Manresa Los Gatos

Sam was hooked on dining at Manresa from her very first visit.
So when I visited her last year, dining at this prestigious restaurant was high on the agenda and I was eagerly awaiting the experience....
The entrance to the restaurant is unassuming but I rather like the sign! Although we didn't really see it in the dark I believe they have a herb garden behind the restaurant.
I borrowed the photo below from the restaurant web site, as it happened to show the table where we were seated (I didn't take any photos inside).

Sam knows David Kinch, the chef, and we were very well looked after, by that I mean we were greeted with champagne and it kept flowing~ so how could I not be happy as this is my favourite tipple!

We had booked the tasting menu which is 18 courses.......I'm showing you the menu above (written over by Sam to indicate variations) but again no food photos so it will be difficult for you to get a mental picture of the dishes and I'm useless at describing food, unlike my dear daughter who does it so eloquently (maybe I should have asked Sam to guest blog!). What can I say~ it was wonderful, I was given a taste of so many superb foods, cooked and presented so beautifully.
All the organic vegetables come from 'Love Apple Farm' and are grown specifically for Manresa. 'Into the vegetable garden', one of the courses, was a delicious combination of seasonal vegetables (potato, cauliflower, sliced beet, carrot, radish). Now have you ever tried Abalone I must confess I was a little apprehensive but I really enjoyed it. We had lots of fish (in my comments on yesterday's Fun Monday posts I said several times that I didn't like sashimi but I did enjoy it on this occasion). I now like fois gras (I only, recently, got introduced to this controversial food so I was pleased to try it again). I really liked the Arpege farm egg (soft boiled with sherry, cream and maple syrup~ may sound an unlikely combination but take my word~ it was delicious). Another hit was the beef roasted, black trumpets, and chestnut with horseradish (looked like teeny pies with the horseradish inside). I could go on and on but I don't want you to get bored!!

I will, however, just mention the desserts 'fig porridge' with potimarron(squash), ice cream and milk mousse; meyer lemon cream, almonds mascapone mousse and chicory ice cream; chocolate mouse with salted butter ice cream, bourbon and peanuts; finally chestnut ice cream, milk chocolate mousse, mandarin sorbet, with crunchy chocolate biscuits. I got to try all of these as well as petit fours!

David came out to chat to us and I would really have liked to have had my photo taken with him but it would not have been the done thing!

Sam asked me to do a one line review on all the restaurants I visited in and around San Francisco and this is what I said about Manresa......"I never thought I would manage 18 courses! A wonderful variety of tastes and textures and a wonderful dining experience all-round, particularly when you get to meet the chef".

In case you are wondering I did not feel stuffed as I imagined I would, maybe that is because the meal was served very leisurely. I couldn't believe we were there for about five hours, the evening passed very quickly and it was fun anticipating what would be the next delight to be put before us!! So I think you can safely say I enjoyed my visit to Manresa, I hope it won't be my last!
When we were walking back to the car we saw this amazing view of the moon. My photo does not convey the beauty of the phenomenon we saw. I cannot remember what it is called but Fred had seen it before. I don't know if you will be able to see that the moon was completely encircled by another ring (it was much brighter than the photo shows). I'm sure there will be someone out there who can tell me what it is called!!


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2007: Fun Monday 6