Suspended over a translucent bowl of chilled potato soup lives an acupuncture needle with, from bottom to top, parmesan, chilled butter (!), chive, warm potato and black truffle.
We were instructed to draw the needle away, and allow the above to fall into the soup. The interplay of textures and temperatures was a harbinger of the carefully composed dishes to come.
As I later discovered (by accident), the bowl is made of wax. After breaking mine, I promptly forced Jon to swap with me so as to save face.
With this dish, we selected glasses of '97 Feuillatte "Cuvee Palmes d'Or" Rose and '90 Pommery "Cuvee Louise".
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