ShopEatSleep

I was so excited to finally — finally! — eat at LudoBites, which eluded me in its last incarnation at BreadBar over the summer. So when Esther of e*starLA generously opened up her reservation to a bunch of her blogger friends, I happily signed on. And I had never been to Royal/T Cafe, the location for this LudoBites pop-up, so I was expecting all kinds of new experiences.

And then I got sick.

Now, I felt fine except for a ridiculously stuffy nose. After making sure I didn’t have a swine flu-like fever, I decided to still go to dinner. After all, who knows when I would be able to eat at LudoBites again, especially since reservations for the 2.5 week run sold out before opening night? So I went, determined to make the best of it.

I arrived at Royal/T not really knowing what to expect and was pleasantly surprised by the eclectic art installations and gift store that had Hello Kitty Rubik’s Cubes on Christmas trees. The night was already off to a good start.

And then I took my first bite of food and realized I couldn’t taste anything. Damn you, stuffy nose!

So I’m at LudoBites, and I can’t taste anything. Other than running to the restroom periodically to blow my nose in the hope that I would clear enough to be able to taste again, what was I to do? I decided to make the best of it and make the experience an exercise in textures (!).

We ordered two of everything on the menu, so I got to (not) taste it all.

We started off with caramelized peanuts with curry. Everyone said these were amazing.

Next up was bread soup with a poached egg and a gruyere marshmallow. This was nice and creamy, accentuated by the cheese’s crumbliness. It seemed very comforting.

The scallops with brown butter, pineapple chunks and black (squid ink) powder was interesting. The only thing I could taste was the acidity of the pineapple, but the smoothness of the scallop coupled with the crunchiness of the squid ink powder was really interesting. I’m not sure what the green stuff is, though.

Then came the foie gras beignet served with yellow celery root remoulade. The foie gras contained within the fried dough was in pieces as opposed to being in terrine form. The pieces were a little strange texture-wise with the doughnut, but not bad. The crunchiness of the celery root was a nice contrast, but I think I really missed out on the flavor combination here. Sigh.

Then came the one bite of food I could actually taste, as my nose cleared up just long enough for this miracle. I got to taste the confit pork belly, pickled mustard, vadouvan apples and frisee. I thought this was also comfort food-like, with the tender pork and apple flavors melding nicely.

Then it was back to tastelessness when the Monterey squid with chorizo oil and kimchi puree came to our table. Well, that’s not entirely true: I could taste the acidity in whatever was used to prepare the onions (was this the chorizo oil? vinegar, maybe?), which was strong. But I couldn’t even taste the kimchi! Ugh. Oh, that thin black thing on top is eggplant paper!

Next was marinated hanger steak with crunchy escargot, baby corn, bok choy and black olive mole made from Gluster’s mother’s recipe. The steak was cooked nicely, but I didn’t get one of those snails to try, unfortunately.

The veal udon with kombu dashi, mushrooms and sesame seed miso (poured on the side of the bowl) was one of my favorites, probably because it was a soup dish and I was sick! It was another menu item that I found comforting, and I could have eaten a whole bowl myself and would have been happy.

The wild stripped bass served with garden vegetables and yuzu aoili was my favorite visually. The colors were gorgeous, and I’m a sucker for mini foods, so the tiny brussels sprouts got me very excited…even though I couldn’t taste them.

The fourme d’ambert tourte with red pear and a honey balsamic sauce was an interesting take on a cheese course. I liked the idea, but alas, I couldn’t taste even this blue cheese.

Last up were the two dessert dishes. First was the chocolate cake with coconut sorbet soup and mashed rum bananas. Now, this “cake” was really more a mousse, as you can see from the photo, very different from the version that was served to the food bloggers at the FoodDigger preview dinner just days earlier. That version also had pink peppercorns sprinkled on top, which ours didn’t, though I could taste some kind of spiciness in the chocolate. The coolness of the coconut sorbet soup was a nice contrast to that spiciness, and the textural difference between those two elements and the rum bananas was nice, too. I really wished I could have tasted the flavors of this one!

The second dessert was pistachio rice milk topped with coffee chantilly and served with lemon pound cake. I really like rice pudding, which this basically was, but since I couldn’t taste any of the flavors, it all seemed like a lot of the same to me. So sad for me.

One thing that was pleasantly surprising was our bill: Split among eight people, the price per person (not including wine) came out to about $45, which I heard was much lower than LudoBites at BreadBar. At least I didn’t pay an arm and a leg to not taste anything, right? I will definitely be hitting up the next incarnation of LudoBites, hopefully with my ability to taste.

By the way, my favorite part of this meal? Being in a place where everyone — including Chef Ludo and his ultra-supportive wife, Krissy — was happy to be there sharing the same food experience in a laid-back, almost homey environment. It almost felt like one big dinner party. The fact that Ludo and Krissy are so involved in the L.A. food scene, including cooking with foodies who aren’t professionals, learning from them and conversing with them, made the whole experience feel communal. I had such a good time that I almost forgot I couldn’t actually taste the food.