The Man’s ideal weekend getaway..

often involves wine and food.  We had grand plans for another snowboarding trip to the mountains for our second last weekend in Geneva but I got really sick so the Man decided that it should be a weekend filled with good food and wine then.  He booked us a last minute stay at Chateau de Gilly.  Our BEST friends loaned us their car and some 2.5 hours later, we arrived at Burgundy.

I later learned that Château de Gilly is a former residence of 14th-century monks.  It’s location was ideal for it was situated between Dijon and Beaune. The hotel has preserved its authentic 14th and 16th-century character, reflected in its moats, French-style gardens and a dining room with a magnificent vaulted ceiling.

After checking in the hotel, we decided to drive to the nearby Gevrey Chambertin village to do a little wine tasting.  But we were disappointed with the wine offerings.  So off to Nuits-Saint Georges it was to try and buy up some bottles of wine.  The Man was pleased with his haul.  Among his buys, I guess one of the most unique bottles that we purchased was a 1977 bottle of Gevrey Chambertin.  Definitely took a risk with the buy but I’m hoping that it would be memorable when we do get to taste it. 

Took a rest in the hotel before heading off to dinner at the Le Clos Prieur, which was conveniently situated within the hotel premises.  Despite feeling extremely sick, I was still pretty excited about the dinner for the Le Clos Prieur restaurant has 3 stars in the Gault & Milau 2010 guide, furthermore, it is set in a former 14th-century wine cellar with an extraordinary architectural design.

We took the degustation (5-course meal) menu.  It was generally pretty good but the below dishes really left a striking impression on my taste-buds.

The foie gras terrain that’s coated with dark hazelnut chocolate.  It sounded a little queer but taste-wise, it was absolutely divine!

The restaurant’s signature dessert – Tirmaisu.  Although I thought it was more of a deconstructed tiramisu.  The Man didn’t really think too highly of the dessert but I loved the crunchy hazelnut biscuit part.  I’m hardly a chocolate or sweets kind of gal but the crunchy bits kinda sealed the deal for me.

I wished I was feeling a lot better to fully enjoy the dinner.  In between the courses, try as I might but I simply couldn’t stop the coughing spell.  It gotten so bad that I thought I was probably a nuisance to the other patrons for the evening. 

All in all, it was a relaxing weekend getaway in one of our favourite regions in France.

Staycation in Burgundy

Burgundy will always hold a special place in my heart for that’s where I fell head-over-heels with Burgundy wines.  For our little weekend get-away, the Man decided that we should do a little trip back memory lane and create new ones with some good French food paired with our favourite wines.  

It was a 2.5 hours drive from Geneva to Dijon – the capital of Burgundy.  A little destination infor on Dijon – well what do you know, Dijon is indeed famous for its mustard namely the moutarde de Dijon. Also, as the capital of the Burgundy region, there are many vineyards located around Dijon. The road from Santenay to Dijon, known as the route des Grands Crus, passes through an idyllic countryside of vineyards, villages, and 12th century-styled churches.  During our drive, I made the Man stopped by the roads for I had wanted to take some pictures of the precious grapes and of course, I couldn’t resist my mandatory ‘jumping’ shot.  Hehe.

The highlight of our trip for me was of course the meals that we were going to have (separate posts for these).  For the Man, it was the 6 bottles of wine that he could purchase.  Apparently, we are allowed to bring 3 bottles of wine each into Switzerland without having to pay any tax for them if the wine is used for personal consumption.  You would need to declare this to the customs officer at the border or risk having to pay a fine if they do check.

Come to the Château

Our trip to wine county saw us meeting wine-makers of sorts, from the small ones to the large ones. Located at Chateau de Chassagne Montrachet, we had the pleasure of visiting the vineyard of Maison Michel Picard.

Laurent brought us on a tour around the cellars of Michel Picard but our senses awoke when it was time for wine tasting! From Pommard to Mersault to Montrachet, I really lost count of what I had after a while. As our schedule was rather tight, Laurent quickly whisked us for our luncheon at the tasting table. What this actually means is that we get to sample a selection of 12 wines along with our meal. When I heard this, I knew I was going to be mighty drunk before lunch was over.

Our starters comprised of these fluffy creamed puffs that were served hot minutes after we sat down. Warm and buttery, the puffs were a great way to kick-start our meal. This was followed by a platter of cold meats which I thoroughly enjoyed.

The main was this creamed chicken served with a buttered pilaf rice. B finished his entire dish, as for me, the lure of a diet was far more enticing then the attempt to finish the meal, so as usual, I left mine half-eaten. This was a picture taken of B whilst he was deep in thought (over which wines to purchase). Notice how I captured the ‘Toi” bubble sign in the picture. Hehe….

We tasted 6 of the 12 bottles over lunch. I get to throw away those that I don’t like to stop myself from getting too drunk! But alas, I was still a little flighty high after the lunch.

Happy times!

Beaune and its charm::

Pretty sights to behold along the quaint streets of Beaune.

They even had a small carousel in the city centre. I’m definitely still a kid-at-heart.

Le Magnifique

Wine and fine food come hand-in-hand and you can be certain that at the heart of Beaune, capital of France’s wine county – Burgundy, this pair is almost inseparable. It is telling when the gods of the Michelin guide gave out some 27 stars to restaurants in Burgundy alone. One can be assured of the quality when it comes to dining in Beaune with the competition heating up for this highly contested title in this small town.

Laurent made dinner reservations for us at the Loiseau des Vignes restaurant on our first night at Beaune. The location was perfect as it was literally next to the hotel that we were staying. The warm glow of the Summer sun formed the setting for our dinner as we took in the scenic view of the veranda and nibbled on freshly baked French rolls while studying the menu. The Sommelier appeared with a simple 2-page wine menu but as B flipped it open, the smirk he displayed showed that he was impressed with the extensive wine list featuring over 70 premium names all served by either the glass or bottle. This meant that he could sample and savour all his Grand Cru, Premier Cru etc on his Wine Wish-list all for a fraction of the price.

You could see the different kinds of wines which are kept in a gigantic aquarium-like glass tank that takes up the better part of a red-lacquered wall. Instead of fish, there are several bottles, and this is probably the first restaurant in Europe which serves every wine they have by the glass – thanks to the tank’s ingenious oxygen-free, totally closed atmosphere in which an open bottle may last for up to three weeks. B later added that he wanted to have one of these fancy machines in our home.

As French was not my forte, I listened hard as our Maitre D explained the dishes in English with his heavily accented French. Basically, with our limitations, we went with whatever English words we could see and understand from the menu.

The Amuse Bouche was a chilled tomato soup with truffle oil. The refreshing soup captured the freshness of the vegetables and served as a palette cleanser to whet our appetites for more good things to come.  Our appetisers debut together with mine taking a notch in terms of its presentation. B’s foie gras was a thick pate served with a honey apricot jam and fig. His response to the pate was lukewarm but if you give this man his foie-gras pan fried, I am certain that he would polish the bits right off his plate.

As my starter was set on the table, I wondered if the dish had only these 6 tiny escargots with a huge croquette as a talking piece in its centre. The Maitre D then told me that I would have to take a stab at the golden sphere. I picked my cutlery in glee and poke the golden ball with caution. Garlic butter gushed out and revealed more escargots hidden in captivity. What an unusual way to serve up plain-looking snails. I was off to a flying start and waited in anticipation for my mains.

But my enthusiasm fizzled out when I saw my main course – the Salmon with fennel served over a foamy cream sauce. The fish was not thoroughly cooked and a little raw for my liking. The fennel lents its crunchy touch to the dish but that was not sufficient for me to polish it off.  B’s bird ,on the other hand was clearly a winner. It’s oft not easy to cook pigeon. If its cooked to well, the meat of the pigeon is likely to be tough. The meat from B’s pigeon was pink, an indication that it was cooked just right. It could be that the puff pastry acted as an insulation and prevented the meat from being too well-done.

Desert was almost a no-brainer for me as I went for the chocolate delight. Thin chocolate wafers formed a fan formation as scoops of chocolate gelato held the entire desert in place over a bed of orange confit. Ooh, yumz.. I love anything citrus. B’s menu had an additional serving of fromage and this came in the form of soft goat cheese that was heavily coated with parsley. The first few mouths were manageable but the parsley overpowered the natural taste of cheese. Another cheese desert came in the form of a molten cheesecake with balsamic sorbet. Melted cheese oozed from the soft sponge cake and the balsamic sorbet added the zing for the desert. I don’t recommend this for the faint-hearterd (ie: if you can’t take anything that’s too sharp and sour in taste).

A cuppa of espresso with petite fours to end the meal.

I truly enjoyed the dinner at Loiseau des Vignes, the warmth and hospitality extended by the Maitre D and the Sommelier was a plus along with the fine French gastronomy that we got to sample that evening.

Loisea des Vignes
Address: 31, Rue Maufoux, 21200 Beaune
Telephone: +33.380.24.12.06

[Updated as at Jul 2011, this restaurant has been awarded with a 1-Michelin star.]

 

Next stop: Bourgogne

When B told me that we were trainbound for Dijion and Burgundy, I honestly had no expectations. I knew that there wasn’t going to be shopping for sure (or not the type that I have been accustomed to) and I knew it was going to be one hell of a drunken journey from day to night.. wine tasting from vineyard to vineyard.

From Paris, we took a train up to Dijon, land of the Mustard, where we stayed for one night. The next day, we met up with our personal tour guide- Laurent, who brought us on wine escape throught the streets of Bourgogne.

We hadn’t realise that lunch was a cosy affair and specially prepared by the good people at Domaine Drouhin-Laroze. We were brought on a tour of the vineyard and Laurent showed me the first signs of the baby grapes that would be made into fine 2009 Burgundy wine.

The picturesque view of the vineyard formed the backdrop of our lunch. Our lovely hostess prepared home-styled French fair. Our appetiser was a traditional sweet onion flan followed by our main course of quich lorraine with garlic filled button mushrooms. Oh, I must add that the home-made terrain was also lip-smackingly yummy. I had to stop myself from having seconds and thirds. Christin Drouhin then brought out a huge platter of cheese. My personal favourite was the hazelnut-coated goat cheese. Just imagine soft cheese with crunchy nuts as you bite unto it. Delicious!

The French take their food seriously and the meal would not be complete without the dessert! It was hard to resist the chocolate mousse which was sitting prettily as I took its picture for the blog. I decided to let myself enjoy this special treat and I’m glad that I did. The mousse was a bittersweet chocolate topped with a fresh strawberry and sugar biscuit. As I write, I am still thinking of this sweet treat.

After lunch, we were brought on a tour around the cellar by Christin. It’s pretty amazing to see how wine is lovingly processed. Now everytime I have my glass of Burgundy, I definitely think of the wonderful time I had there.