Memorable Birthday Dinner

I had a really great dinner @ Imbi Palace yesterday with my usual wine&dine suspects. It was a dinner to call for a celebration of one of the member's birthday (sounds like we belong to a mafia gang) and how could a celebration do without good food and wine?!!

To start off with, we had champagne. Not just any champagne but a Dom Perignon 1999 and then followed by a 1996 vintage. The 1996 outshone the 1999 bottle. To go with the wonderful bubbly, we had some cracker which compliment the foie gras pâté, some Teuscher champagne truffles made using the Dom Perignon which cost RM8 per piece and some dark chocolate bar. I've heard about the brand selling in Bangsar Shopping Centre but have yet to go there and explore the place myself. The chocolates there are known to be the most expensive and even Godiva couldn't rival its prices.

After we had done with champagne and truffles, we started off with fresh salmon slices and big fat juicy oysters. I thought that was the end of the sashimi platter because I was quite full by then. But I was wrong, it was just the begining. The lobster sashimi with abalone platter came and it was such a good pairing with champagne. After that, we had buffalo fillet ABC soup, buffalo steak (all given to me by Mr. Afzal from Allanasons during MIHAS 2009), foie gras with beancurd and then somemore dishes that I couldn't really remember eating. The buffalo (on organic feed) meat ABC soup was so good. The meat was tender and the soup is bursting with flavour.

If I'm not mistaken, we had more than 3 different desserts starting with a bowl of birds nest each, a cup of Haagen Daz Belgian Chocolate and then the birthday cake which I specially ordered from Breadpitt.

Look at the amount of cutlery used!

The birthday cake with customised design.

The highlight of the night would have to be the 5 bottles of wines that we were having. We were having a horizontal tasting of 5 bottles of the 2004 1st growths or premier cru from the Bordeaux region. We had the Chateau Margaux from Margaux, Chateau Mouton Rothschild, Chateau Latour and Chateau Lafite Rothschild from Pauillac, and lastly Chateau Haut-Brion from Pessac-Leognan. These bottles are like the creme de la creme of french wines. A check with the internet revealed that each bottle is easily priced at over RM1500. It was such an honour to be able to taste the Chateau Margaux, Mouton and Lafite Rothschild which I've been dreaming of.

I must say that the wines are drinking exceptionally well now. I love the Chateau Mouton Rothschild and the Lafite. I've always like Mouton Rothschild's artistic wine labels which differentiates itself from other wine bottles. Even it's second wine Le Petit de Mouton Rothchild which I had earlier in January also carry artistic wine labels.



It was such a good dinner and I was full to the brim! I couldn't even finish my desserts and I had to for help to finish off the glass of Chateau Haut-Brion! Hence, the ATL that went downhill after weeks of no drinking diet. It's time to regain my ATL. Cheers!