Saturday, April 30, 2005

wine dinner at fine circle in kuala lumpur


leaving bon ton, i made my way to chulan square for the coup de grace of the evening - fine wine and fine chinese cuisine at the fine circle chinese restaurant.
fine circle is a chinese restaurant unlike any other.
chef frankie woo, late of regent kuala lumpur (middle of the crew in the photo), is rated among the best chinese chefs around - even taking his wife's cooking utensils to whip up something for the fine fellows at the ferrari f1 team in kuala lumpur recently.
the wyndham estate wines made their way here on april 27, 2005 - courtesy of lionel lau (far left in the photo) and pernod ricard - for a wine and dine combination priced at rm220 including tax.
the wine - all five bottles of an array of bouquet and taste - was the excuse for the dinner and both combined for a heavenly repast.
once pre-dinner drinks and the obligatory presentation got out of the way - together with cones of peanuts, the dinner table opened up with a queue of numbered glasses, for us to know what we were drinking and for the waiters to serve the right wine in the right glass.
that art and science of wine glass and wine remains a mystery to me. but it works. ever tried wine in a plastic or a paper cup. not good. well, not even in an ordinary glass.
be that as it may, dinner started with grilled scallop lemon grass skewer, watercress & black sesame with watercress dressing.
the watercress dressing softened the bittersweet grilled scallop and the wyndham estate bin 777 semillon sauvignon blanc kept everything light and easy with its hints of lemongrass and just the barest trace of a starfruit. i wasn't too sure if the lemongrass was from the dish or the wine but a few long sips confirmed it came from the wine.
a bit too light for me.
but it whetted my appetite and the next dish confirmed frankie's genius. it was a wok-seared cod fillet with deep fried fish skin in soya butter sauce. how sexy is that. it looked and tasted like a babe in a boob tube slathered with honey.
it went really well with the wyndham estate show reserve chardonnay. this was a wine worth waiting as it robustly displayed traces of peach and melon together with a nutty flavour to celebrate the cod fillet. would anything exceed this? i waited with anticipation.
more was to come. it was chef frankie woo's exquisite new style mini buddha jump over the wall - a combination of black chicken, shark's fin, abalone in a most excellent broth within a young coconut.
i have to confess that i have never had even the old style buddha jump over the wall, a fujian dish, so i have to say that i can't make any comparison. but it was good, combining well with the wyndham estate bin 555 shiraz that i had had earlier in the evening.
the fragrant broth that hinted of chinese herbs and bitters complemented the full bodies shiraz's peppery and plummy bouquet. a civilisational clash it was not!
of course, why do they call it buddha jump over the wall? according to a dinner companion, it implies that the dish so delicious that even the Buddha would jump over a wall to eat it once he smelled it. true!
the night soared higher with foie gras in a soft boiled egg. sumptuous is the word for this dish. the delicate flavours of the foie gras mixed well with the runny yolk and egg white. coupled with the rather berry but soft and frothy wyndham estate bin 555 sparkling, climax was achieved.
it was turning into a heady and hot night.
the peak was in sight as the waiters brought in the main meal - braised lamb shank with preserved chinese spinach and cream noodle. it was a stew of tender lamb and bits of marrow that made you just want to pick it up with your fingers and suck away all night long.
fine dining manners was the order of the night as some delicately positioned it with their chopsticks and proceeded to work on it, a symphony of wind instruments with lips liberally lubricated by the spicy and berry wyndham estate show reserve shiraz.
i was tempted to just mix in the show reserve shiraz with the lamb shank gravy and enhance the taste of paradise but before i knew it, neither gravy nor wine was to be seen. i had finished it, unwittingly and quickly.
gob-smacked is the word that i was looking for. and found it.
would the night ever end? it did. the dessert did us in.
chilled ginseng consomme jello syrup with sea coconut brought the dinner to a lingering end as the sea coconut flesh commingled with the ginseng consomme jello and syrup. ginseng roots were the garnish and the total package tasted and felt like an aphrodisiac.
it also pretty much cut and cleaned out the wines from the body system that night. a few more glasses of sparkling and show reserve shiraz put it right.
and a cup of chinese tea - the most obligatory of beverage in a chinese restaurant.
a good night was had by all.

3 comments:

@;) said...

photos updated for delusionary cinderella. you just wanted to see the lamb shanky action again, didn't you?

Anonymous said...

is that woman chewing on a lamb shank, bone marrow, tulang......."don't eat meat but chew on the bone"
what is the semiotics of it all??

@;) said...

thats a man with a turban winking.