but guess what! i totally made it to sopra too.

i’d been offered a ride to the airport, and i thought, hmm… sopra’s on the way, and suggested that maybe a farewell luncheon would be in order. for research purposes, of course: would it be the same now that the original chef had gone? before i knew it, there were eight of us — cousins, aunt, visiting mother and random blow-in neighbour — waiting for a table to make itself available.

we waited upwards of 40 minutes, ample time to peruse the famed chalkboard menu over and over and weigh up whether to have the salad of wagyu bresaola, or of smoked trout, or of white anchovies, or…

in the end, i picked the soft poached duck egg, with asparagus, spinach, oyster mushrooms and pangrattato. oh, it was luscious. i had not had a duck egg before — are they all like this? velvety rich and creamy? stabbing the egg open resulted in a luxurious spill that coated the winsome vegetables. the fried breadcrumbs were impossibly crunchy, and very moreish.

the whole thing, really: i wanted more. it was all over before i was ready for it to end. but i suppose it meant i had some room for a taste of the rather splendid tiramisu from across the table, and a single spoonful of the kid’s eton mess — i’m sure it used to come with more than three strawberries mixed in, and this with strawberries right now in season! pah. this one was mainly a mound of whipped cream, though admittedly quite a delicious mound of whipped cream nonetheless, punctuated with shards of meringue, and generously drizzled in strawberry sauce.

so there you have it: sopra, still excellent. needs a little more fruit.