Love for L'Oranger

Last night I went to a restaurant that has just broken into my top three meals of all time. My friend John and I went to L'Oranger in Mayfair, London after a last-minute trip to Paris for the weekend didn't work out because of train strikes and mid-term school holidays. So to console ourselves, French cuisine in London it is!

We selected the 6 course tasting menu on principle more than anything else. We barely read it to be fair - just enough to figure out which wines would go with the courses. The sommelier was fantastic and spent over 5 minutes with us talking through the various Rhone Reds on the list. We had already chosen a bottle of 2006 Vidal Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand (a wine which John knows well and he and I had just two years before (well, different vintage) at Windows on the World in London.

For the red, we talked through the merits of the Crozes-Hermitage, the Gigondas and of course the Chateauneuf-du-Pape. They had a vintage and domaine that made my mouth water: 2001 Vieux Telegraphe Chateauneuf-du-Pape. The sommelier opened it so that it could decant while we were drinking the Vidal with some of the earlier courses.

We went back and forth between the wines as appropriate with the courses, and every dish was absolutely incredibly. From foie gras, to scallops, to beef, to goats cheese with truffles.....the presentation and flavours were immaculate. The service staff was also spectacular and we were served throughout the evening by no less than 8 different people, each knowing exactly what they were doing. One small detail that impressed me is that our wine glasses were never empty, but never more than 1/3 full (most restaurants over-pour wine, leaving too much in the glass).

The CDP wine opened up so nicely over the course of the evening. The aromas were very fruity with recognizable Syrah and Grenache, but at first the taste was a bit tart and tight in the mouth. It started to open up and within another 30 minutes the flavours were lighter and more complex, almost Burgundian in its subtlety. But again, over the evening the complexity came out more and when paired with the foie gras and the beef, for example, the wine seemed bolder than on it's own. Going between mouthfuls of food and sips of wine was like traveling back and forth on a gentle pendulum of flavour that you never wanted to end.

I wasn't able to copy and paste the menu from the web site to my blog because of formatting, but if you check out the restaurant web site, you will see the incredible range of dishes I got to enjoy. That, incredible service and great company made for a truly fantastic night out in London. I am SO glad I live here.