war of the roses

enough of wine, women and song after last night. well, almost enough...
it was the war of the roses, not between the house of york and the house of lancaster in the 15the century but between jacob's creek's sparkling rose and shiraz rose.
i know, i know - i have written at length about both wines but this time, the wines were matched with a variety of cuisine that is best called a food safari.
the safari was at the aptly named floor called feast at the starhill gallery, the new foodie complex in the centre of kuala lumpur.
the evening began with some 30 of us trooping in to sentildo tapas, owned by angie hiew - who also owns that great restaurant called flamenco and managed d'vine, both in plaza damansara, kuala lumpur.
the starter was a tapas that had marinated oysters, scallops in paprika sauce, grilled prawns and some salmon with toasted bread, more than wonderfully complimented by the jacob's creek sparkling rose.
it was just simply and absolutely a wonderful marriage of a fresh citrusy and subtly sweet sparkling rose with the range of seafood tapas.
all too soon, we had to quit our tables and walk single-file through starhill gallery's feast floor to the next restaurant - vansh, surprisingly indian - what else but an indian fine dining restaurant.
indian cuisine in kuala lumpur has been pretty indifferent of late, something which i found out after a recent trip to new delhi and discovered an amazing array of indian cuisine that would thrash the best that malaysian chefs can conjure.
but vansh vanquished any doubts with an excellent assortment of samosa, a fish cutlet, sundried tomato on bread and an indian-style nacho accompanied by a mint raita, chilli chutney and a mixed fruit yoghurt.
the shiraz rose evenly matched the range of indian dishes, except for the fish cutlet which somehow diluted the wine's complex favours.
having said that, this indian restaurant looks like a winner.
all too soon, it was time to quit vansh for the next course. the safari toured the feast floor and ended up at koryo-won korean restaurant for some famous barbecue and the ubiquitous kimchi.
let's just say that kimchi and the shiraz rose did not go together. then again, not much can match kimchi except for some korean soju. now that's another story altogether.
koryo won did not disappoint with splendidly barbecued lamb, beef and chicken in a sweet sauce. the barbecued lamb was the killer dish that danced with the shiraz rose.
the beef was slightly tough, the chicken nice and a bonus with some cuttle fish to add to the range available.
the evening, and the war of the roses was coming to an end as we ended up again at sentildo tapas for dessert.
jacob's creek chief winemaker philip laffer joined my table for dessert. we said something about getting to stop meeting this way but his face lit up when he saw the dessert combination that would make whoopee with his sparkling rose.
the dessert was the original sin.
chef angie hiew outdid herself with her dessert of four - tiramisu, chocolate mousse, snow white (cream cheese on a biscuit base) and profiteroles.
all went well with the sparkling rose except understandably for the chocolate mousse.
enough already. the war of the rose ended with the sparkling rose clearly outdoing the shiraz rose.
and angie hiew rose - pun intended - to receive the best wine matchmaker prize as her sentildo tapas cuisine more than ably matched the sparkling rose though vansh and koryo-won had their moments with the shiraz rose.

kiss from a rose

its kiss from a rose today, the song by seal from the batman forever soundtrack that came to mind at dinner.
this time we were having a jacob's creek shiraz rose to accompany a rather elegant chinese meal at the elegant inn in taman connaught kuala lumpur.
there was a difference. it was no ordinary wine dinner not that any wine dinner is ordinary.
this was the launch of the dining table - a group of gourmands dedicated to good food, great drinks and gregarious friends. and we started it auspiciously on 8.8.2005 with jacob's creek chief winemaker philip laffer whom i met over the weekend.
the evening started with the shiraz rose and proceeded to an array of jacob's creek's wines such as the riesling, chardonnay, grenache shiraz and the shiraz cabernet - all matched with the best hong kong style dishes that elegant inn's chinese restaurant could offer.
chef wesley ng, a young kelantanese, pulled out all stops in the show kitchen for the three tables that constituted the dining table.
claypot chicken wonton in a soup that was boiled for hours was the start and whetted our appetite for the rest of dishes that was quickly cooked in the show kitchen in front of us.
the shiraz rose accompanied the lotus meatcakes with hong kong silverfish and eggplant deep fried with garlic flakes, contrasting the wine's fruity flavour with the salty fish and eggplant and the sizzling meatcakes. nice was an understatement.
something fishy was in the air next. a steamed live tiger garoupa, with its intrinsic sweetness set in a sauce and complemented by a riesling. but the subtle wine lost out to the most excellent fish in taste.
out came the chardonnay to do battle with the next few dishes. we drank it with the hong kong style stir fried vegetables with garlic and crabs fried with salted egg yolk it ably matched both dishes though the crabs were distinctly and appetisingly in a class of their own - and the this image is but a poor and unworthy representation of a wonderful dish.
the chardonnay also ably accompanied the home made beancurd with meat and prawns. the beancurd just melted in the mouth, slipping and sliding suggestively with the wine in the mouth.
the night was still young and the circle of gourmands were swapping tasting notes when chef wesley ng put on a show in the kitchen.
he was frying elegant inn's special fried rice, swirling and twirling the rice and ingredients in a wok over high heat, and the results spoke for themselves.
the rice was fluffy and tasty and went pretty well with the grenache shiraz.
never quite got to the last dish of sweet and sour pork cheeks. well, i don't eat cheeks, just nibble them and frankly, sweet and sour isn't really my cup of tea, so to speak.
had the shiraz cabernet though. quite plummy.
that was the start and end of the dining table's first dinner. and an autographed bottle of jacob's creek shiraz rose was the souvenir of the night.
what an auspicious and unique start the dining table. looking forward to the next one!

rose, rose, i love you!

the song rose, rose, i love you is a very very old song, with chinese songstress yao lee recording it in 1940 and about a decade later, frankie laine cutting it in 1951.
why am i going on about this and what has it do with drinks or food? plenty.
i thought of the song as i sipped my first glass of jacob's creek sparkling rose, the latest sparkling wine from the australian master wine producer, at mizu, a japanese restaurant in bangsar village, kuala lumpur.
it was billed as an evening with a chief winemaker who turned out to be jacob's creek's philip laffer.
the rose was the star but laffer also brought along bottles of reserve chardonnay, riesling, shiraz and cabernet to go with some splendid japanese food.
featured here is the menu for the evening with a bowl that had miso soup - nice and as you can see, i finished it - a glass of shiraz on the left, finished the cabernet and the remnants of the rose.
the rose is great.
had a couple of glasses of this sparkling wine made from chardonnay and pinot noir grapes.
the non-vintage fermented sparkling wine is dry, combining the best of the citrusy chardonnay and the strawberry flavours of the pinot noir.
a soft appealing taste without the plumminess of red wines, the rose at 11.5 percent alcohol by volume, is great as an aperitif or with the dessert that we had, ice-cream with strawberry sauce. i did try it with some wasabi but it didn' t work out that well. guess there is a limit to both the rose and the wasabi.
having said that, the meal at mizu was quite good. it started with a sesame bean curd with a hint of wasabi combining well with the reserve chardonnay. a better combination followed after the clear soup when the reserve riesling superbly accompanied the shashimi trio of tuna, salmon and yellow tail with the wasabi and shoyu in attendance.
the riesling tangoed with the fish and wasabi, dancing in unison as i slowly savoured the complex flavours.
it was time for some red and the reserve shiraz made its appearance. the big and bold wine was paired with some foie gras delicately sitting on daikon or white radish in sauce. good stuff as the shiraz and the foie gras - featured here - held out their distinctive taste.
the cabernet heralded the start of the main course, a beef teppanyaki that was accompanied with rice, miso soup and pickles. quite good.
a great dinner to start the week.

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.

wyndham estate in ceylon hill

the text message came in about 4.30pm as i was whizzing down the highway from putrajaya to kuala lumpur.
want some drinks? come now!
well, of course. so the text message reply was a short
where? when?
to cut a long winded story and journey short, i made my way to ceylon hill near the still verdant bukit nanas forest reserve - where the good people from wyndham estate were having a wine tasting at bon ton.
yes, ceylon hill or rather bukit ceylon is turning into a foodie place but thats another posting for another time.
suffice to say, i made it for two drinks in an event organised by pernod ricard.
the first was a young wyndham estate bin 333 pinot noir, lightly caressing my palate like a little girl's butterfly kisses. a hint of cherries percolated through the glass and it felt soft.
a nice feeling but it left me thirsting for something more robust and lusty.
the wyndham estate folks were beginning to pack up but i took a fresh glass and poured a generous amount of the wyndham estate bin555 shiraz, went over to a table with a spread of bites, grabbed some bread sticks, plopped in some cherry tomato-olive-cheese bites and slowly appreciated the spicy shiraz.
it was peppery, plummy and definitely full-bodied. something to stir the passions.
that. as they say, was that. but the tasting was to continue at about 220 ringgit a pop for some fine chinese cuisine and more of the wines.