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Play your cards right for this game
During the fall, solitaire is not the only game in town!
There’s duck, quail, squab, venison, as well as ostrich and emu. There is nothing solitary about this bunch. They all run or fly in groups, a most gregarious group of comestibles as ever there was.
My work is mostly solitary, roving reviewer…. hard to please by reputation…. you get the picture.
I wanted in the game….the game and wild mushroom stakes.
Chef Chandler at the Dorchester informed me that they had their season planned to start with a four course dinner featuring duck; I’m in!
I was greeted with adroit aplomb by the hostess, befitting the formal nature of the venue, but without pretension. The place was busy, but there were a few lone diners, after all it is a hotel, and people stay alone, but the humming and clinking make you feel included.
The first course arrived… an exquisite salad of pineapple, shrimp, cashews and finely diced red onion, diced cucumber and chopped cilantro, all mounded in the centre of the bowl, ringed by radicchio, mizuma, butter lettuce and lola rosa (sounds more like a buxom Italian actress than a lettuce). The vinaigrette dressing had a nice zip of chili pepper, lime and fish sauce. The look was appealing, like a chintz – a Colfax Fowler fabric – but edible.
The second course was equally a visual delight. A small darne (finger fillet) of salmon wrapped in dark green chard, and braised in a bouillon with julienne of red, green and yellow peppers; a hint of saffron and ginger lent to a golden pink aromatic subtlety to the broth.
I sat back in anticipation of the duck. It has always been one of my favourites, cooked Asian or European style.
This evening the duck breast came out with crispy skin, most of the fat cooked away, and the meat remaining succulent. It was sauced with a honey cabernet demi glaze, garnished with slivered lychee fruit, and a brunoise (very fine diced) of jalapeno pepper. The perfectly done breast was sliced thin, and fanned out around the edge of the plate, alongside was a pyramid of black Thai rice, and a mélange of glazed julienne carrot and zucchini, whole green beans, small cob corn, red and yellow peppers, cauliflower.
I can’t remember it there was a pattern on the plate… there was none when I finished mopping it up with my bread.
Dessert was coconut macadamia nut spiced cake, with espresso, maple, crème Anglais, cinnamon ice cream. A cappuccino washed it all down.
A truly alchemic marathon in four courses. I had this one niggling regret, that there was no chanterelles yet….. I’d have to wait a bit.