After having a wonderful lunch at Highline, we took E, Y, R, B & W for a treat at Time Warner Center where Bouchon Bakery is located. This was the first time for our friends to come here, so they were pretty excited to try the dessert themselves, especially after hearing my praises all these time.
R, B & W arrived there first and reserved some seats for E, Y, my husband and me as soon as the tables were available. When we arrived, as usual there was a line at the take out counter, but it was not bad. I like to browse their display cases since most of the sweets are always new items that I haven't tasted yet. Since I was the one who would pay, I went to order for everyone while they sat down.
R and B have a chance to see the display before we came so they knew what they wanted, which were strawberry parfait, chocolate macaron and seasonal fruit tart. W came with me to the counter since he didn't know what to order yet as well as to help me carry the trays. E wanted chocolate croissant, while Y asked me to pick for her considering I came here quite often. As usual my husband let me get what I wanted and help me to finish them since he knows that I always buy more than one goodies :-)
After looking at the cases W said that he would like to try the pistachio apricot tart. Now for me (and everyone else who was willing to try what I got), I bought key lime millefeuille, seasonal macarons (peaches & cream, fruit of the forest, yuzu), boston cream donut, strawberry parfait, and last but not least the chocolate tart. As for the drinks, we had some coffee, tea and fruit juice soda.
Assorted pastries
When I placed the orders, the nice and friendly lady behind the counter was looking at me curiously. Beside ordering a lot of desserts (total of 12, in case you are wondering), I also told her that everything was for here instead of to go. As soon as I realized that, I told her that I was not the only one who would eat that. I assured her that there were 6 other people waiting at the table who would help me to finish all of these. She started to smile and said that she was concerned about how I was going to finish everything by myself :-)
I tried a little bit of W's pistachio apricot tart, it was wonderful, the pistachio cake was moist and the apricot filling was not too sweet. The boston cream donut was as fantastic as the last time I tasted it, the donut was moist but dense, the custard was creamy.
Pistachio apricot tart and Boston cream donut
The key lime millefeuille was tart, light and coconuty, it was pretty good but the puff pastry was not crisp anymore, a little bit soggy. There was always different kind of millefeuille everytime I visit, so far my favorite is still mocha millefeuille. It was the first dessert from Bouchon that I've ever tasted 1 year ago, unfortunately I don't see it anymore on my visits.
Key lime and Mocha millefeuille
Regarding the macarons, it was okay, nothing special. The texture was a little bit dry, but definitely better than what I usually got from here. The taste was nice though, the peaches & cream was creamy, the fruit of the forest was sweet (and the only one that had moist texture), the yuzu was chocolatey with a hint of citrus. I guess after tasting Pierre Herme's macarons during his special 2-day class in Chicago last month, other's macarons were disappointing.
Seasonal macarons: yuzu, fruit of the forest, peaches & cream and Chocolate macaron
The chocolate tart was still increadible, the tart was flaky and the filling was smooth and chocolatey. I took the strawberry parfait home since everyone was full already. It was sweet, light and creamy, but the gelatin layer on top was too thick and a little bit too gummy. I didn't try the seasonal fruit tart, chocolate macaron or chocolate croissant, so I couldn't give any comments. However the last time I had their chocolate macaron, it was chocolatey but very dry.
Chocolate tart and Strawberry parfait
Seasonal fruit tart and Chocolate croissant
With a very high sugar rush and after hanging out for almost 2 hours, we decided to go on our separate way. When we arrived downstair we were surprised to see a very heavy rain pouring outside. I guess we were too focused on our conversations before and didn't pay any attention to the thunderstorm. R, B & W decided to take the subway, while the rest of us had to wait. We were thinking to get a taxi to go to our car that was parked few blocks away, unfortunately there was no taxi at all.
While waiting for the rain to stop or at least to die down, Y and I decided to go to Whole Foods since I needed to do some grocery shopping. Almost 30 minutes later finally there was a guy selling giant umbrellas outside. We were happy to see him, especially since not a single store in there sold umbrellas. My husband bought 1 for him, so that he could go to get our car since the rain already started to trickle down.
Finally after my husband came, we all got in the car and heading back home. Along the way, the rain poured heavily again, luckily we were already safe inside the car. We all had a lot of fun that day, what a wonderful weekend...
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Bouchon Bakery
Ten Columbus Circle, Third Floor
New York, NY 10019
(212) 823-9366
http://www.bouchonbakery.com/
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Desserts at Bouchon Bakery
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Anniversary dinner at Per Se
After hearing endless stories of how great Per Se is, we arrived there with a very high expectation. Even though we were still full from our earlier lunch at L'Atelier, we eagerly anticipated our experience at Per Se.
Per Se is located on the 4th flour at Time Warner Center. After walking across a nice small garden in the front area of the restaurant, we were welcomed by the famous blue double door. My husband noticed that there were sliding doors on each side of the blue double door, but I did not. So I walked to the blue door and tried to open it while he was laughing at me. Luckily the glass door slid opened and I realized my mistake :-)
We gave our name to the hostess who then graciously lead us the way across the waiting area to our big table (supposed to seat 4 people) in the main dining room. I guessed they must have reserved this table for a group instead of a couple, lucky for us they cancelled their reservation. As soon as we were seated, one of the server came bringing a small cushioned stool to put my purse.
The interior was spacious, elegant and lovely with enormous windows overlooking the beautiful Central Park. My husband said that it would be nice to see the Fall foliage from up here, wow, he could read my mind :-) The tables were widely spread covered with white tablecloths, there were white floral arrangements and candles on top. By the way, Chef Thomas Keller personally designed the silver pieces and the china that feature houndstooth pattern around the rim.
Then came our captain, who brought us the personalized menu since we told them that it would be our anniversary (they asked this over the phone a couple of days ago). I know it was easy to print our names on a piece of paper, but I still felt very special. There were 2 choices of tasting menus, the chef's tasting menu and the tasting of vegetables. The courses change everyday, but total number of courses remain at 9 (unless you're one of the VIP guests).
Since we mentioned that we don't really like to drink alcohol, we asked if they had any non-alcoholic beverages. Luckily there were 3 choices, I chose French sparkling apple cider and my husband chose pinot noir. As for the food, we intially were thinking of having one of each menu - so that we could try everything, but then we remembered that we are meat lovers (and they're priced equally). When our captain came back with our drinks, we told her that we chose the chef's tasting.
French sparkling apple cider and Non-alcoholic pinot noir
The food parade commenced, beginning with the amuse bouche which were Chef Thomas Keller's signature gruyere cheese gougeres followed by salmon cornets. The gougere was good -- warm, fluffy and filled with cream cheese. The salmon cornet was a small black sesame tuile cone filled with red onion creme fraiche, topped with Atlantic salmon tartare and garnished with a single chive. The tuile was crispy and buttery, the creme fraiche was tangy, the salmon was silky and melted in my mouth, just prefect.
Gruyere cheese gougeres and Salmon cornettes
When our first course arrived, the servers walked to our sides, then after pausing for a second as if to synchronize their moves, placed the plates down and simultaneously lifted small ceramic lids to reveal the oysters and pearls, a sabayon of pearl tapioca with Island Creek oysters and sterling white sturgeon caviar. Each course followed the same choreographed service. Regarding the food, the sabayon was rich, the tapioca was cooked perfectly, the oyster was tender and the caviar was shockingly unsalty (in a good way). It was divine! By the way, there was a mother-of-pearl spoon that accompanied the plate since we shouldn't eat the caviar using a metal spoon, it would change the flavor of caviar.
Oysters and pearls
Then came the bread service, the selections were mini French baguette, Italian ciabatta, potato sour dough, Alsatian rye bread with duck fat and riesling, sweet brioche roll. I chose the rye bread which was very good -- crispy outside, soft inside. My husband chose the brioche which was sweet and tender. The bread came with 2 types of butter, salted butter with fleur de sel and sweet unsalted butter.
Basket of bread
For the second course, my husband had the non-supplement option which was salad of braised abalone mushroom with heirloom radishes, persian cucumber, petit shiso and goma vinaigrette. I opted for the supplemental one which was torchon of elevages perigord moulard duck foie gras with Sicilian pistachio butter, red wine poached brooks cherries, tokyo turnips and field mizuna. When it came to the foie gras, it was sweet and fatty, served with buttery toasted brioche. They kept bringing out more warm brioche, I literally took one bite from each piece and another fresh slice was delivered right in front of me. When I asked their simple answer was: it's better with warm brioche. I guess the warmth of the brioche was needed to help the foie gras became more spreadable. I'm still amazed up to this day.
Salad of braised abalone mushroom
Torchon of elevages perigord moulard duck foie gras
Our third course was sauteed fillet of Atlantic halibut with confit squid, fennel bulb, holland eggplant, sweet peppers with pattypan squash vinaigrette and pimenton oil. The halibut was firm in texture and delicate in taste with the sauce underneath that complimented it well, yet I felt that this dish was too bland for me.
Sauteed fillet of atlantic halibut
The next course was pan roasted Maine sea scallop with ragout of king richard leeks, yukon gold potatoes and chanterelle mushrooms with meyer lemon mousseline. The scallop was seared perfectly, firm on the outside, soft and sweet inside, it was wonderful.
Pan roasted maine sea scallop
Then came the next dish which was Cavendish farm's caille en crepinette with pickled ramps, applewood smoked bacon lardons, frisee salad with smoked hen egg emulsion and quail jus. The quail was moist and tender, the sauce was tasty and not overpowering, it was superb.
Cavendish farm's caille en crepinette
Next was the degustation of eden hollow farm's spring lamb with gnocchi Parisienne, greenmarket carrots, glazed sunchokes and split english peas with lamb jus. This featured a mini-tasting of seven preparations of lamb on one plate, on the photo from left: breast, shank, tenderloin, rack, sirloin, sausage and shoulder on top right. It was very interesting, but we found some were better than others.
Degustation of eden hollow farm's spring lamb
The cheese course was boerenkaas, slow baked beets with wood sorrel and violet mustard, served with lemon currant bread and walnut rye bread. The boerenkaas, which by definition is a handmade Gouda, had a creamy texture and sharp flavor, the beets added a sweet taste to it.
Boerenkaas
Finally it was time for the sweets, which itself was a production. It began with apricot sorbet, Nyons extra virgin olive oil pate de fruit with tellicherry pepper sable breton. The sorbet was light and refreshing, the olive oil pate de fruit was surprisingly good, the sable breton added some crunch to it, so yummy!
Apricot sorbet
My dessert was caraibe, caraibe meringue mousse, caramel cremeux, devil's food cake, golden pineapple and cashew ice cream. It was creamy, rich, chocolate-y, sweet, just delightful! My husband's dessert was glace a la fraise, strawberry biscuit, almond panna cotta and mint syrup with tristar strawberry ice cream. It was plated beautifuly, but the taste was even better -- soft, light, creamy, sweet, just delicious!
Caraibe and Glace a la fraise
The server brought me a miniature creme brulee, while for my husband was a miniature yogurt pot de creme with blueberry jam. They were creamy and not too sweet, pretty good.
Tahitian vanilla creme brulee and Yogurt pot de creme with blueberry jam
When we finished, another server came bringing a silver tray filled with assorted of chocolates: ginger caramel, rocher, lime, mocha, guanaja dark chocolate, honey thyme, mint, green apple. She asked if we would like to try one of each and we definitely would like to, eventhough our stomachs were already starting to burst.
Chocolates tray
Then came the mignardises: cocoa covered piedmont hazelnut in an off-white porcelain bisque covered bowl; butterscotches, sour cherry almond nougats and truffles (milk chocolate salted caramel, dark chocolate hazelnut cream, white chocolate toasted coconut) in a stunning silver staircase; assorted of housemade mini hard candies (chocolate, licorice, banana, orange, lime, cherry, mint).
Mignardises
We were done and ready to see the "damage", so my husband called one of the servers for the check since we didn't see our captain. Surprisingly when she came back, in addition to the check she also brought us 2 nicely packaged of florentine cookies to take home, how lovely! By the way, the florentine cookies were very good, soft and not too gooey.
Check and Florentine cookies
Our captain came and asked if we would like to see the kitchen, of course I said yes, but since my husband was too full to walk, I went by myself. I was given the grand tour of the kitchen and amazed at its cleanliness. There was a large, flat-screen television with live feed of French Laundry where Chef Thomas Keller spends more time at. They said that French Laundry also had the same thing, I guess this is a way for Chef Thomas Keller to monitor his restaurants. Unfortunately Chef Thomas Keller was not in that night, but I've already had an opportunity to meet him during his demonstration of sous-vide at International Restaurant & Foodservice Show back in March. Chef Jonathan Benno was there though, so I requested to have my picture taken with him, which he graciously allowed :-)
It took about 4 hours for us to complete the 9-course meal extravaganza. They were fantastic -- flawless presentations paired with a perfect combination of texture, scents and seasonings. The staff was very professional and knowledgeable yet very nice, friendly and helpful, attentive yet not intrusive. They were not intimidating at all, they made us felt at home and allowed us to fully appreciate each course without feeling being rushed.
Waiting area
During the dinner, we mentioned to our captain that we were lucky there was a cancellation. She informed us that there are only limited tables for two and they usually hold the tables for bigger parties. I was very surprised and disappointed since most of the time I go to fine dining restaurants only with my husband. However I understood why they do that, it usually takes 3-4 hours per sitting and they will make more money from a group of people rather than a couple.
On the way out, we noticed that there was a guestbook and I couldn't leave without writing something on it. The book was placed on top of a glass table and there was a set of stone blocks with some words engraved on it "one must read everything, observe everything, hear everything, try everything, see everything in order to retain", that's true.
"one must read everything, observe everything, hear everything, try everything, see everything in order to retain"
This was definitely a spectacular and memorable culinary experience, what a perfect way to celebrate our anniversary! We realize that this was the most expensive dinner we've ever had so far, however for those who really enjoy cuisine it is justified. We are looking forward to return, hopefully in the near future.
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Per Se
10 Columbus Circle, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10019
(212) 823-9335
http://www.perseny.com/
Thursday, May 8, 2008
My journey to meet Pierre Hermé in person
I’m very excited and I cannot wait, I will meet Chef Pierre Hermé in 10 days!!! I will be able to try his amazing work of arts for the very first time, and watch the master at work. So far I could only see them on his books or in the MegaHouse miniature replicas (which I collect).
PH books and MegaHouse Pierre Hermé Paris Collection
Anyway, this journey all started around October 2007 when I got an email from French Pastry School regarding the special class that will be taught by Chef Hermé himself. Right away I went to their website trying to register for that class. Unfortunately I could not register for this class directly since the registration was handled differently. I had to email the school if I was interested to get additional information – which I did right away and got an immediate answer the following day.
Here is some of what was in the email “The class with Pierre Hermé will be handled a bit differently. If you are interested in registering, please let me know and I will add your name to the list. More details about the class will follow soon (like the cost). Later this year, we will select participants using a lottery. We'll let you know the outcome of the lottery via email.” As you might already guess, I emailed them back asking to put my name on the interested list. Since the cost was unknown, my husband and I decided to have a budget for this class of up to $1,000, considering I couldn’t fly to Paris at this time because of our family matter.
I did not hear anything until the end of January, so I decided to email the school again to check if there was any update regarding the lottery result that was supposed to happen at the end of December 2007. I got the answer saying that they postponed the lottery until the end of February 2008 since they needed to finalize the detail for this class. Great, I had to wait a couple more months.
I checked their website for the Pierre Hermé class almost everyday to see if they had new information for that class. Indeed they had, there’s the cost for the class as well as the schedule for that 2 days. Since the cost is more than double my original budget, I had to talk it out with my husband whether it would be worth it to attend the class. This class will only be demonstrations, not hands-on experiences. He is always very supported of me and knows that this class means a lot to me, so he urged me to attend the class if I was selected.
Finally on March 3, 2008 I got an email from them, saying “Thank you for your interest in the Pierre Hermé class this coming May. As you know a lottery has taken place for this exceptional class. Unfortunately, you have not been selected through the lottery to attend the class.” I was very disappointed but I did not give up. I decided to email them asking to still put my name on the interested list and to let me know in the event they decided to have more seats available or if somebody has a cancellation/withdrawn interest. In addition to that, I kept praying to God everyday and visualizing myself attending this class in Chicago (if you know ‘the Secret’ you’ll know what I mean).
After that, I was busy with several pastry orders and attending the International Restaurant & Foodservice Show. Meeting Chef Thomas Keller was a good consolation, but I really wanted to meet Chef Pierre Hermé.
Guess what, on March 14, 2008 I received a phone call from the school asking if I was still interested in attending the class. Apparently a spot had opened up – maybe my request to be on the waiting list made a difference, maybe the prayers, maybe the Secret. I was speechless!!! (This happens rarely since I’m a very talkative person). As soon as I came back to the reality (still on the phone), I registered and paid for it to guarantee my seat for that class. As soon as I hung up the phone, I called my husband, screaming and laughing over the phone. I did not need to tell him anything – he knew right away. For the rest of the day I kept smiling and thanking God for this wonderful opportunity.
Thank you for reading this very long post and sharing my excitement. I will definitely post again about the class after I come back from Chicago. Have a good night!
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French Pastry School
226 West Jackson Boulevard
Chicago, IL 60606
(312) 726-2419
http://www.frenchpastryschool.com/
Monday, April 28, 2008
Good food from Paris Sandwich, Tafu, Bouchon Bakery
Before going to Chicago, we took a small trip to Manhattan. We stopped by Paris Sandwich to pick up something for breakfast, we got green tea waffles (one plain and one with kaya), pancake muffins, grilled chicken sticky rice. The waffles only cost me $1 a piece (extra for the kaya), they were light and tasty. "Kaya" is a jam that is quite popular in Indonesia, I was pleasantly surprised to find it here. The sticky rice was also good, a little salty but it has a lot of meat in it mixed in. Unfortunately the muffins were disappointingly dry, and didn't really have much taste to them.
Green tea waffles with kaya and Pancake muffins
Grilled chicken sticky rice
We then stopped by at Tafu. I love anything with green tea, so it's been a while since I wanted to go here and finally today was the day. When I opened the door, I was very happy to see a lot of goodies and wanted to buy one of everything :-) These were what I bought:
- Houjicha cheesecake: very creamy
- Matcha, Houjicha and Sakura truffle chocolates: good
- Matcha, Houjicha and Genmaicha cookies: dry
- Matcha daifuku: good
- Matcha cupcake: very moist, they were from Kyotofu
- Matcha rollcake: very good
- Matcha, Kocha, Plain financiers: very moist, they were from Kyotofu too
Cheesecake and Daifuku display at Tafu
Actually I also wanted to try their iced latte, unfortunately the machine was broken so they didn't have it today. I guessed now I have more reasons to go back.
From Tafu, we went for more sweet at Bouchon Bakery, one of my favorite places to go. I told my husband that I had to go there at least once a month, crazy huh?! :-) Today I bought boston cream donut, flourless chocolate cake, spring bonnet and quiche lorraine. The donut was moist but dense, the custard was not too sweet. The chocolate cake was good and chocolatey. The spring bonnet was okay, the cake was a little bit too dense but the mousse was creamy. The quiche lorraine was amazing, the crust was flaky and buttery, the filling was smooth and not overcooked.
Boston cream donut and Flourless chocolate cake
Spring bonnet and Quiche lorraine
Then we went to Mitsuwa Marketplace for their Glico sweets fair, read about it on my next post.
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Paris Sandwich
113 Mott St
New York, NY 10013
(212) 226-7221
http://www.parissandwich.com/
Tafu
569 Lexington Ave
Double Tree Metropolitan Hotel 1F
New York, NY 10002
(212) 980-1310
http://www.tafuny.com/
Kyotofu
705 Ninth Ave
New York, NY 10019
(212) 974-6012
http://www.kyotofu-nyc.com/
Bouchon Bakery
Ten Columbus Circle, Third Floor
New York, NY 10019
(212) 823-9366
http://www.bouchonbakery.com/
