Manresa, Los Gatos, USA

Dinner at Manresa comes two ways - a seven course menu, prixe fixe, where you know in advance what you will get and a tasting menu of between 10 and 12 courses where you are shown a list of ingredients and then leave the rest to the kitchen.

I selected the prixe fixe, not as I'm sure you'll accept due to a lack of adventure but largely because I've learnt my lesson here struggling to get through a multiple course epic.

Opening was with smoked avocado in a martini glass with a little onion and, I think, olive brine.

This was followed with a tourchon of duck foie gras with buckwheat. This dish was not only delicious but also rather witty - the buckwheat is toasted like miniature popcorn. California is up in arms about the imminent foie grad ban and on the basis of this dish it's hard not to feel for them. Sublime.

Butter is churned in house so it would be churlish to refuse bread right? I went for salted brioche.

Next up was the only dish on the menu I'd had before: Into the vegetable garden... It seems to have developed soil I don't recall from last time and also I rather liked it this time. The last time I ate here it was my second least favorite dish served and my heart sank when I saw it presented again tonight. Clearly last time was an aberration. I'm converted and desperate to know how such a deceptively simple looking dish gets to be so captivating. Clearly there is technique but I think it's largely down to excellent ingredients treated with respect.

Tidal pool of foie gras, abalone and sea urchin is all about the umami. Why foie in a seafood dish? Probably Chef David Kinch getting as much of the stuff out of his system as possible before the ban. However the combination of three items that many people find horrifying works brilliantly well with some mushroom and mussels in there as well.

Cod is served next with two tiny whole squid on top of what is described as 'rice less risotto' but which I'm going to call a 'chunky sauce.' Luckily this dish came with a spoon so I was saved the indignity of licking the plate. I was however contemplating attacking the last few smears with bread when the plate was whisked away, saving the illusion I have decorum.

Roast duck was the final savory course and yes you guessed it, damn fine again. I seldom choose duck outside of Chinese restaurants but this was the perfect entree after the preceding dishes. The best bit? The fat. How often can you say that?

Cheese is served after the savory courses for a supplement and struck me as generously proportioned. Selection is wide and there's plenty for those of us who don't like blue cheese.

Garden mint and lemongrass tea is served as a palate cleanser. Having listened to a colleague ask in vain after mint tea at restaurants all week it raised a wry smile.

Roast parsnip crumble with panna cotta and under ripe grape granitas is tart and ideal for waking you up after a long meal. The final dessert was bitter chocolate sorbet with cremeux and a Campari granitas and rhubarb sauce. It's the 'easiest' dish of the night. A child would love it. I could easily have eaten two.

Luckily I didn't because a surprise followed - chocolate and coconut macaroons. Unlike too many American restaurants Manresa also serves a perfect espresso!

One last thing - Manresa has had a remodel since last I was there. What was a rather unassuming dinning room is now very luxe and the service has gone the same way. The servers walk with one hand behind their backs, and everything is perfectly synchronized. They are well educated too - I asked one what ramps were and revived a potted description not only of their taste but also where geographically they grow in the wild and what land they prefer to grow on. I'm glad I ate in the old Manresa with all the things that are now tamed - the meandering service, four hour meals with an unguessable number of courses, homely decor. But this new Manresa? It's near perfection.