Cocotte @ Wanderlust Hotel Serves Up 5-Course Wine Pairing Menu

Cocotte, a French restaurant located at Wanderlust Hotel, has launched The Cocotte Table, a five-course wine pairing menu that explores the regional wines and the rustic dishes of the French countryside.

Available for dinner at $118++ ($78++ without wine pairing), The Cocotte Table is designed to be served communally, keeping in line with the casual countryside ambience Cocotte is known for, and new menus and wine pairings can be expected every month to reflect the latest seasonal offerings.

We are welcomed with a Lillet Blanc aperitif served on ice with a small wedge of orange and a mint leaf, making a refreshing start to the five-course meal. The orange wedge accentuated the fruity flavours of the aperitif.

We then move on to the pumpkin soup (soupe au citrouille), which is made from organic Japanese pumpkins grown in Cocotte’s own farm in Cameron Highlands. The soup is slightly creamy and has a smooth texture. It is topped with butter-toasted walnuts which brings out its nutty flavour, and walnut oil and rosemary which enhances the fragrance of the soup. Unfortunately, a few of the walnuts were overdone and tasted mildly bitter, but that did not affect the overall taste too much.

The soup is paired with a 2012 Yalumba Eden Valley Viognier white wine from South Australia. With a clear pale lemon colour and a fruity aroma, it makes a good complement to the soup.

The entrée dish comes with a choice of either fried salt cod and potato croquettes (croquette de brandade de morue) or a charcuterie of duck rillettes and country-style pâté (assiette de charcuterie). They are paired with a red wine, Agusti Torello Mata Cava Rosé Trepat 2012, which goes well with their slightly salty flavours.

Chunks of salt cod are encrusted in the croquettes, giving them a chewy texture and a slightly salty flavour. I prefer the charcuterie though, especially the rillettes. The rillettes is a comforting eat that goes very well with the bread basket, served fresh from the oven. It has a smooth and rich texture which is not too salty. The pâté is wrapped with a thin layer of bacon and is slightly peppery in flavour. Both items go well with the accompanying sauces of pot wine jelly and fresh mustard.

The salad (salade de poires et bleu d’Auvergne) makes a refreshing palate cleanser before the mains are served. Crunchy organic greens, pear slices and blue cheese are tossed in a hazelnut lemon dressing. I like how the intense flavours of blue cheese goes well with the pear slices. According to Chef Anthony Yeoh, the executive chef of Cocotte, almost everything in this dish comes from the Cameron Highlands farm mentioned earlier.

The salad is paired with an equally refreshing and zesty white, the 2013 Grant Burge Benchmark Semillon Sauvignon Blanc.

The mains come in seafood or steak options, with a separate wine pairing for each. The Live Blue Mussels & Clams (Moules et palourdes) were a joy to eat – the shellfish are steamed in a fennel-infused white wine crème sauce and citrus oil, enhancing their flavours with a delightful buttery fragrance. They come with a basket of hand-cut duck fat fries. The paired La Manufacture Chablis 2014 has a clear aroma and sweet freshness.

The steak au poivre makes use of premium grass-fed Cape Grim MBS 2+ 200g onglet steak, and diners have the option to change to a 300g ribeye MBS +12 steak. Served with classic green peppercorn sauce and seasonal vegetables, the hanger steak has a great peppery smoky flavour and had a good chewy texture. The wine pairing is a rich red 2009 Chateau l’Ermitage Listrac-Medoc that brings out the succulence of the steak.

We wrapped up the five-course meal with a dessert platter (assiette de dessert) of sea salt vanilla ice cream (dame blanche), crème brûlée, and honey and lavender madeleines. They offer a good mix of sweet and savoury flavours to wrap up the entire meal. I particularly enjoyed the madeleines with its mild fragrance and slight crumbling with each bite.