Our annual spring lunch at Le Gavroche - which has been running for four decades and was scheduled to take place this Thursday - is one of the highlights of our events calendar; so we are wistful about its unavoidable cancellation this year. Happily, we have access to our archives and have been able to look up past food and wine pairings that have proved a success in the dining room at 43 Upper Brook Street to create some simulation of what might have been. Whilst we can't comment on your own culinary skills – although surely they must have improved recently – we can vouch for all of the wines.
With canapés we'll serve a sublime, sparkling Crémant d'Alsace from Maison Léon Beyer. It is a bottle-fermented blend of Pinot Blanc and Auxerrois with a fine mousse and fresh finish guaranteed to stimulate the most pedantic of palates. Our amuse bouche is a Tartare de Dorade (sea bream tartare) with a dill and avocado purée that we partnered with an ethereal Corsican Vermentino from Domaine de Torraccia. Our next dish is one of Chef Michel's finest creations, the celebrated Bhaji de Homard Parfumé au Curry. Yes, that's a spiced lobster bhaji that you have to eat to believe. This was a sublime match with Alain Graillot's white Crozes-Hermitage – a Marsanne-Roussanne blend that had enough weight and depth to cope with the heat.
Our seasonal main course is Veau Cuit au Beurre (butter roast veal served with wild garlic, spinach and morel mushrooms). Our first red is Stefan Meyer's unimpeachable 'Aus Rhodt' Pinot Noir from the Pfalz that received a round of applause (and sold out) when last featured on the menu. We'll follow that with a slightly weightier Syrah from the Rhône, Maxime Graillot and Thomas Schmittel's 'Equinoxe' bottling of Crozes-Hermitage. Its sleek black fruit and peppery undertones marry marvellously with the morels.
As a glow of contentment pervades the room and crockery is cleared by the most dexterous front of house team we look forward to our dessert - Mille-feuille aux Framboises - the puffiest of pastries and ripest of raspberries with a wonderful summer berry coulis. We have paired that with Pascal Labasse's Jurançon Mœlleux – a heavenly honeyed Petit Manseng from the foothills of Pyrenees - that is a failsafe crowd-pleaser. With coffee and petits fours to round things off, I'm sure you'll agree we've had a stupendous lunch and must come back soon!
