While our minds were still in 1975 enjoying the long aftertaste of the intense broth, our third course arrived – a fillet of sole resting on a small portion of tagliatelle and blanketed with a thin layer of lightly toasted cheese sauce. The creamy cheesy sauce was just mild enough not to overshadow the light flavour of the fish. What a superb dish once again, but sinfully rich! We were actually rather full after this course, but we still haven’t had the main course yet!

Before the main course, thank god that they served a light sorbet, with red fruit, wine and black current. It was almost a necessity to consume this refreshing and digestive ice before carrying on.

As the server approached us with the main course, we both quickly realised that there was no way we could finish it. It was a whole Bresse chicken cooked in a pig’s bladder, stuffed with truffle, served with morel mushrooms, vegetables and rice. Located in the southern Burgundy, Bresse is a famous town in the gastronomic circle for its chicken. The whole chicken was brought in front of us for a “how to de-bone a chicken” lesson. When they first cracked the “balloon”, even drunken diners would be fully awakened by the intense truffle aroma. We could already feel the sensation of the chicken juice in our mouth. It wasn’t a small bird at all and it was meant to be shared between two people as part of a tasting menu! People back in the 70s could really eat so much? The sauce was very creamy and heavy. We were very disappointed that the chicken was quite bland and more salt was probably needed. The rice was not that great either; it felt under-cooked, soft outside but hard inside. Maybe it was just that we were too full to appreciate this course! This course was paired with a glass of red: 2002 Beaune Marconnets – a strong blackcurrant-scented wine.