20-16

Birthdays are great and RoF friendly (RoF has already forgotten about the workout I had this morning hehehe :) I'm sitting here on a Sunday afternoon, quaffing sparkling wine (Bellavista Cuvee Brut) and snacking on chicken-avocado sandwiches...

We went to Statholdergaarden Krostue (pathetic website that is Exploder-only unfortunately) last night for my birthday gourmet RoF-stuffing orgy. Statholdergaarden itself is a restaurant that has a Michelin star. The Krostue is a more informal restaurant that uses the sasme kitchen...

Our feast consisted of the following:

Aperitif: sparkling wine cocktail with bourbon and Tia Maria. It was a very interesting combination, and had a nice citrus/grapefruit/exotic fruit flavor.

Amuse bouche of salmon rillet, tarragon-marinated scallops and chili-marinated shrimp on crostinis (mini-toast). This was a nice complement to the aperitif ;-)

Trout carpaccio with sorrel and pesto. Served with a semi-dry Riesling (didn't get the name of the wine unfortunately - forgot to get the list of all the wines we drank... blah!) that was an excellent match...

Sauteed scampi in sour salad with peanut sauce and Skagen shellfish salad with løyrom (a kind of caviar) and sourdough toast, served with the same wine as the carpaccio (but wasn't as good of a match but still ok)...

Provencal ”Brandade” (potato and bacalhau mash), Congo potato chips and Viergesaus (a kind of grape sauce). The Congo potato chips were interesting - purple potatoes with a very different taste compared to white potatoes...

Pepper-fried filet of cod with sauteed spinach and bell pepper sauce, served with a Chardonnay... The cod was served with the skin, which was nice and crispy :)

Frothy shellfish soup garnished with beans and fennel. My only critique is that the cream in the soup dominated too much... (RoF wasn't complaining hahaha)

Gravenstein apple sorbet with pomegranate and Calvados - to clean the palate :)

Main dish: Choice of olive-baked isgalt (grenadier/rattail - Macrourus berglax) in Baccalao sauce with onions, olives, pimentos, and potato cubes

or

Duck confit served with red onion compote, broccoli purée, and roasted chestnuts with a sourish onion sauce.

I got one and boyfriend of feitpingvin got the other. We each ate half and then switched dishes. The fish was the best dish - perfectly prepared with a wonderfully tasty sauce. The duck was also good, but way on the salty side. Apparently, other people complained about the same thing...

The mains were served with each their own Italian red wine. Both were excellent; damn it that we didn't get the names! :-(

Dessert was fruits and berries marinated in Muskat Beumes de Venice, served with spice ice cream with a fruit sorbet. Served with a Sicilian dessert wine that tasted like cloudberries...

Coffee afterwards, no avec this time...