J-emine's reflexionando

Every CNY, the parentals and I will head out for a nice meal together. No matter how many prior lunches/dinners the two has with their business acquaintances or friends, they’ll always give priority to this annual date. To me, it’s a nice respite from all the home-cooked CNY goodness and gatherings.

This year, I toyed around with a few places that I knew the parents would like and want to try, Dad being the creature of habit (like moi) wanted to head back to Odette,  which was vetoed by both Mum and I.  And thus, we found ourselves at the Tippling Club, relishing their 10 course gourmand menu minus the pairing, because we were pretty contented with our bottle of Rentao Ratti’s Barolo (2013).

To be very honest, I didn’t bother remembering the names of all the dishes we had leading up to the main courses, the pre-snacks were one mouthful but boy did it add up. By the second mains (Iberico pork), we were ready to surrender. With that said, I do remember the two dishes that stood out for me:

🙂 Foie Gras twirled around a crusty graufette with textured green apples giving off a sweet, buttery and tanginess aftertaste

🙂 Lobster with fermented salsify and a nice outpour of chickpea broth; the succulence of the lobster was further brought out by the rather nutty and grainy broth

As much as it was about trying out new taste, texture and experiencing Chef Ryan’s playful exploits with food, it was also time for us three to catch-up, recalibrate on some of the emotions from #cny2018drama, and to simply spend time with each other.

On a productive note, we did manage to lock down dates for our annual trip and streamline the places we want to visit. At the moment, South France is seeing the most votes –  of course due to someone’s penchant for wine and food.