It was a treat to be back at Le Gavroche for our annual Spring lunch yesterday playing to a full house of 100 diners keen to sample wines matched to a seasonal menu devised by Michel Roux Jr.

Le Gavroche

We kicked-off with a lively Vouvray Mousseux Brut from Domaine Aubert by way of aperitif, which guests could elect to taste with or without the addition of a dash of Gabriel Boudier’s peerless Crème de Cassis. The exercise of trying to serve canapés and drinks to 100 people in the bijou upstairs bar area at 43 Upper Brook Street always reminds me of seeing how many students can cram into a phone box. Fortunately, we have a loyal and resilient clientele and the intimacy of the surroundings definitely broke the ice.

Oeuf Poche Victoria - Le Gavroche

Once seated in the comfort and splendour of the downstairs dining room the revels could commence with a fine pairing of a rare white Chinon from Château du Ligré and a weightier, oilier, organic Côtes du Luberon from Château la Canorgue – both in the newly released (and very promising) 2010 vintage. I then talked guests through the first 3 wines and Le Gavroche’s Executive Director, Silvano Giraldin, told us how the dishes we were about to sample had been selected and prepared. Kent asparagus with aged parmesan and truffle vinaigrette proved a popular pre-starter and had a terrific affinity for the white Chinon (see previous entry) but the ‘Oeuf Poche Victoria’ that followed was a veritable show-stopper. This dish is an old Roux family favourite – a poached egg served on a bed of lobster on top of an artichoke heart. There were lots of different flavours at work here and personally I thought this offering favoured the Château la Canorgue.

Confit Collar of Lamb - Le Gavroche

Our main course was a sublime collar of lamb confit served with white beans and wild garlic. We partnered this with a youthful red Vin de Corse Sartène 2009 from Domaine Saparale. The wild Maquis scents and tastes of this unusual Nielluccio-Sciacarello blend married perfectly with the tender, salty lamb so it was going to be a tough act to follow. Fortunately, Ron and Elva Laughton from Australia’s celebrated Jasper Hill estate in Heathcote were in town for the Natural Wine Fair (www.thenaturalwinefair.com) and we indulged ourselves with their iconic Georgia’s Paddock Shiraz 2005. Ron told us about his non-interventionist wine growing philosophy and explained why he is an ardent champion of ‘dry-grown’ (un-irrigated) root-stock despite the pressures of draught and global warning.

Vanilla Panna Cotta - Le Gavroche

A delicate dessert of vanilla panna cotta with Alphonso mango and ginger went down very well with Pascal Labasse’s Jurançon Mœlleux 2008. This unctuous sweet wine has a lovely palate-cleansing acidity to offset the tropical fruit flavours and I think it met with widespread approval.
We rounded off a very convivial event with coffee and Petits Fours and some stout-hearted folk even availed themselves of the digestif trolley before dispersing back into the daylight fully sated.

Jason Yapp holding court at Le Gavroche…

I am already keenly anticipating to our next visit in the Autumn because if you want to enjoy classic Gallic cuisine with superb service in elegant surroundings Le Gavroche sets the Gold Standard!

Michel Roux Jr

A couple of weeks ago, I was excited to attend our annual lunch at Le Gavroche, Michel Roux Jr’s two Michelin star restaurant in Mayfair.  Having become an avid fan of Masterchef recently, I was eager to see if Chef Michel himself would be in residence and I was not disappointed, finding him mid-photo shoot, as I arrived at this iconic French restaurant.

Yapp Brothers have been holding such an event for customers at Le Gavroche, once or twice a year for over twenty years. Today, we were expecting around 100 for a lunch specially devised for us by Michel and accompanied by carefully-matched Yapp wines to complete the gastronomic experience.  And what an experience it was!

Our guests were greeted with a glass of Crémant de Limoux Brut from Philippe Collin, a Champenois who moved to Limoux in 1980.  This excellent Pinot Noir and Chardonnay blend has become a staple of the Yapp portfolio, gaining much kudos with the press and featuring in the Independent’s ‘Top 50 Wines for Christmas’ last year.

Suitably gee’d up by the fizz, the assembled crowd moved downstairs to the restaurant to enjoy a pre-starter of Ballotine de Volaille, Celeri Remoulade et Vinaigrette de Truffes with a 2008 white Côtes du Luberon from Château la Canorgue, famous as the setting for the film ‘A Good Year’ starring Russell Crowe.  The wine was showing particularly well and the lemony flavours were ideally suited to the richness of this immaculately-presented dish.

Next up, Ragout de Langoustines et Pied de Cochon à la Graine de Moutarde.  The sauce was so full of flavour and our white Crozes Hermitage 2008 from Olivier Dumaine lived up to it manfully.  A new wine to the Yapp stable this year, it was recently recommended by Jancis Robinson as a wine with ‘explosive fruit on the palate and very fresh and mouthfilling.’ The main course of Roasted French Partridge with a Brandy Shallot Jus was served with a brace of reds – Domaine Paul Misset’s sublime Nuits Saint George 2002 and a Vin de Pays des Côtes Catalan Carignan 2007, from Domaine Ferrer-Ribière’s precious parcel of 130 year-old vines, that is brimming over with warm, autumnal fruits making it a current favourite with everyone at Yapp Brothers.

Jason Yapp had met with the Gavroche team the previous week to do some serious food and wine matching and this was not lost on the guests on my table who pronounced the dessert, Golden Pineapple and Warm Almond Cake with Rum and Raisin Ice Cream, to be the most heavenly match for a Muscat de Beaumes de Venise 2006 from Domaine de Durban.  Indeed it was,  with neither the wine nor the dish being outshone by the other but coming together to round off the meal to perfection.

After much witty repartee from Jason Yapp, a brief, insightful address from Michel Roux Jr, and the most divine menu with some superbly matched wines, our 100 or so guests couldn’t fail to go away happy and nor, for that matter, could I.