Events

La Girolle

by Richard Joye

It was a lot of fun but where were the Girolles?

The last International Wine & Food Society function for 2011 was a BYOB which has become very popular with the members of the Philippines Branch.  This had been a highly anticipated event, not only because it was to close another eventful year in the Society, but rather because it marked the opening of the festive month of December - rich in parties, cocktails and obviously great wines and foods.  With a ratio of bottle per participant well over 1, this Bring-Your-Own-Bottle lunch was usually a true relaxing informal moment of sharing and pairing.

The venue chosen for this lunch was La Girolle - a newly opened restaurant at Fort Bonifacio.  Chef Ian Padilla offers traditional French cuisine in its purest tradition, composing a seasonal menu with fresh ingredients, partially sourced locally and partially imported.  Chef Ian named his first restaurant after the nickname he received while making his class at the famous Taillevent Restaurant in Paris, where he was in charge of cleaning and preparing the mushrooms, and where he would then go by ‘Chef La Girolle’.  Mushrooms being seasonal in France now (well, maybe a bit late in the year thee, but still…) some of us were expecting to be able to taste a fricassee de girolles given the name of the restaurant, but there was not the tiniest hint of a mushroom in any of the 6 dishes on the menu prepared for us.

The event was organized to perfection, as usual, and the restaurant was full of members and guests.  The venue is very urban, typical of high-end French bistrots that one can find in Tokyo or Hong Kong, but a bit surprising for Manila.  Set on the 2nd floor of a new mixed-use condo, next to a “bar-ber” (as Othmar referred to the barber shop with a bar that was next to it) and a Middle Eastern airline office, it is not your typical restaurant.  Some city-slickers like me would certainly appreciate this contemporary atmosphere while others may not appreciate the venue as it does not offer any coziness with its marble flooring and cold colors.

Some bubbles were offered by and for the early birds, as well as some dry white wines.  Like my neighbors at our table, I enjoyed a glass of Taittinger Brut NV.  This Champagne typically offers very lively and persisting bubbles, making it very dry on the palate with strong aromas of citrus and apple - a simple and nice way to clean the palate while waiting for everyone to take their seats.

I did not have a chance to try the second bubbly wine or the dry whites, but we shared a Pouilly-Fuissé Les Crays 2008 from Daniel et Martine Barraud.  Despite its youth, a mature wine that was already very pleasant to drink.  Made from vieilles vignes, it offered an oaky and mineral nose, followed by a cocktail of lemon and pear.  Very soft on the palate with the right level of acidity, it had a long finish of peach, lemon and butter.  Not as complex as some other Pouilly-Fuissé, rather an easy to drink alternative.

Done with this white Burgundy, we enjoyed some of the pass-arounds while making our selection from the diversified proposed menu.  A very nice dice of cheese on home-made crackers, followed by a refreshing salami topped watermelon, and my neighbor Jay Labrador asked me : “Morgon or Brouilly?”.  These being 2 Beaujolais, and knowing that we usually avoid this region when we meet for lunch or dinner, I thought he was cracking a nice joke, just to realize he was serious.  I recommended the Morgon to start with, with the intimate hope we would not need to open a second Beaujolais, looking at the many other red wines already opened and made available to all the guests at our table.  Morgon is for me the best in Beaujolais, the Jean-Paul Brun Terres Dorées Grand Cru du Beaujolais 2009 in particular, being well known for its intrinsic qualities.  It was Dark purple with some pinkish variations, very fruity and refreshing nose, all on the red cherries with some red berries and some peppery spices.  Shared with others, it was very much enjoyed, especially by some members or guests who are not used to Beaujolais, like Kuni Munetomo and his guest Jen, Gordon Lee, talented young artist who paints animals and wildlife, son of member Louis Lee.

My first dish was the Terrine of Ox tongue and Ox tail, cromesquis of Mustard, which I first paired with the Morgon, then with the Volnay 1er Cru en Caillerets, La Pousse d’Or, 1998.  The terrine was ordered by half of the guests, while most of the other half enjoyed the La Girolle Salad with White Cheese, Oranges, Roasted Beets, Orange Vinaigrette Dressing.  Only few rebels like Johnny Revilla opted for the Veloute of Sweet Corn, Corn Ravioli and Tarragon Oil, which, according to him, was excellent.  The terrine, to my own personal taste, was a bit flat and tasteless, but the texture was there, nice, and the sauce was really what was needed to bring some flavor to this dish.  Fresh and well executed.  The Volnay, which would most probably age well and longer, offered a nice bouquet of earthy flowers, red berries and leather.  Rather light and medium bodied, a short finish that left pleasant aromas in the mouth.

It was the right time to move to wines with more texture and strength, amongst them I tried the Château Ponteil Monplaisir Pessac-Léognan 2001, very pleasant mature wine; a far too young but promising Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Domaine de Nalys 2007; and a very disappointing Château Clinet Pomerol 1997 which was corked.

The Duckhorn Vineyards Napa Valley Merlot 2001 was really pleasant.  Most probably at its peak, it presented a really nice ruby color and typical red berries, tobacco and a light touch of chocolate. I would prefer to this the Silver Oak, Californian Cabernet Sauvignon, 2002, since I favor Napa’s Cabernet over Merlot.

With all these reds, I enjoyed the Braised Lamb Shank, while many others had the Sous Vide French Cut Porkshop.  The later received strong positive reviews.  As for the lamb, I cannot help but agree with what my neighbor at the table said that ‘this dish is now the typical Manila specialty’.  I agree that I have had the lamb shank at multiple occasions, at many different places (Sala, Champêtre, Red, to name a few).  So how would Chef Ian’s execution compare?  The meat was excellent, cooked to perfection.  The purée de pomme de terre with its lamb jus was well executed.  The sauce was really lively, but the dish itself was a bit heavy.  Some said that the fish dish (I cannot recall what it was ‘fish of the day’) was too cooked.

There were other red wines opened and shared at our table, amongst them, a Montes Alpha, Merlot, Chile (did not get the vintage) and a Château du Moulin - AOC Puisseguin Saint Emilion (did not get the vintage), but I did not have a chance to try them. I also wanted to take good note of the wines brought by members who ate at the other tables (one long one and 2 small 4 people tables), but at the time I wanted to take a picture of the empty bottles, they had already been removed and it was mission impossible to bring them back.

In terms of the wines I could try, the real surprise came from the second bottle of Beaujolais, a Brouilly, Cuvée des Fous, Jean-Claude Lapalu, 2009.  Another cru from Beaujolais, usually more mineral than the Morgon due to its terroir, I was not expecting much from it.  I was wrong.  The nose itself was already an explosion of dark berries, transporting me to the farmed lands of that beautiful region.  Boutique production, late harvesting, hand made selection of the grapes helped shaping the thick texture of this wine, that offers sweet tannins, blackcurrant on the palate, some torefaction aromas and a very long finish.  Certainly not everybody’s taste, and not a wine for daily consumption, but something unusual to discover.

I had it right before my dessert, La Girolle Mousse au Chocolat, a very pleasant, soft, tasty and very well-balanced dessert.  With it we had a glass of Bürklin-Wolf Wachenheimer Mandelgarten, German Riesling Eiswein, 1990, which Dieter passed around.  Very interesting and surprising aged Icewine, it was a cocktail of calamanci, peach and honey, with a pleasant tobacco finish. Very rich but refreshing, I thought it would be a perfect wine to finish the lunch.

At that time we had already congratulated Chef Ian and his team, carefully listening to the Chef’s commitment to use only the best ingredients and to source as many as possible locally. Bravo ! Nice execution, knowing that the restaurant has only been opened for a month or so, and that IWFS members are not always easy to please.

While many called it a lunch and left, few people remain, with the strong conviction that another bottle or two would not be too much. Devoted notes-taker that I am, I made it my duty to stay until the end and have a glass of Oscar Ong’s Château Haut-Bailly, Pessac-Léognan, 2000 and Château Pontet-Canet, Pauillac, 1996. The Haut-Bailly was very much on the Merlot, and in this great vintage released very powerful scents of black berries.  Very lively and tonic, strong blackcurrant and red plums on the palate with strong tannins and no acidity.  The Pontet-Canet brought us back to more ripeous tannins, a lovely ruby color compared to the more violet Pessac.  More complex than the previous wine, it had more red plums and tobacco than its Merlot counterpart.  An easy wine that I always enjoy, it was a great way to conclude this BYOB(s).