Pascal Barbot at Ko Part 2 (food, MomVisit09)

Been really busy lately but here are more pictures and the rest of the savory courses from that amazing night. The third installment will come after my mom goes back to Hong Kong and we can then get the pics from her phone. It will include all the dessert courses, some photos of the wine pairings, photos of the crew, and other random interesting stuff from chatting with the chefs. But for now, on with the rest of the savory courses.

But first, Karin Dauch, one of our fellow diners that night, was nice enough to provide me with a nice photo of the razor clams instead of the photo of empty shells that I offered earlier.

The next dish had two components. This one was mackerel marinated with miso paste and served with toasted buckwheat and a meyer lemon confit. This was delicious and the meyer lemon confit was perfect. He really has a way with citrus. Plenty of flavor, but not overpowering.

The other component was a smoked eel mash in a mitsuba and rocket puree. Rocket is another name for arugula. I love eel and this had great flavor.

Next was the chef's fall/winter signature dish. This was a mix of black truffle puree and celeriac and parmesan puree. Really fragrant and earthy, I can see how this would be a great dish on a cold winter night.

The final savory course was a roasted duck. Accompanying it was cooked eggplant with miso paste, black curry paste, coffee, licorice, and a red pepper. The duck was flavorful but the lack of crisp skin was a little disappointing. There was a lot going on with the eggplant and paste mixture, but it went so well with every bite of the duck.

I thought the majority of the dishes were at a high level in terms of creativity and the matching of flavors and textures. However, I wonder if a meal at L'Astrance would be much better, with ample preparation time and his own kitchen and ingredients.

For Part 1, click here
For Part 3, click here