I arrived a bit early today but this was the final day of the 20th anniversary menu. I was able to spectate the kitchen preparing and plating some of the dishes. I have personally never seen such a massive team working in a restaurant until this visit. It was spectacular. This is also my first 3 Michelin star meal and I am thinking I chose something wonderful.
I arrived around 6:30pm and was able to relax and take things in aome of the views from above the garden before starting the experience. We did started the evening in the garden. there are views of the Cote d'azur without a cloud in the sky.
It was explained to me that the 20th anniversary menu is not exclusively dishes from Mirazur, but also dishes from El Bulli, dishes from "graduates" of El Bulli, and some modern takes on some of the great classical French chefs of the 20th century.
Tonight I decided on a glass of champagne to start. That ended up being a glass of Laherte Freres Ultradition Extra Brut.
There were 30 dishes in total. A very substantial amount of food and variety at play. The first five dishes were in the garden and as we were toured around the property. Since I can only put 20 pictures in the main post I will add an Imgur album right here.
The first dish is a take on an El Bulli classic. The sphere-ified olive served as a gin martini with gin and vermouth spray. My first time trying this classic with a Mirazur twist to it.
Second is a rose champagne out of a rose. A fresh rose with the center taken out and filled with champagne. The roses come in fresh every day. The team takes out the middle of the rose and coats everything with a food-safe wax. It is then filled with Laurent Perrier champagne rose and I was told to smell as I drink.
Dish three was a milk meringue with sturgeon caviar from Madagascar. That meringue is so incredibly light. I have never had a caviar that is this light in color. Its incredibly lovely and the salt with the milk notes is spectacular. Very buttery. I honestly had no idea that they made caviar in Madagascar until this moment.
Goat cheese and violet frozen meringue topped with toasted hazelnuts was the fourth dish in the garden. Very floral with a nice bit of tang. Nice and light with some needed crunch from the hazelnuts.
This is the second dish that features molecular gastronomy techniques. The marigold cocktail cooked on liquid nitrogen. Marigold custard and marigold flowers. I might have eaten it a bit early as it stuck to the roof of my mouth. No matter. Very lovely. The only thing they said that I shouldnt eat id the stem of the marigold flower.
Now we find ourselves visiting the kitchen. This serious of three dishes was oyster three ways. The first was the oyster leaf, the second the oyster broth, and the final was a whole oyster. The leaf has some wonderful briny and salty notes accompanied by the shallots. The broth is wonderful with all of the lovely flavors and scents of fresh oyster. For the whole oyster I was told that I should try to eat it in one bite. Lovely. Far more meaty than most oysters. Very lovely. The Oyster was apparently three years old and the shells definitely show that age.
At this point I moved upstairs to the dining room. At this point I decided on a bottle of wine. I chose a 2013 Coche Dury Monthelie from Burgundy. This was a very light and sappy Pinot from an lesser known appellation. Very interesting and very mineral focused.
The first dish in the dining room was a carpaccio of asparagus, artichoke and fava beans with a consommé of tomato water and oil topped with a bowl of flowers from the garden. Very potent aromatics from the flowers. Lovely vegetable flavors. Mint. The herbs are quite lovely mixed in and the Monthelie surprisingly did not conflict with this dish at all.
The next dish is a classic Mirazur dish from 2008. Beetroot carpaccio with creme and caviar. That beet is amazing. No earthy notes. Served warm. Apparently the beet is salt roasted. It is hard to go wrong with creme and caviar as well. Apparently these beetroot get to 5kg. The caviar pairs quite well with thr beetroot. The beetroot is uprooted and overwintered in a cave before being replanted in the spring and harvested in its second fall.
Vanilla, Fennel, kiwi, dill. Whatever it is, it is beautiful. Dill oil. Peas (lactic ferment?) Very tart and lively acidity. Peas in a vanilla pod. Very strong vanilla note. Never had vanilla bean straight. It is very woody and almost a bit bitter. But the aromatics are ever present.
Smoked peas. I dont even know. Its smoked peas. The pod is smoked and it is then stuffed with peas and topped with a pea based sauce.
A tart served almost as a taco. Citronella de menton. Black truffle. Violet artichoke. The pastry melts away. Very strong flavors. Very lovely.
Bianchetti, baitfish like anchovies served raw and as a cracker. Slight crunch to the raw fish. Very clean flavor. First japan inspired dish. The cracker is quite lovely. Crunchy, salty, no fishy-ness. Some much needed moisture comes from the caviar.
Prawns disassembled. Broken down into several different parts. The body, the head, the brain, the eggs and the feet. Try the prawn part by part and then try the prawn all together. I believe the only cooked portion of the prawn is the feet. Surprisingly firm even though the shrimp is raw. I love the brains. Very fatty and buttery. The feet provide a crunch while the brain provides a richness. To be honest I lost the eggs in everything but they did have a nice color.
The squid. Shabu-shabu calamari. Boiled for 3 seconds in a dashi. Reminicent of an El Bulli dish but with a Japanese twist. Really citrus driven. The squid is stuffed with citrus. Very tart. Fresh lemons or fingerlimes. Very surprising citrus. The fried quid is almost like a rice puff. Nice crunch but retains some lovely texture. A very light amount of spice (paprika) and a slight seaweed characteristic to it.
Nanakusa-no-sekku. Seventeen leaves. Shiso with asparagus and many other herbs and leaves. Lovely green notes. A slightly cooked asparagus note. Quite lovely. Everything is in harmony with some lovely textures at work. Spectacular.
Uni in a rice matcha broth. A nori and daikon sandwich. The uni was quite nice. Not my favorite unusual course I have had but quite lovely. Texture is interesting. Very firm. Slight fishyness. This sandwich kind of fell flat for me aswell. Not my favorite course. The flavors didnt quite mesh with me. Not bad but not my taste. The uni ravioli was interesting but again, there was something that I wasn't a fan of with the uni that was used.
"The Mystery Box". The staff would not tell me what it was until it was ready to be eaten. It looks like some kind of biscuit with shallots or ice. The thing that looked like shallots (sounded like ice) was put in a cheesecloth over whatever the biscuit looking thing is. Turns out it is fois gras with an anchovies salt infusion. Very fatty. Slight briny and salty notes. Weirdly sweet. Very interesting and very delicious. Redeeming after the prior course for me.
Pine nut chawanmushi and a pine nut cotton candy. Very nutty and roasty chawanmoushi. Simple and no frills. Comfort food. The cotton candy is substantial. Sticks to your teeth. A pine nut filling. Interesting but very straight forward.
Sea cucumber and pigeon. What on earth. This is my first time having sea cucumber in any form so i am a bit apprehensive. The meeting of the sea and the land. Pigeon broth. Roasty notes. Dried pigeon? Very rich. A bit of chew but not in a bad way. Is this what I was warned about? Almost liver-esque flavor. Iron. I love yhe richness in the dish. Tapioca pearls add some texture. The sea cucumber is actually quite meaty and I quite liked it in this context.
Bone marrow with two different caviars. Caviar from sturgeon and beluga lentils. The caviar is lightly smoked. Wow. That bone marrow. Super creamy and rich but not overwhelmingly so. The lentils show up quite predominately. Very rich. Gelatinous in a good way. The sauce is very rich as well. I could just drink that sauce.
Spaghetti with elderflower juice, eucalyptus, parmesean and cassis powder. Stunning presentation. Perfectly al dente. Very rich and nutty. The cassis provides some nice lift to the dish. One of my favorites of the night.
Another dish they did not want to tell me the name of or what was in it. Texturally it is like a heavily spiced warm chocolate pudding. Sesame seeds. Its definitely a mole. I can't tell if it there are any peanuts. Pepper and chocolate. There was some kind of flavor hiding at the bottom of the dish but I could not place it. Very hard to go wrong.
Citrus and fruits. All served insidd of shellfish shells. Mandarin in the mussel, yuzu granita in the clam and grapefruit in another clam. Mandarin with sake and some small strawberries. The Mandarin in the mussel was absolutely spectacular. Tart but sweet. That grapefruit is powerful. Very tart. Wakes you up. The mandarin with sake is awesome. Beautiful fruity flavors and the melon notes from the sake balance out quite well with the mandarin. Very happy with the fruit desserts.
Orange blossom with a saffron mille fouille-like pastry. Beautiful dessert. I love how light it is with some wonderful texture.
Cotton candy with yuzu sorbet. The yuzu sorbet is inside of the cotton candy.
A box of chocolate box. Look at all the chocolate. Too many different chocolates to describe. I could not eat them all.
I was properly embarrassed. They brought out a birthday cake and other diners started singing to me as they rhought it ws my birthday. I was the first in and the first to get to the desserts so they didnt quite realize it was foing to happen to them as well. Lemon cake. Its jellied and absolutely delicious.
As with most meals like this I ordered a double espresso to finish the night. It was quite delicious and did not require anything to be added like milk or sugar. Also really loved the cup it was served in.
This was an amazing experience and I would say it was worth the price of admission. I am curious to come back another time and try a more "normal" menu from Mirazur or maybe some of the restaurants from the El Bulli chef tree like Disfrutar.
by Vista_Fanboy