspberry macaron was unforgettable, with lovely bits of dessicated coconut within the delicate macaron shell (you can see the bumps as compared to the other shells with smooth surfaces).
I should mention now that there was a very pleasant lady next to me this afternoon, also dining alone. We chatted a little and she revealed that she was a lawyer from Israel, here on a conference, and she decided to do one special meal on her last (and only free) day in London. What a positive experience this must have been! She asked if she could visit the kitchen after the meal, and I decided to tag along too as I had not yet been behind the scenes. I managed to catch head chef Jocelyn Herland just coming out of a meeting, gave him my compliments on the food and asked for a photograph; he came across as a gracious and amiable person.
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| Very bright, spacious and well-organised main kitchen. |
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| Pastry kitchen |
Spotted these in one corner of the kitchen: precious Périgord black truffles in season, wrapped individually in cloth to preserve their aroma. These 'black diamonds' from France are supposedly comparable in aroma to the exalted Italian Alba white truffles, and should not be confused with their poorer cousins from other parts of Europe.
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| With head chef Jocelyn Herland |
It was a very pleasant afternoon on the whole, with good food, unexpected company, and generally attentive and knowledgeable service. A bald male server who used to work at Guy Savoy in Paris stood out in particular for his friendliness, and while chatting correctly guessed my blogging hobby from the pictures I was taking and detailed questions I had on the food. Unfortunately, he left for a break (I think) around the time of dessert and I never got to ask for his name - but there will be a next time, I'm sure!
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| Impressive gingerbread model of The Dorchester placed within its lobby. |
This was my third and possibly my best visit to this restaurant so far. Having done both the set lunch and tasting menu my general impression is that regardless of the price tag, it is still much better value for its set lunch. The tasting menu I tried last year had some hits and misses, while the two lunches I've had have not failed to deliver on both quality and taste even at a considerably lower price. Perhaps I will try the hugely expensive seasonal menu one day when I can comfortably afford it, and that might send me straight to cloud nine - but for now I will stick to the basics.
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