My favorite indulgence

On my birthday this year, J and I went to Le Beaulieu to celebrate. It's a cozy yet chic little French restaurant within the Sofitel service residence in Asoke. We've got sweet memories with this place--it was where J and I celebrated his birthday in 2006. We pretty much had the entire second floor balcony to ourselves, and despite the fact that it was his birthday, he brought me a super romantic present. =)

Anyway, back to the topic of food. I remembered that food at Le Beaulieu was good, but not mind-blowingly so. This time, however, I was pleasantly surprised by one of their dishes--foie gras terrine paired of toasted homemade brioche, red wine poached pear and arugula salad with reduced balsamic vinegar dressing. (Food description these days are so long, sometimes it sounds like horrible English to me.)

Terrine is my preparation of choice for foie gras--sauteed ones tend to be too greasy for my taste, even though technically it is less greasy than the terrine version since much of the fat has been rendered off in the cooking process. I have ordered foie gras terrine at many top French restaurants, be it in Bangkok, Singapore or San Francisco. My favorite one before Le Beaulieu's was at Ame in San Francisco. But Le Beaulieu's terrine is now the champion in my heart. Why?

The terrine itself I'd say is typically high quality, the same as I'd get at any top French restaurant. But it was the red wine poached pear that made ALL the difference, particularly the perfect temperature of the pear--it was almost ice cold. I never knew that temperature could make such a difference; but the cold pear was the key to reducing the cloying greasiness of the foie gras that typically comes after the fifth bite. It literally was the reason I could almost finish the terrine all by myself (let's try not to think about the calories or worse, the cholesterol content)!

And to further enhance this foie gras terrine, I had an ice cold glass of Moscato d'Asti, a sweet white wine from Italy. My first experience with the Moscato d'Asti was at a friend's house in the Bay Area at a wine and cheese party (oh how I miss those days), and I remembered it so well after all this time because it had such a nice, light sweetness to it. Not syrupy like Sauternes or ice wine at all, and the best part was the fresh lychee aroma. I'm not great with describing wine; I mean, I literally know nothing about wine except which ones I like, so maybe the right adjective is not exactly lychee, but that's how it was to me.

The rest of the food at Le Beaulieu was just ok. It was crazy pricey though, and I'd seriously only go back there for the foie gras terrine.

Le Beaulieu

Sofitel Residence Asoke

50 Sukhumvit 19

Tel: 02-207-3333