Originally Posted by
Howard Long
For some reason my post was removed, but the gist of it was asking two questions about JL44 LHR-HND F menu tomorrow.
To answer my own questions:
o Thinking of trying the Western menu rather than the Japanese menu for an alternative, how id the steak? Is it dry or done to death or is it not too bad?
TL;DR: keep with the Japanese menu!
It started OK, although the blinis served with the caviar were cardboard. The course caviar itself was great, albeit a small portion, bolstered with salmon tartare. Bread selection, I chose the mini bagette, which was nice and fresh, and a favoured alternative to the blinis.
The beef: I was asked how I'd like it done, so I requested medium rare. I thought, wow, this is a good start. Regrettably, while it tasted alright and texture-wise it wasn't tough, it was dry as a bone. The bearnaise though was very good.
Meanwhile, other courses were good but not particularly memorable. The monkfish was overdone.
I had a hard time pairing wines: there were no whites with any oomph apart from the white Bordeaux, but even that wasn't very deep. The best pairing I had was the Heidsieck 2013 with the goats cheese on the cheese plate.
With the beef, I paired the Tiano & Nareno, but this needs time to breathe if not more time to age. I didn't try the red Bordeaux until my next flight home.
I'd love to see dessert wine on JAL. For the chocolate mouse, I had a Kokuto expresso martini.
o The vegetable curry: has anyone tried it, and if so how does it compare to the beef curry?
Yeah, nah. It's not terrible, but I guess anything's going to be a disappointment after you've had the legendary JAL beef curry. The small side bowl is the Yonezwagyu Shigureni snack from the ALC menu. Paired with the pinot noir.
