The best meal of your life.

[NorthView]

[AlexMR]

[GodlikeRoy]

Absolutely everything of this meal from the second I walked into the door of the restaurant to the moment I left was spectacular.

The location of the restaurant is right by the river and was near to where I was staying so I walked there. I arrived and asked for a table (I hadn't made a reservation) and they said they were fully booked but a couple of seconds later they said they can fit me in. Excellent.

I sat down and basically knew what I was going to order, the tasting menu, as I had seen it online. Still, I had a look at the menu and heard the specials. The first special is what I ended up getting as a substitute for my starter in the tasting menu because it sounded so amazing , but the rest was according to a menu, and it all came with wine.

Amuse Bouche
This was a small amount of leek, potato cream & truffle oil soup (about 50ml, served in a tall shot glass) that was served as a present from the chef. It came alongside a basket of assorted breads.

The soup was incredible. It was warm to just the right temperature and the taste was wonderful. It reminded me of my favourite soup, cream of cauliflower, but it had a little richer taste and was spot on. The one piece of bread I tried was good, nothing special there though.

Appetizer
I decided to sub out the appetizer that went with the tasting menu in favour of one of the specials of the day, simply because I was almost salivating at the mouth as the waiter was telling me about it:

Lareno di colonnata wrapped yellow fin tuna (super lightly seared) with a tomato based dressing (like a salsa but quite mild) which include what I think was some sort of green chutney (again, very mild). This was served with a rasberry dressed salad made up of a bunch of things including raddish, ginger, a couple of types of lettuce, and a very exotic fruit that was excellent (the waiter didn't write the ingredients of the salad down exactly). Accompanied by an excellent glass of an Italian Pinot Bianco.

Wow. This dish was UNBELIEVABLE. The mild sweetness of the salad complemented the tuna perfectly and each bite was like a flavour explosion in my mouth. The portion wasn't huge but that simply pleased me even more as with a lot more food to come I wanted to be able to finish everything and not feel bloated.

Entree
Infused Black Cod served on a Wasabi Mashed Potatoes, Shi-take Mushrooms and Spinach Leaves, Saffron Oil Reduction. Accompanied by a glass of Moravian Riesling.

Jesus Christ. I'm not the biggest fan of cooked cod and I also have a but of a dislike for wasabi as I usually feel it overwhelms a dish and draws attention away from the main tastes, but DEAR GOD I can't say a bad word about this dish. The cod was cooked perfectly. The wasabi mashed potatoes were.. unbelievable. The wasabi was very, very mild and the taste and smell was there but the potent spicyness wasn't, it was excellent. I'm a massive lover of shi-take mushrooms and they complimented the meal very well, as did the spinach leaves. The wine in this dish was probably the best glass of white wine I've ever had and it went so well with every part of the meal. It had a fairly strong fruity taste to begin with but came back with a hit of acidity near the end, rounding off perfectly.

I know it sounds like I'm ass-kissing the hell out of this restaurant but I can't find anything to fault. If I didn't like something I'd be pointing it out but.. I can't imagine how they can improve any of their dishes so far.

Main Course
Roasted Veal Loin in a Crust of Black Truffle, Potatoe Purée,Red Onion Confit and Girolle Mushrooms Sauce. Accompanied by a glass of a Langedsc Syrah (85%).

The meat in this meal was better than anything I've eaten in my entire life. It was as if it were in an entire league above kobe beef and the chef cooked it exquisitely. The accompaniments went very well with the veal and everything down to the presentation and quantity was perfect about this dish. The wine was good, but not great I thought. It went well with the dish but not in a way I said "wow.. wow.. wow" about as I did for just about everything else to do with this meal.

Dessert
Pear tatin with pear sorbet and a caramel cognac sauce accompanied by a bonnezeaux - 100% chenin blanc dessert wine

I don't have much of a sweet tooth but I was seen scraping the last pieces of this dish off my plate by the time I was done. It was spectacular. The pear was slightly warmed so coupled with the cold sorbet each bite was bliss. I thought the caramel cognac sauce was SLIGHTLY too potent buuut like I said, I don't have much of a sweet tooth. I think to just about anyone it would be perfect, and it did go very well with the rest of the dish.

This was the first dessert wine I had ever had and I really really liked it. It started off being sweet and very fruity (as I would guess most dessert wines do) but rounded off well at the end and had the slighest bit of accidity, just enough to make me happy.

Petit Fours
I had to google what 'petit fours' was by true definition but it was basically chocolates + coffee or tea. I asked if they had green tea and he said not only did they have it, they had three different types. I chose the jasmine green tea and really liked it. The two chocolates it came with were a choco hazenut cookie which was really perfect I thought. The other was a dark choco truffle. My Lord. It was, without a doubt and without anything I've ever experienced even coming close, the best chocolate I've had in my life. It was like chocolate icecream, but room temperature and not melting. It almost dissolved in my mouth, but didn't quite, leaving it so so soft and flavourful. It was strong and rich but not overly so. It was about the size of a peach seed. I dunno how they do it but for someone who doesn't like much chocolate I was trully blown away.

The waiter was the best I've ever had at a restaurant. He knew everything there was to know about the food I was eating, and then more. You could tell he had eaten at the restaurant and tried all the dishes and accompanying wines himself as he spoke about them in such detail (something I think all restaurants should have their waiters do). On top of that his stunning good looks, witty humour and gentleman's charm simply had me swooning by the end.

The bill came to 2,810 Kc plus a tip, so I payed $200 USD (about 3.8k Kc). Worth every freaking penny.

[hard2tel]

[shamdonk]

[Xaston]

[The Golden 1]

[GodlikeRoy]

[SebQtaneus]

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