Dinner at Gastronomic Traveller

When Chef and Food blogger "M" (http://gastronomictraveller.blogspot.com) and his lady "M" invited me and my wife for a dinner in their apartment I knew we were up for a treat. We started off in "M&M's" beautiful apartment with salty potato chips and Parmesan with well-aged Aceto Balsamico. 

These small nibbles were served with 2002 Cuvée Prestige Brut from A. Bergère in Epernay, Champagne. Great start but both I and "M" agreed that this champagne might have been even better with food with its rich, toasted character.

The starter was fantastic and very Swedish; crushed fingerling potatoes in brown butter served with vendace roe, pickled onions, sour cream and bread crumble. Yummy!

In the glass we had the beer Inedit by Estrella Damm from Barcelona. This beer was designed for the late cult restaurant "El Bulli" and has a nose that reminds me of Hoegaarden due to the similar "seasoning" with coriander and orange peel. The Spanish beer is a bit "dirtier" though (in a good way) than the famous Belgian wheat beer.

We also had some Swedish akvavit from Dufvenkrooks. Round flavor with rich notes of dill and caraway seeds. Fantastic.

Can a dish get much better than what "M" served as a main course? I doubt it!

Pork chops with crispy skin served on a bed of cabbage mixed with pulled pork knuckle, roasted Jerusalem artichoke purée, truffle jus and freshly grated truffle. Wow, just wow!!!

Two wines with the pork; 2010 Marimar Estate Pinot Noir by the producer W. H. Smith. The fruit comes from Marimar Torres vineyard Doña Margarita in Sonoma Coast. Fairly light in color with a charming, juicy fruit and mouthwatering acidity. Unfortunately It was just a bit too light for this intense dish.

Second wine was 2010 Cornas Les Ruchets from Jean-Luc Colombo. This Syrah proved to be the better choice with the main course with its intense dark, peppery fruit. Great wine but very young.

After this quick break in Northern Rhône we quickly went back to California and the grape Pinot Noir. This time "M" opened a bottle 2011 Santa Rita Hills Pinot Noir from Sandhi. This winery started 2010 by Rajat Parr, Charles Banks and Sashi Moorman that are all legends in the American wine industry.

This was more intense than the previous Pinot from W.H. Smith with really nice, deep and juicy, cherry flavors.

A nice piece of Gruyère and Roquefort was now served. The Pinot and the Gruyère were great together but as you might know, blue cheese and redwine aren't really the best of friends. A bit like Colgate and Granny Smith. So the Roquefort was washed down with some amazing Slivovitsa that the female host had brought from her second home country Serbia. 

We ended with an amazing, homemade white espresso ice cream with blood orange, nuts and sponge cake. World class ending on a world class dinner and evening.