Malaysian Boleh!

Lionel: Hidden within the concrete jungle that is Kuala Lumpur, there is a chef. A chef like no other, a chef that first learn how to cook at the tender age of 11, a chef that learned this very important beginning from his grandmother, a chef from Lumut. A chef that honed his skill later on in the hells kitchens of Michelin stars in London!

The lamb to kill for!

But now he is back in Malaysia, and Malaysian boleh! As some of us foodies wonder about the future of fine food and fine dining, now we have hope!
Try Chef Hafiz at Chinoz on the park and leave with a smile on your face and probably a very satisfied burp or two! That’s what we did at a dinner last night. Actually this was the second time we dined there and he has excelled himself on both occasions. We started the night with an excellent Pinot Gris from Escarpment which is hailed by the famed winemaker of Martinborough, Larry McKenna. This was almost the perfect wine to handle the starters of Tuna Tartare with anchovy toast. Wonderfully weighted, balanced with enough body to handle the tuna with the raw egg yet enough acidity to cut through the anchovy toast. Oily yet light, lip smacking good!
This was followed by a lovely Barbera d’Asti from Giacosa, juicy yet still fairly tight it was surprisingly versatile. Because if you have had Barberas before you would know what I meant, with some of them totally unpalatable and the excuse that Italian wines are meant for food just doesn’t cut it anymore, but this bottle surely changed my mind.
Beautiful NZ Escarpment Pinot Gris, more to NZ than just Sauv Blancs!

Last but not least was the star of the evening, now like all good winos do, we started with the wine before the main dish. It was one of my personal favourites from Chateauneuf du Pape from Deus-ex Machina, Clos Saint Jean 2003. This wine was awarded 95 points by Robert Parker when it was first released and upgraded to a perfect score of 100 after a recent tasting, and we couldn’t agree with him more. As the wine lingers in the glass, it is almost like nosing and drinking a liquid Black Forest cake, amazing. So there is Chris saying that he hoped the Lamb would do the wine justice and that it would be gamey enough!
Bang, it was like Hafiz heard him and the best damn lamb saddle came out of the kitchen. This is a lamb dish to kill for if you like your meat and I am definitely going back for more of this!

All lined up and waiting!

The Barbera and the amazing Chateauneuf du Pape 2003 !

A wine cellar?

Lionel: Recently someone asked me what they should do to start a wine cellar at home. He had just moved into a new house and was thinking of converting a storage room into a wine cellar. Now, in my simple mind, building a wine collection means always having a good bottle on hand. You can go the next step and buy wines for aging, but that's not necessary: Since nine and a half wines out of ten are sold ready to drink—and even some traditionally age-worthy reds from Bordeaux and Burgundy are delicious when young—there's no need to put aside most bottles for extra maturation unless you want to.

With regards to storage I believe that as with doctors, the primary rule of wine storage is "First, do no harm." The two conditions that most threaten wine are direct sunlight and extreme heat or cold. Try to keep bottles someplace dark and cool (preferably, between 8 and 14 degrees Celsius). And no your bedroom with the air-con coming on and off is not going to be good enough!

Your wine collection will quickly come to reflect your personal tastes, but the suggestions here may be helpful for beginners. They cover a range of choices, from inexpensive bottles to pop open on a Friday night with left overs to age worthy wines to pull out when that special someone you want to impress drops by.

What to buy
Fallen Angel Methode Traditional Brut This sparkling wine from New Zealand has the right mix of richness and verve to partner with everything from spicy Asian food to fried chicken.

Dom Perignon 1999 From the legendary House of Moet, arguably the most famous cuvee prestige champagne in the world. What else can you say that hasn’t already been said before. The dryness, snap of acidity wil work with fresh seafood, Tim Sum, Sushi . Must have!

Wolf Blass President Selection Chardonnay 2006 This soft, juicy Australian white is less overtly rich than many of its Oz rivals. Refreshing, with aromas of sappy yellow apple and lemon.

Villa Maria Sauvignon Blanc 2005 From New Zealand’s famed and cool Marlborough region, this white has a lean edge and a fresh finish, with a touch of varietal herbiness and pineapple.

Saltram Estate Wine Makers table Shiraz 2007 This red-cherry, spicy white pepper Shiraz makes this Australian red firm with lots of plum-currant flavour. Oaky but harmonious.

Chateau Pouget, Margaux 2003 In the Cabernet-dominated Médoc, this interesting cru classe winery has had a renaissance of sorts. As a result, this aromatic red from a excellent vintage is very supple. It's tasty now and will age well for 8 to 10 years.

Alex Gambal, Nuits St Georges Les Peuliers 2000 From a vintage noted for abundant fruit character, this luscious red Burgundy is scented with violets and licorice and something like sun-baked black cherries. Vibrant now, it will reward 10 to 15 years of aging.

Rustenberg John X Merriman 2005 This sleek new wine from South Africa was crafted full of black fruit, violets, vanilla icing and spice.

Quinta de Noval, Silval vintage port 2000. Vintage Porto can require years to mature, but this wonderful wine, is ready now. Rich,sweet and full of cinnamon and candied-plum flavors.

Star Selection
Alex Gambal Puligny Montrachet 2004
The wine is generously voluptious and compulsively drinkable, with a lovely expression of peach, citrus, melon, butter, honey and wildflowers. Plus if you can pronounce the name, you will impress everyone!

Down the memory lane in Pudu

Chris Low: It's was last Friday when my friend Max called me after having drunk an expensive and rare bottle of Harlan Estate red 2003(money can't buy!) We end up gathering today in this hidden jewel of a restaurant with old school style cooking-Sek Yuen in Pudu.



The first time I indulged myself in this restaurant that uses wood fire to cook (yes, not even charcoal)...I was 7 years old. Sorry that I'd forget my camera again but this gives me an excuse to revisit this gem of an eatery again in the very near future?



All the dishes we ordered were basically humble home style cooking but seriously good food. Stir Fried sweet potato shoots with garlic, (yau-zham) deep fried grass carp, deep fried crispy-preserved bean curd pork belly that we paired it with the champagne I like of late-Drappier Blanc de Noir 2002.



We then uncork a bottle of 2003 Volnay from Bouchard Pere & Fils and a 2000 California Zinfandel with the fame"Pei Pa" Duck. A wonderful wine pairing for this crispy poultry!



When our dear friend Mr. Lee decided he hadn’t had enough and ordered stir fried petai with garlic & dried shrimp, stir fried kang-kong with garlic, stuffed sea cucumber with fish paste in Crystal broth. Yum!



Time came to leave the restaurant, we were stop by heavy down pour so we decided to stay and were tempted by the restaurant’s lady boss and ordered deep fried shrimp in yam fritter(kwai Fah-prawn). Man this dish is a killer; it looks like a London style fish & chips but fluffy in the inside.



Mr. Lee got up again and we thought this time he was going to washroom but 5 minutes later, (Wah Yeng) the lady boss brought out a plate of steam (Pak Cheat) chicken.
This not your ordinary steam chicken but the skin taste like jelly yet it's chewy with the meat so tender even the chicken breast could be cut using our spoon!



What’s the damage after feeding 5 hungry souls. RM189.50 including a complimentary plate of fresh cut fruits and ultra friendly service. (I hope they didn’t under charge us...)



Ok. Lionel, I promise we will go together next time (with camera)



Burbs...!

champagne & curry?

The half empty bottle of Bruno Paillard Brut Premier cuvee N/V with what’s left of the food.


Lionel: Went to my friends Farah & Graham’s wedding party last night. What a party! I am still recovering from the obvious over indulgence of food, wine, champagne, cigars and dancing.
Set in a modern Indian restaurant, we had our own version of a monsoon wedding with the rain being substituted by a deluge of champagne. The champagne in mention this night was a wonderful brut premier cuvee non vintage from the house of Bruno Paillard. A wonderfully elegant wine dominated by Pinot Noir and considered by the house as the flagship for their style of wine.
This is all from a man who started the winery from scratch in a rented building and purchase grapes at the ripe old age of 27 after selling his classic old Jaguar for a 15000 euro starting capital. All these from a region that hasn’t seen a new champagne house in centuries.
Try this wonderful champagne if you can and you will be amaze at its resilience and poise in handling the spicy grilled lamb chops, curry butter chicken, tandoori grilled salmon and even the lamb curry.

Roast Goose and which wine challenge part 3

Lionel: okay, it is definitive. The Goose is much gamier, stronger in taste overall and has much more fat than the duck. Hence, it is quite amazing that the champagne worked so well, albeit a Blanc de noir. Furthermore, the champagne even worked with the Suin lat choy, or Khai choy, a humble dish which its flavours just explode with the introduction of the champagne!
We also had a wonderful, but a tad too young Beaune Les Cras Premier Cru 2005, lovely wine, savoury and powerful but needed a bit more time, excellent with the goose but maybe a bit too tart for the duck,
But the winner of the day has to be the Chateuneuf du Pape from Domaine Ville Julienne 2003. A warm year but the wine had enough acidity still and what a combination, outstanding with the goose and just enough not to overpower the duck.
This restaurant name Wei Kee in Pudu is excellent and I would like to ask everyone who like duck or has never had goose to try them and let me know what wine works for you!

sake and then there is sake

Lionel: Interesting lunch the other day as I was approached by a company to try some of their sakes and possibly help them find an importer in Malaysia. First and foremost, the Fukugen brewery is an old and established sake producer since 1758. This was the Edo period when the Samurai rode the streets and ruled the land. Owned by the Hirabayashi family, it has been passed from generation to generation and currently the president is the eighteen generation Seiko Hirabayashi.

Now to have a woman run a traditional family business like this is unusual enough, but Seiko is an impressive woman. Not only does she have pretty radical and forward thinking ideas on how to promote sake, she is also involve in the fashion business in Italy. Did I mention that she is good looking too?

Anyway, I digress. she apologize for only having 2 samples of pretty basic sake and not the best stuff which she promised to sent over.(yum, yum) the first bottle was one which she said had the best response from traditional wine lovers and we could see why. Medium bodied with slightly floral, fruity nose it reminded me of an Italian Pinot Grigio and Chardonnay.

Now the second smaller bottle was a lot sharper, tart but still with a very pleasant fruity nose without the sourish nose you usually find with some sakes. Very nice indeed and if these is the basic stuff, I can't wait for the better stuff to arrive.

Look out for the Fukugen sake!

Hell break loose at Vintry

Chris Low:
Chris Low: Just a day before our A5 Kobe feast. I met a group of friends in Vintry Damansara.Started with Ch Duzac 2003-Quite tannic on the palate for a Margaux GCC...perhaps is still young but follow with harmonious and elegance aftertaste. I must say this is one of the underrated Bordeaux GCC.Then our thirst lead us to Ch Pouget 2002(4th growth Margaux), I must say 2002 is drinking very well now; black currant+white pepper and a touch of farmyard. We wash our wines with some homemade roast pork and deep fried pork belly(I love pork belly)Third bottle we knock the door of a bottle of OZ cab sauv from Stone cellar-Red Nectar 2005(we are actually now at the newly reopen rib shop which is 4 doors away from Vintry, ordered the Caramelised spicy pork and roasted asparagus)Just before we had enough another friend joined us and we went back to Vintry and end our night with three bottles of Tattinger NV Champagne .(OH YES! the fish head rice noodle soup from Kah Soh is not a bad idea for supper and went gorgeous with the bubbly)

Cing! Cing!

What happen when you don't take beef?

Chris Low: A fine Thursday evening meeting up with friends in a cosy restaurant in Thengkat Thong Shin. My friend Thomas don't take beef and we have 3 bottles of solid red wine . A 1994 Cru Bourgeois, Ch.Camensac 1999 and a Dominus 1994(RP99).



So my challenge is too order dish that can handle the tannin of our wines and we ordred below:

Tuna Loin with baby Octopus. Work superb with Camensac and the Dominus

Pan seared scallop with mohama(cured tuna). The acidity of the Camensac handle harmony with this dish. Duck Breast-All three wine works; but he Dominus bring out the the flavour of the duck most. Lamb Cutlet. I prefer this dish with he 1994 Cru Bourgeois.

You only live once

Lionel: okay, some people who read this might cringe that this is happened inspite of the current economic and austarity trend. But I say you only live once and my motto in life has always been "Carpe Diem" Latin for "Sieze the day".

Okay, I know they didn't have this in mind when they coined the term but we definitely lived up to the spirit. Let me start at the beginning;

Almost two years ago, a small group of wine and food lovers gathered for a dinner with each bringing a bottle wine each to pair with the food. It then became a monthly affair which I am proud to say has allowed us to drink some pretty amazing wines!

Now although each dinner is different and generally simple but good food. Occasionally, we sort of throw the whole hog in if you get what I mean. So to the dinner in mention, we had decided to have a barbeque but this wasn't your simple sausages and chicken wings stuff. We had managed to get our hands on an amazing slab prime grade A5 Kobe beef, fyi this is suppose to be the best grade of Kobe(55% polyunsaturated fat) at a price lets just say was the average salary of sales manager.

This was just the most amazing piece of beef to put in one's mouth and the wines we served was pretty good too! But I must admit, at the end of the evening, we all agreed that the best beverage with the meat was actually a beer! Mind you, this wasn't your average beer but a RM20 beer from a boutique brewer in western Australia called Little Creatures pale ale.

You have to try this beer if you don't like the taste of beer! It will change your mind, I gurantee it! Find it at a shop name Bottles & Bottles in The Gardens, Mid Valley.

There were 2 wines in particular that does deserve special mention, a wonderful Cornas and the Stags Leap Wine Cellars Cask 23 1995. Cornas is from the Northern Rhone, primarily made from Syrah and it is just an amazing expression of the grape that just cannot be replicated anywhere else. Stags Leap Cask 23 is the legendary wine that came out tops at the Judgement of Paris tasting. I know some people can't get their head around Californian wines, trust me you have to try some of these and not the new over extracted juggernauts they call cult garage wines. Because these wonderful single vineyard wines are amazingly Bordeaux like, imagine a Bordeaux in a warm ripe year, elegant but without the somewhat harsh greeness. Wonderful!

Roast Goose and which wine challenge

Lionel: Okay, I am throwing down the gauntlet and will be conducting the HK roast goose and which wine challenge next Thursday, 21st August at 2pm at Wei Kee HK roast goose restaurant in Pudu.

Anyone who wants their say or even if you just want to turn up and try the food and wine, drop us a mail and we will coordinate it. Chris and I will bring 2 bottles each of what we think will work and if anyone has their own suggestions, please bring the bottle along and just pay for your food!

Judging will be done as systematiclly as possible( we will try before we reach inebriation). I will be bringing a Brunello di Montalcino and Chateaneuf de Pape.

Anyone?

value for money?

Lionel: recently, I've been approached quite a few times to recommend wines for wedding partys, engagement partys etc. The brief is always similar, good wine, can handle various types of food, suit the local taste buds and crucially, reasonable in price lah!

talk about wanting to have your cake and eating it as well! But after going tru numerous bottles, I think I've actually found a wine that should feel all the above criteria. I am sure that there are others out there that can fit the bill as well but this is for the moment, is a very good choice.

There is a tradition in Latin speaking countries to name a winery after a woman. But with all traditions, this is not compulsory. Most of us, whether in Chile or anywhere else, subscribe to tradition out of a sense of romanticism. Concha y Toro is Chile’s largest winery. In fact, it was the first winery in the world to list on the New York Stock Exchange.

The winery was founded in 1883 by Melchor Santiago de Concha y Cerda. “Don Melchor”, you probably know, is dedicated to the founder and one of the winery’s top wines. Although the winery did not follow the Chilean tradition of dedicating the winery to a woman, it has compensated by naming a lovely wine to Emiliana Subercaseaux, wife of Don Melchor.

I have tasted two vintages of Chateau Subercaseaux, a cabernet sauvignon and a sauvignon Blanc recently and they have all impressed with their consistent quality and good winemaking. Considering the price of around RM40 per bottle this is one of the best value-for-money wines imaginable. And it works with most local food as well!

Curry & Tom Yam paired with wine?

Lionel: My wife took me to a newly opened Thai restaurant named Erawan out in Kota Damansara last night.

And although not completely ready for hordes of customers, the pride that the owners and more importantly the chef showed in their food augurs well for this establishment!

I know I've said many times in the past that soups are generally not a good pairing with wine and the best wine for Thai food would probably be a rose. I decided to bring along a bone dry Riesling and see how it would work.

The appetizer of Mien Kam, which is basically a salad of raw daun kadok filled with dried shrimp, fried shredded coconut, raw shallots, ginger, nutmeg, roasted peanuts and some kind of secret paste. This worked really well with the Jacobs Creek Steingarten Riesling 2003.

This is one of my personal favourite wines, bone dry, its almost like drinking a pure lime, & Lemon juice with absolutely no sugar, hints of minerals abound almost similar to licking wet stone! Great food wine this one.

The real surprise was how it got on with the Tom Yam Kung, not clashing, not harmonizing either but just remain status quo on the palette.

But boy, it was delicous with the chicken green curry, releasing a multitude of new flabours in the wine, such as some sugar sweetness, hints of grapes juxtapost with a enhance lemony flavours. In Chris's favorite line: it releases an explosion of flavours!

China and wine

Lionel: The ongoing Beijing Olympics should if anything re-enforce China’s status as a superpower in the world. Their nearest Asian rivals will probably Japan or maybe South Korea.

But away from sports, China lags far behind Japan in one area. Wine. No, not buying power or increasing choice from around the world nor growing sophistication in the appreciation of wine or, for that matter, growth of domestic vineyards. No, it’s not all those aspects but another in which Japan not only trounces China as the undisputed leader in Asia. I am referring to the number of qualified wine service professionals or sommeliers.

China may have many world-class athletes but, for the moment, it does not have many qualified sommeliers of international standard. Presently, a handful of foreigners, including overseas Chinese, dominate wine service, particularly in Shanghai. Things will change though. And because this is China, they will change very quickly, probably spurred on by the games itself.

Within the next few years, you will see several handfuls of confident, well-informed and articulate Chinese sommeliers. Actually, the talent is already there although this ready pool is probably over-qualified. There are, for example, more than 200 qualified oenologists in China who may not, however, regard being a sommelier as being the trade for which they were originally trained. Given that there are fewer winemaking jobs than the supply of trained oenologists can possibly fill, some may ultimately filter into the food & beverage and hospitality industries. We hope!

Roast Goose and which wine pt 2

Lionel: Okay, I know this is about goose and duck again, but I had roast duck for dinner while watching the Opening of the Beijing games. Luciky I ordered ahead cuz when I got there at 6pm, they were telling customers that they were all sold out. Guess everyone decided to have duck and watch the games. But then again this place has one of the best roast duck( or as Chris informed me, it is correctly called " Ham sui Siew Ngap". Its a little place in Paramount Gardens named Loong Foong.

Okay, I digress. Roast duck and some one brought char siew to the pot luck party too. So what did I drink with these two lovely dishes? A lovely, incredible value for money Pinot Noir from California named Garnet Carneros Pinot Noir 2005 from Saintsbury. A great buy from Singapore for about S$70 I think. trust me I think its worth much more.

Try and find this the next time you drop my Singapore cuz I'm not sure if you can find it here. a great drop with Char Siew and roast Duck!

Roast Goose and which wine

Lionel Lau: Today, I went to Pudu to check out the roast goose! “Wei Kee” Roast Goose restaurant, a KL institution amongst those who cherish classic Hong Kong style roast Goose and duck. Unfortunately, I haven’t been back to this restaurant for more than 10 years for one reason or another.
But as my brother mentioned not too long ago that he had heard of this restaurant and had always liked goose, we decided to check out my fading memory and do some old fashioned leg work to track it down.
Luckily all the years of wine, women and song had not completely destroyed my memory cells and we actually found it without too much difficulty.
THE BEST ROAST GOOSE IN KL. The restaurant still looks the same, even the sign board hasn’t change but none of the previous waiting staff is there but the food is just as good and although we didn’t bring wine with us on this trip. Chris and I were in a serious discourse as to what would work with the gameyness of the goose and yet have enough acidity to handle the fat from the ever wonderful crispy skin.
A Volnay or Pommard, classic Burgundys, it definitely needed something stronger than a new world Pinot Noir! But what about a Brunello de Montalcino perhaps?
Well we will be back there soon with some wine and have the results posted soon enough, wait! What about a rose champagne or a blanc de noir?

Beware!!Not a healthy salad!!

Chris Low: Beside bringing back some good wine and dining experience from Bordeaux, France this April. I brought back recipe from my friend Bruno Macarez's mother in-law...she is the lady owner of Chateau de Ribebon. This dish is so good that Lionel and me have an idea to remake this dish in our friend's daughter birthday party where i pretended i can cook again...

So what is the fuss of this dish?. A Salad of rocket lettuce pack with trio of smoke duck breast, duck terrine, duck foire gras, hammon and a good hand full of deep fried duck fat. It took about 2 kg of raw duck fat to get just enough of tiny bit of the crispy duck fat for 10 people...and the rewards for the chef and his commis chef who prepare the dishes for that evening include...Champagne Crystal 1996 and Champagne Salon 1996 and the highlight of that night was horizontal of vintage 2000 Bordeaux which in clude Figeac, L’Angelus, Canon La Gaffeirre and Ducru-Beacaillou.

Chateau Owner who nearly married a fu-chow girl?

Chris Low: Was attending our friend Yin How's wine tasting on Monday and the ambience reminds me of the warm atmosphere of a lunch we had in Chateau Ducru Beaucaillou early April this year. Where it was fun and so many newly met friends giving their opinions and thoughts of the wine and food we enjoy.

The lucnh start with a Stir fry squid ring which look like a 'kong poh squid' but it was great.

The main dish is special, Casserole of Turbot with spring vege...well, not every time you can enjoy a meal that a chateau owner-Mr.Bruno Borie cook for you! And to top up the afternoon, a vertical of Ducru Deaucaillou. The is the most memorable lunch so far in my life. No Joke!

Ask and you shall receive

Chris and Lionel: We've added a new section to our blog called ASK AND YOU SHALL RECEIVE AN ANSWER which you can see on the right column of this blog.
So drop us an email at thecorkbrothers@gmail.com, or just comment on our postings, to ask us anything you may want to know about which wine we think goes with what kind of dish. We'll post your questions and offer you our humble take on any kind of conundrum you present us.

Ask and you shall receive

Chris and Lionel: We've added a new section to our blog called ASK AND YOU SHALL RECEIVE AN ANSWER
So Drop us an email at thecorkbrothers@gmail.com, or just comment on our postings, to ask us anything you may want to know about which wine we think goes with what kind of dish. We'll post your questions and offer you our humble take on any kind of conundrum you present us.

Shenzhen Food Adventure-Day One

Chris Low: Was in Shenzhen over the weekend for a business trip and was pampered by my friends Benson and Mr. Zhang over a private dinner at (Fung Huang Low) in Louhu district. We had a few bottles of wines but the star of the night was Champagne Pommery Cuvee Louise 2002; it worked magically with stir fried squid with red chili+ light soya sauce and steam fish.

A special mention here of the flat noodle served - I never had kway teow that's crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside-SO GOOD!

Shenzhen Food Adventure-Day Two

Chris Low: Continued my food adventure in Shenzhen and was invited to a wine dinner in Laurel Restaurant at Century Plaza Hotel. The evening started off great with Champagne J.De Telmont Grande Reserve Brut. Then i was impressed with the 2004 Chateau Lascombes and Chateau d' Armaihac which is so accessible at this young stage;paired harmoniously with the Braised Jumbo Mushroom with Sea-Cucumber and my favourite dish of the evening, the Braised+Simmered Pork Belly (though i think Malaysia's dark sauce bak kut teh would also be great with Ch.Lascombes)

Fish with red wine????

LIONEL: Had dinner with a close friend and fellow vino at one of my favourite chinese restaurants in KL, Elegant Inn at Menara Hap Seng. This restaurant which has its roots in the humble suburb of Taman Connaught, has arguably the best fried rice in town.

The old ambience alas is gone in this new outlet, it is more modern and but the man behind the kitchen is still at the helm. We started dinner late and dove straight into a red, having not seen the bottle, I swore that this was a Bordeaux from the left bank( Cabernet Sauvignon dominated) and from a vintage of no more than 10 years old. Imagine my shock and horror that the only thing I got right was the region.

It was a Chateau L'Arrosee, Grand Cru Classe from the right bank( Cabernet Franc, merlot dominated) from 1986, a 22 year old wine that tasted almost as fresh as the day it was released!!! Fantastic, it had enough accidity and balance to handle the fried beancurd and wasn't over-powered by the Crabs in salted egg yolk.

This was followed by a Chateau Cos d'Estournel 1996, which was amazing with the braised(Loong Tun) giant garoupa with roast pork. yum, yum!

Proves great wines with great food always is well worth the effort!