A Forgettable Wedding Anniversary dinner at Manresa

It's not a typo. I really do mean a forgettable dinner. An experience which I really don't want to retain to memory. I had let this one sit for a while, hoping that I'll get a different perspective or find something positive that could redeem the experience. Four days later...........

Let's just get this out of the system.

To say that our experience in Manresa was disappointing would be an understatement. I've been wanting to visit Manresa after reading all the rave reviews, and especially more so after Chef David Kinch clinched the Iron Chef battle against one of our all-time favorite Chef Bobby Flay. Suffice to say our expectations were high when we picked Manresa for our 11th wedding anniversary dinner. We've eaten at several Michelin-starred establishments and were excited that we could find one so close to our backyard!

The restaurant was rather easy to find, parking was ample and we made it for our 8 pm reservations without any problems. They seated us by the window, as we had requested in our Open Table reservations. I couldn't help but noticed the cold, hard, faux leather banquette surrounding the windows as I sat down, which seemed somewhat at odds against the silk drapes that lined the windows. A quick glance around and I started to wonder if the theme of the decor was Mismatched, with a heavily-underscored capital M! Mismatched rugs on the floor, Japanese art pieces on the wall and instrumental jazz streamed throughout the restaurant (not entirely a bad thing if only the decibel levels were kept down a notch). Perhaps this was intentional and they were going for an eclectic, non-Spanish feel, but the whole decor and vibe just didn't work for me. After ~ 15 minutes' wait, the maitre-d came over and took our orders. We went for the tasting menu (but of course!), ready to forget the decor faux-pas and be wowed by the genius creations of Chef Kinch.

First up: a black olive madeleine and a red pepper geleé - the signature Manresa paté de fruit, presented in a gumdrop form, with the sugar coating and all. The madeleine was crusty on the outside, soft on the inside - right texture for madeleines although I would've preferred a richer (more) black olive taste. The red pepper geleé was sweet and tangy at the same time with slight hint of heat and its texture similar to that of a gumdrop. In fact, if you weren't told, you'd be thinking you were eating gumdrops - soft, chewy and tasty gumdrops! So far so good.

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The next amuse-bouche was a foie gras and chestnut croquette - tasty little fried cube with soft creamy foie gras oozing out from the middle, much like caramel-filled candies when you take a bite. This was truly delicious and I would've much preferred this to be the opening amuse. It certainly had more "Wow" factor than its predecessors.

I was personally looking forward to the Arpége farm egg to satisfy that constant craving for The Egg since I got back from Paris. I was utterly displeased! The one served by Manresa had simply robbed me of a my wonderful memories of The Egg! The yolks were too runny and recall that snapshot of the spoonful at L'Arpége? Well, as much as I tried, I couldn't hold this yolk and cream together even for two seconds before the yellow liquid-y substance ran down the sides of my spoon. I could taste each ingredient distinctly - the vinegar, the cream, the yolk but none of them came together harmoniously like I had expected. And to think I was overjoyed when I thought that one could actually get Passard's signature item when one has a craving without having to travel trans-Atlantic! The rest of the dishes, with exception of the vegetable and fish, went downhill from there.

I was disappointed beyond words. We had expected each dish to set the stage for the next and with each succession, build up towards more and more extravaganza. We sat there, waiting, anticipating to be blown away, but dish after dish, we remained unimpressed. If the texture was right, the taste was overly salty (Chicken Confit & Soft Egg Yolk) Or if the dish was flavorful, something else on the plate did not complement (and had no reason to be there in the first place! The uni (sea urchin) was fresh and sweet but I didn't fancy it in the briny seawater - there was a tad too much of the sauce and the uni was paired with? Your guess? Slices of apples! Even the spacing of the dishes were somewhat off. Two tables to our right started the Chef's tasting menu later than us, but their courses kept coming without much waiting whilst we were pretty much twirling our fingers after each course, waiting for quite a while before the next dish was served. Apart from the maitre-d, I didn't feel a sense of strong confidence from the rest of the staff that had served us that evening. They were definitely polite yet there was just a certain level of stiff robotism when each waiter or waitress "recited" what was on the plate that they were serving. One waiter brought the butter, placed in down on our table and mumbled "french butter". I stopped him just as he was trying to scurry off and asked "What butter is this?". He answered "French butter", albeit rather timidly (at that point, I suspected he was probably a trainee or perhaps even a busboy -turned-stand-in-waiter for that evening) Another waiter nearby came to his aid and I asked politely "Can you let me know what butter this is?" This second waiter, again, said "it's French butter from France" and both of them started to head away hurriedly but I wasn't entirely convinced so I asked again "can you please ask the Chef what butter this is and where it's from? Which part of France?". They both scurried off and the second waiter returned 5 minutes later with this feedback "it's butter from Wisconsin". And that was left at that!
I think I've said enough so I'll just leave you with a short slideshow of Dégustation menu that evening. Camera flashes weren't allowed; as in all restaurants trying to create the perfect ambience, the lighting was not conducive for photo-taking so the photo quality matched our experience that evening.

The two saving-graces for us were the vegetable and fish courses. Into the Garden was truly a well-executed vegetable medley that carried an excellent balance of flavors, texture and color, all from a plate of vegetables. No fancy flavorful proteins yet equally tasty with lots of depths in flavor. You could taste the freshness of the seasonal vegetables - beets, purple cabbages, carrots, fingerling potatoes, rockets, edible flowers and a whole host of other garden varieties, all gently cooked, then layered with foamy mousseline. The interesting "Edible Dirt" - a fine blend of chikory root, parsnip and almonds which were dehydrated, an intensely time-consuming process - grounded (pun intended!) the overall dish, providing a slightly bitter but clever contrast to the sweet & savory vegetables. I'm a very picky fish eater and am turned off by any slightest fishy smell or squishy, gelatinous textures. However, the Atlantic cod that evening was delicious - buttery, moist chunk of white flesh with chervil cream in a flavorful marrow broth. Crispy and perfectly-seasoned skin gave the dish a little crunch.
A last word on desserts. Don't worry. There's nothing bad to say about them. Of the tree types of desserts that were served (a lemon, a chocolate and yet another appearance of their signature madeleine-gelée combo), we loved the Chocolate Hazelnut feuillentine (pronounced foy-er-teen, a paper-thin French pastry that resembles a wafer) the most. The feuillentine was extremely chocolaty with extra dusting of cocoa powder on the outside that lingers on the roof of your mouth, your teeth and if you're a messy chocolate eater like me, on your lips as well so part of the pleasure of finishing this dessert involves lots of licking!

Whilst this may seem like a mixed bag of review, there were more negatives that I'd care to remember. The end of the evening was uneventful: maitre-d brought the check, we paid the bill, I asked if we could have a copy of the menu, they obliged and took another 20 minutes or so to prepare the printout, we weren't invited to tour the kitchen during the wait so I assumed the Chef was simply too tired to bother entertaining the last two customers in the restaurant. After all, he must've been absolutely convinced that the tasting menu would've been good enough to blow us away......

Time will heal, perhaps?


Chef's Tasting Menu: The Winter Garden 3rd January 2010

Amuse-bouche:
Petit fours - red pepper paté de fruit and Black Olives Madeleines
Foie gras and Chesnut Croquettes
Citrus and Jasmine Tea Jelly
Arpége Farm Egg

Sea Urchins with Radish & Apples in Seaweed sauce (seawater)
Monterey Spot Prawns on the plancha, bonito butter with toasted seeds
Into the Vegetable Garden
Scallops and Salsify in Brown butter with Pomegranates
Atlantic Cod with chervil cream, sweet onions and marrow tears
A soft egg, chicken confit and crisp farm vegetables
Roast duck with spiced carrots and yoghurt

Lemon meringue
Chocolate hazelnut feuillentine with pistachio ice-cream
Petit fours - strawberry paté de fruit and Chocolate Madeleines

MANRESA
320 Village Lane
Los Gatos
CA 95030
Tel: 408.354.4330
Fax: 408.354.0134

Price: Chef Tasting menu for dinner starts at USD 160/person (note: cheese course not included). Be prepared to spend north of USD 250/person including wine pairings.