Shariq’s Département

On the positive side: Veritas (which has one Michelin star) has a new French chef, Gregory Pugin, who started last month, and his food is simply sensational.  My foie gras appetizer (picture 1) was perfectly balanced, the creaminess of the liver juxtaposed with a rich marmalade, all coming together on tiny pieces of buttery brioche bread.  The duck a l’orange was perfect in execution: the orange sauce was a mild counterpoint; the true interplay was between the tender, crispy duck and poached fruit: figs, peaches and, yes, orange (picture 2).  Everyone at the table received a wonderful amuse-bouche: heirloom tomatoes stuffed with crab and a basily shooter to accompany it (picture 3).  And the desserts were very high quality (pictures 4 and 5). 

Now here is the unfortunate experience we had.  P. got extremely bad food poisoning which lasted for 2 days and resulted in fever!  It could have been one of the two dishes he had (which he said both tasted good): his appetizer of beets stuffed with seafood (picture 6) or main course of bouillabaisse (picture 7).  I don’t want to put the restaurant down, and it was probably just bad luck, but I would stay away from these two dishes till the summer is over.

All the other 3 people at the dinner were fine and had no ill-effects. 

Veritas, as you might know, has a fantastic, legendary wine list of French Bordeaux and Burgundy varietals - and the prices are stratospheric.  I managed to find a decent value 2000 Bordeaux -Chateau Haut-Bergen, which was excellent, with an extreme depth of flavour and long finish - highly recommended if you are having a problem with the wine list.