The meal proceeds like something out of a show on the Food Network:
• Chez Dominique’s house salad of spicy cabbage with purple carrot, zucchini, cucumber and a compressed watermelon dusted with cabbage “snow” in a cold, tomato and cucumber broth – so refreshing!
• Langoustine tails with an asparagus mousse topped with Iberian ham – light as air!
• A mousse of duck liver topped with a Sauternes gel, pickled cherry, rhubarb and cherry foam, cherry fluid gel and frozen meringue made from rhubarb ash – umm, that meat!
• Poached sea trout with langoustine foam, beet and parsnip puree and dashi consommé – “could we have just a little more?”
• And finally, a granité of birch flavored tapioca with caramel powder and a drizzle of birch sap – “what did I just eat?”
We felt like judges on Top Chef as the main courses were delivered and Chef Hans took our appreciation of culinary mastery to new heights. A lamb entrecote au jus was just the ticket to award our chef the winner but he was bent on dazzling us after with a pre-dessert of frozen dill mousse with lime juice and then a smooth and succulent buttermilk panacotta with raspberry powder, dried strawberries and a strawberry juice. At no moment did we utter stop, more like, “Give us more.”
Never have I been so fascinated with what a man can do with food. We set out into the night in a Zen state. Yeah, we’ll gladly worship at Chef Hans’ shrine. His prowess made us understand the stakes of the Michelin system. And wow, he aced it.
Chez Dominique
Rikhardinkatu 4
Helsinki, Fi.
+358 (0)9 612 7393