Top 10 Dishes of 2020
Despite European restaurants being closed for almost 1/3rd of the year due to COVID lockdowns, I managed to eat exceedingly well. I made it to 11 three Michelin star restaurants as well as checked a number of restaurants off my bucket list. While my favorite dishes of 2019 were dominated by singular ingredients, 2020’s favorites mostly reaffirmed the joys of a classic French tasting menu (even if I seem to prefer those when they are not in France).
#10 - Salted caramel chocolate tart with crème fraîche at the Sportsman, in Whitstable, United Kingdom
Sometimes the simple things are the best. The Sportsman did not blaze any new culinary trails with this dish but it did not need to. I am a lover of all things caramel but this was a top-shelf sweet, the caramel having just the right flavor and salt level while the chocolate was dangerously decadent. A dish like this can run the risk of being cloying but that was not a problem here, the healthy dollop of crème fraîche on top adding a nice sour tang to balance out the richness.
#9 - Pigeon on the crown with sauce mysterie at Kong Hans Kaelder in Copenhagen, Denmark
A dazzling display of cooking and a dish I would say accurately conveys the experience of eating Mark Lundgaard’s food - an impeccably sourced protein that has been cooked flawlessly and served with a deep, complex sauce. I could have picked any course from my meal at Kong Hans Kaelder but the pigeon dish stuck with me the longest - mostly for the stunning sauce “mysterie” (named as such because the chef adds 20+ spices until it taste just right but no one knows exactly what went in it) but also because of the table side carving and the generosity of the server to give me both breasts off the crown as the second would have gone to waste (I was eating solo).
#8 - Trilogy of trout at Hiša Franko in Kobarid, Slovenia
The trout was served three ways - front and center was a trout fillet with beurre blanc sauce, poppy seeds, and sour cherries. I thought this dish was very representative of Ana Ros’s hybrid cooking style - a beautiful beurre blanc sauce borrowed from french cuisine paired with perhaps the most local ingredient possible - trout from the Soca river, a staple on pretty much every menu in this part of Slovenia. A perfectly balanced dish, the trout retained its delicate, flaky meat while going well with the beurre blanc that was nicely balanced out by the sour tang of the cherries.
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Not to be forgotten, the other parts of the trilogy used the rest of the fish. First, by using the bones to build a verbena scented trout consommé with kaffir lime that had an incredible depth of flavor. Second, by crisping the skin to go with an emulsion of trout belly and bottarga from the liver that added a nice crunch to the trio.
#7 - Croquant de Pamplemousse at Le Cinq in Paris, France
Using many variations of the same ingredient in the same dish is not new but rarely is it done to such great effect. Starting from the bottom, the base is formed with candied grapefruit skin, topped with fresh marinated grapefruit, a thin basil, and grapefruit tuile, grapefruit sorbet shaped into a cylinder before topping it off with another tuile, this time made of grapefruit caramel. All of this grapefruit created a wonderful interplay of textures and flavors - the crunch from tulies, the smoothness of the sorbet, a burst of juice from the grapefruit and most importantly a perfect balance between bitterness and sweetness.
#6 - Challans duck breast with grilled foie gras, blood orange sauce, and winter spices at Waldhotel Sonnora in Dreis, Germany
I have had many fine duck dishes over the years but I am not sure any top this classic take from Chef Clemens Rambichler. Top-quality breast from challans, perfectly rendered crispy skin, and a nice glossy, intensely flavored jus that had been so wonderfully reduced it almost stood-up on the plate. Just as good was the textbook seared foie gras on the side with its spot on seasoning, crispy exterior, and an orange segment on top to balance out the richness. When a chef embraces a classical style of cooking it needs to be flawless because there are no gimmicks to hide behind. Thankfully, this duck dish was.
#5 - Hot and cold smoked salmon at Kadeau in Bornholm, Denmark
The best smoked salmon I ever had came a long time ago at the Willows Inn on Lummia Island. The salmon at Kadeau may just be by new favorite. The salmon is twice smoked, once hot and once cold, imparting flavor and most importantly a velvety texture. While the salmon is a staple at Kadeau, the accompaniments are ever changing but always provide the requisite saltiness and acid to stand-up to the fatty fish. When I visited, the balance came from a havgus cheese (a local danish cheese that tastes a bit like parmesan) and buttermilk sauce which added both acidity and salinity as well as a pesto of rosehip and pickled elderflower. Brilliant.
#4 - Our lemon tart with rhubarb and pistachio at Atelier in Munich, Germany
A top 10 list for 2020 would not be complete without at least one dish from Atelier given it was one of my favorite meals of the year. While I could have picked any number of dishes to make this list, I ultimately went with a pre-dessert that wasn't even listed on the menu but turned out to be one of my favorites of the meal. The lemon pound cake had a wonderful texture, a nice pronounced lemon flavor and most impressively, was filled with a rhubarb sauce that practically exploded when you put your spoon into the cake. While pre-desserts are typically one-note palate cleansers, this one was as good as any proper dessert course and actually turned out to be my favorite sweet of the year.
#3 - Beef tartar with imperial gold caviar, creme fraiche, potato rosti at Waldhotel Sonnora in Dreis, Germany
Pure decadence. There is no other way to describe this dish. Beef tartar and caviar is not an original combination but this takes the pairing to its logical extreme and lets the diner really luxuriate in the ingredients. Besides using a heaping portion of top-quality ingredients (the dish featured 12g of caviar), Chef Clemens Rambichler does his mentor who invented the dish, proud by making sure the execution is spotless - the beef well seasoned and the rosti golden brown so it adds the requisite crunch. This is the type of dish you travel to a restaurant to visit - I know I did.
#2 - Beetroot, buttermilk and caviar at Mirazur in Menton, France
One of the signature dishes from chef Mauro Colagreco, it was not even supposed to be on the menu when I visited. It was hard to tell since there was no menu for the meal but as we were getting to the meat course I started to worry the dish that put Mirazur on the map wasn't on the menu that day. Upon asking the server confirmed my fear, there was not enough beetroot so they did not include it on the day’s spontaneous tasting menu. So how did I end up eating it? The server must have seen the disappointment on my face as, without us asking (or adding a surcharge to the bill), they brought out the famed beetroot as an extra course for us to share. I remember this dish as much for the taste (which was fantastic) as I do for this generous showing of hospitality - a server and chef making sure the customer goes home happy.
#1 - Spaghetti, Ham, mushrooms, and truffle at Le Cinq in Paris, France
The tasting menu at Le Cinq runs €370. An a la carte order of this dish costs €170. This was so good that I was halfway through the dish and I was already plotting my return visit to have it during white truffle season in the fall of 2020.
Sadly due to COVID that return visit never materialized but I at least I still have that one fleeting moment in January 2020, during the heart of black truffle season, where I got to enjoy this dish. A hedonist’s heaven. Cream, salty ham, morels, and shavings of truffle. The kitchen even throws on a bit of gold which is pointless on the palate but helps underpin the dishes’ luxury. If you are in Paris during truffle season and don’t mind departing with a large chunk of your credit cards limit then you have to have this.