The Good Life
Menus to remember
Pamela Vandyke Price
Other people's ideas of what constitutes a delicious meal are in themselves entertaining — even if one then slumps back into the meat and two veg or savoury omelette routine, with a tumblerful of plonk to wash it down. Recently I was taken to eat the gastronomic menu at the Talbot Room in the Aquitania Hotel, Bordeaux. The capital of the Gironde is currently rather lacking in top restaurants, and even more so in restaurants with any wine lists worthy of the region.
The menu offered several choices, but not many — a good sign. The staff were pleased that, except for the principal course, we chose different things, and brought extra plates so that we could sample each other's dishes. To begin, we had mousse d'homard and lapereaux aux pruneaux (we could also have had foie gras), the pâté of lapereaux being outstandingly good. There was then saumon a l'oseille (the fish was covered with what can vaguely be described as a very thin pancake of the sorrel), or cassolette de ris de veau (excellent), or an omelette, which we omitted. A sorbet au Champagne then preceded a feuillete de Charolais, which is something I often find rather disappointing — I so love beef that I tend to prefer it plain; this time, however, the meat had both its own flavour and that of the sauce and the stuffing within the pastry crust. The alternative dish would have been one of duck in Medoc. We had some cheese, my host had a pastry, I had a creme glacee.
Now that menu, impeccably presented and served, cost 60F, which is, to my mind, extremely good value for a superb dinner. We had a half bottle of Mumm as an aperitif, then a bottle of the 1969 Carbonnieux, one of the white dry Graves which both of us love, although this one frankly had a slightly dull character — and then a bottle of the 1966 St. Pierre Sevaistre, a beautiful, gracious, profound claret, which needs a lot of airing — ideally, I'd have decanted it at least two hours before the meal — and has plenty of future.
Back in London I was invited to the Capital Hotel by Gilbey Vintners, to drink some of the old Burgundies of Bouchard Pere. The menu was as unusual ,atse wines, though naturally I can't ,cal bill in this instance. We had HeidsTco Monopole as the aperitif and the fits was Loup Capital, accompanied ,' u?s valier Montachet 1962. The sea ba7s a a sauce which ' lifted ' the fish, mirable; again, this is not sc)'' that always appeals to me. We then at Sorbet a la Fine Champagne wh!ch' to stage in the meal, was a nove•-,,,, cot although I find that many friends ing would serve a sorbet between the and meat, whereas I had been 111,,t# impression that it usually came but meat and game or before a big roas;a'sv palate freshener is not alwaYs find. We then had a filet de boeuf efl13 with Sauce Perigueux and PornIne,s0 sui (shaped like little pears, coMPI%s51 minute stalk), and a green salad.,'-eassti was very good, the beef being 3 PI: oil bright pink, the salad with eriougl'vol it even for me. The wines were tbei. 19 , Caillerets Ancienne Cuvee Carg°1-959 r which was very Volnay, and verY and I think it should be drunk 111),'„ 19 same time was served Le CortuA' ssrt which was great, not at all °I„'clerf nuances of flavour that were 0;11 ld It had only just had its cork dta,", there was nothing fragile about "g'010 the last wine, served with a cheese as t there had been a problem: it Iv:, ev Beaune Marconnets 1926, and it W"950 tually decided to pour it all out irlt°,5 cession of glasses on a side tableticlo aeration of tilting the bottle up ariii'els.1 in serving might have been too 1-y; oc deed, I was so much at home 011 ';', sion that I was outspoken about,00 when it came — because indeed 1 dpirie11 it too old. It is always a great eXPA-itsg, to be able to try such old wines arl`;.) the only time I had had a 1926! ;11V/05„ was a rather light year, the vtill Beaune, not from the COte de l'`11110. a
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it was a shadow of what it had Py-„30' it was a shadow of what it had Py-„30' We concluded with Croft Partic1.0 Til or Marc de Bourgogne with the coffe,ese' 0 dinner in its way, was as memorno interesting as the other one, in 13°1. We concluded with Croft Partic1.0 Til or Marc de Bourgogne with the coffe,ese' 0 dinner in its way, was as memorno interesting as the other one, in 13°1.
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