Wine Degustation with Quarter Twenty One

I thought I'd try my best to recall step by step the wonderful experience Mr.HEA and I had on our latest date night, celebrating the end of last week at Quarter 21. I'll let on soon enough what we were celebrating, but this post is dedicated to a first experience for me, Wine pairing with food. Whilst I've always loved wines and good food, it has always been a bit too much for me to have more than a bottle's worth of wine so I have been apprehensive. This experience however, it just seemed apt as we had received a gift voucher for our wedding and Mr.HEA wanted for me to experience this. He didn't go for this as one of us had to be the responsible one for the night.

Mr. HEA's Basil Martini

Amuse bouche

 Just a burst of flavour that leaves you wanting more.

Salad of beetroot with endive, Baw Baw blue, hazelnut and pear

2010 Coombe Farm Pinot Gris, Yarra Valley, VIC, Australia

 One of my obsessions at the moment is beetroot with a goat's cheese so this salad was right up my alley. The wine smelt strong, to take on that Baw Baw flavour was in fact a really light wine, almost like water, very refreshing to wash down the cheese with.The pear, if saved for just the right intervals, leave you with a good crisp sweetness to tide over the bitter endives and cheese with.

Raviolo of ocean trout and king prawn with fennel and ginger

2009 Hugh Hamilton Viognier, McLaren Vale, SA, Australia

 We really enjoyed the fresh and sweet seafood in this Raviolo. The stock was just as sweet. Whilst the Viognier might not have been too palatable by itself (Mr.HEA scrunched up his nose), paired with this dish, the dryness takes away the sweetness to prepare you for another bite.

(not pictured)

Bourride of ocean jacket with mussels, squid and saffron rouille

2008 Victory Point Chardonnay, Margaret River, WA, Australia

There are several reasons why this dish wasn't picutred. Firstly, we were told this dish was scallop and I was very distracted because it didn't look like scallop. Then the Chardonnay was delectable with a smooth buttery finish, and with this silky ocean jacket, I swooned throughout the flavours.



Seared Queensland scallop with boudin noir & Jerusalem artichoke

2010 Yering Station Pinot Noir ‘Village’, Yarra Valley, VIC, Australia

 I questioned the waiter as to why the scallop dish was paired with a red wine. He assured me it would be fine. And this was because of the boudin noir, which in my innocence, I did not realise was a blood sausage. Just as the irony taste gets too much, you chew a bit of scallop and then wash it off your tongue with the Pinot Noir and finish it all off with the charred leek. Quite a divine mix for the tastebuds after all.

Slow cooked Riverina lamb with broad beans, artichoke & piperade jus

2009 Hugo Shiraz, McLaren Vale, SA, Australia

or

 Mr. HEA got this dish and thought the lamb a little bloody, but overall very tender and with good peppery flavours.

Slow-cooked Glenloth Farm pheasant, braised endive, raisin, caper & Grand Marnier

2010 Woodstock Cabernet Sauvignon, McLaren Vale, SA, Australia

 I took on the Pheasant cause Mr.HEA in his ignorance thought this meant rabbit and didn't like the thought of it. I knew it was a game bird, laughed haughtily and enjoyed it tremendously with the soft CS they served with it. Rather mellow flavours here, both the dish and the wine and I am beside myself.

(palate cleanser not pictured)

Champagne chiboust, mint & rockmelon

 Mr.HEA detests rockmelon, but his mother would have been shocked to see him down this sorbet with gusto. Perhaps with Champagne to mask its flavour, he is easier to please.

Banana crème brûlée, salted peanut brittle & milk coffee sorbet

Domaine des Bernardins, Muscat de Beaumes de Venise, Rhone Valley, France

or

Oh, really the best creme brulee I had ever had. The crunch of the caramelised top usually is enough to keep us going, but the hidden peanut brittle was a lovely delight and overall, the mixture of the salt and bitterness from the coffee sorbet was washed down surprisingly well with the French Muscat. I am bewildered as to how a sweet wine is just the thing to take the edge off a rather rich dessert as this, but the sugars counter each other it would seem and I am left with a balanced palate.

Warm 68% Alto Beni Zokoko chocolate pudding, honeycomb & pear sorbet

2008 Cookoothama Botrytis Semillon, Darlington Point, NSW, Australia

 Mr.HEA's dessert for the night, which he adored, gaga-ing when the chocolate oozes out of the fondant and really loving the crackle of the honeycomb.



Mr.HEA orders a flat white that is all heart...



Complimentary madeleines which I didn't quite need nor fancy.

Other things deserving a mention were the extremely fantastic crusty Becasse bread they serve at the beginning of the meal; our waiter's wonderful attention to detail (bringing exactly the right wine for my meal pairing, waiting patiently for Mr.HEA and I had to taste both dishes and then swap based on which one we prefered); and the beautiful ambience of the restaurant - I really liked the luxurious chairs and the french white brick walls.

I wish Quarter 21 will stay around for a long time. It is a good unpretentious place with great service and fabulous food. Word is they have gone into Voluntary Administration, but if they keep up doing all this great work, I really cannot fathom that this isn't their pathway to suceed.

Dining at Sokyo



Delightful Sokyo dishes from Left to Right
Top Row:
1) Jumbo King Prawn - Scorched onion, flat white dashi
2) Cuttlefish - Chilli de arbol, tarragon ponzu sauce
3) Tsukune Chicken - Shallots, pineapple ginger sauce
4) Kurobuta Pork Belly - Spicy shirodashi, yuzu kosho
5) Sashimi Platter - 24 pieces of mixed traditional sashimi

Middle Row:
1) Spicy Tuna Crispy Rice - Crispy nigiri, truffle salt, spicy mayo
2) Kingfish Furikake - Sokyo furikake, citrus paste, tosazu3) Salmon Belly Aburi - Spicy daikon oroshi

Desserts Row:
1) Donatsu - Pineapple mascarpone filling, crème fraiche ice cream
2) Goma Street - Caramelised white chocolate, sesame ice cream
3) Sokyo “Mochi Ice Cream” - Yatsuhashi kyoto mochi, frozen strawberry milk shake

Large Picture at the end :
Hokkaido Scallop Yuzu Honey

A large space with an abundance of patrons, we were amazingly shrouded away from the public by these large Rope veils. Although not enclosed, there was a sense of privacy. Between eight of us, the restaurant offered up sufficiently gorgeous platters of decadent and vibrant Japanese flavours and we managed to try a fair few things on the menu.

I am not hesitating if there is another opportunity to visit again sometime.

The finer side of Canberra

Much as I was campaigning for the lesser known southern highlands vineyards in the last couple of years amongst my friends, this beautiful region of great produce surrounding Northern Canberra has eluded me, until this past long weekend.

When approached by friends to plan for a surprise birthday trip there, I did mentally wrinkle up my nose, but because I knew I could trust these guys' taste (they know which foods and wine are generally to die for), I decided to throw caution to the wind and go along to see.

The weekend drive began with a massive fog which very quickly cleared up to become clear blue skies for the two days we were there:

We all drove up to Poacher's pantry as the meeting point and also to 'surprise' the birthday boy who was expecting to spend just a romantic brunch with his newly wed wife. Tip for other wives planning similar bonanzas, if your husband is really clued on then, this is no easy feat to pull off. We didn't realy surprise the Birthday boy at all, other than with how good the menu was at Poacher's.


Pictured above from left: Potato and tasty pecorino frittata with a side of bacon, hash brown and yummy green tomato relish; L.F.T -

Poachers smoked mountain pepper lamb, whipped fetta and oven roasted tomato served on rustic style toast and; walking up to the smokehouse cafe

  We stayed at the Redbrow Garden, and was lucky enough to book three of the four spacious lakeside ensuite rooms and had an allocated lounge all to ourselves.



Clockwise from top: Beautiful peony roses; The Dingy you are welcome to take out on the lake; The four guestrooms;  Lakeview from the rooms




We visited the Clonakilla Winery on Crisps Lane first and most the group (even the hard to please ones) took a liking to their reislings. Failing to find the cellar door of Capital Wines afterwards, we headed directly to Shaw Vineyard Estate instead for more wine tastings and the vibrant dishes at their restarant, Flint in the Vines. On the wines, the crowd pleaser here was the Isabel Reisling, but I was pleased to note too that they produce the Laughter series in support of Camp Quality (who I had the luxury of working with very recently and is a charity that is all heart and transparency). On the Food, oh who would have thought that nestled in Isabel Drive in Murrumbateman, nowhere near the coast would we find such delightful seafood creations cooked to perfection as these:



Marinated Prawn & Buffalo Milk Mozzarella/ cherry tomato & fresh basil

Roasted Red Snapper Fillet / roquette, cherry tomato, confit lemon, kipfler potato


 Having feasted on such divine seafood creations, we didn't have room for anymore big meals but was greedy to try more wines. Tis was the reason we were drawn to make the trip to the real cellar door for Capital Wines. This was actually located behind The Royal Hotel on Cork Street in Gundaroo. The Grazing restaurant looks really refined and if I could have a meal there I would (perhaps next time). They boast of an impressive kitchen garden out the back, and they kid you not:

On Capital Wines, one must give the tongue-in-cheek Minister series a go. I loved the easy to drink Foreign Minister which was a light sangiovese with refreshing berry flavours.

I must say that we actually parted ways after Shaw Vineyard with another team setting out to amass local produce for grazing in lieu of dinner. They remained in Murrumbateman and visited Gallagher's cheeses and Robyn Rowe's Chocolates as well as Homeleigh Grove Olives. Between them and our find of the delectable Brasserie Freshly bakes Ciabatta breads and imported Ossau Iraty sheep's milk cheese available for purchase at Capital's cellar door, we were able to assemble a rather gourmet assortment for the night:

The next morning, we woke up Bright and early and hit Helm Wines as soon as we had breakfasted, cleaned and checked out. I was really impressed with their Museum Chardonnay which was released for the Queen's Birthday long weekend and just a buttery drink that needs no accompaniment.

Trying to squeeze another few big Canberran wine labels into our last day there, we treked to Mount Majura Vineyard, but was turned away because we were too big a group of ten and we hadn't called ahead like we did with the other smallish vineyards and so they couldn't accomodate us. Shame.

That was fine though because it made a our tour and tasting at Lerida Estate just that much more delightful and welcomed. Jim showed us around and took us through the delightful wine range they had set out for us to taste. Noteworthy wines were the earthy Josephine Pinot Noir and their yummy Botrytis with hints of honeycomb.



Left to right, Top to bottom: Lerida Cafe's Specials menu, Their wine tastings setup, The East facing vineyard, Mr.HEA's Beef Onion and Tomato pie, Terrine of the Day.



  

I truly think that Lerida Cafe was the highlight of the trip. The Terrine of the day was a Guinea Fowl, Porcini Mushroom and Hazelnut one, perfect with a glass of Pinot Noir ($6.50 extra) and I paid another $4 to upgrade the toasted sourdough in the dish to their advertised Truffle Bread ( a real lux delight). I believe I finished every morsel on that plate.

Whilst I still heart the Southern Highlands, I think it's definitely worthwhile going even further and spending a weekend in the Canberra wine region.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Re: Babies

Reading your mum's email, when she says "you must be firm and calm to receive all the stress given to you", I think she's saying that whatever she and other people say, it is YOU who must be strong-willed eonugh to make your own decisions and handle the stress.
~Mr. HEA~

I think I posted during Mother's Day that I have been rather upset with mum over all that pressure for me to have a child or three soon. Darling Mr.HEA had been helping soothe me down and helping me enjoy the trip ahead of me.

And truth be told it hasn't been an easy feat, but the magic of one taking it as a joke and the brushing off lightly of a serious topic slices tension like a knife through butter. I was back in KL and Mum demanded for grandchildren again as usual so I placed these freaky babies in her palm and told her to take very good care of them.

I suppose it is just as hard for them to make these demands as it is for us to disappoint them. In a way, they only want what is good for us and they are afraid to hear that the reasons may be that we are struggling, be it financially or health-wise. So, whilst I used to find it a probing and detested the question, I think I have risen above it all and am now able to cope better. There are worse things in life to focus your energy on than being angry with people who really care about you.

Adelaide the city of Chocolate

Yeah, I meant what I wrote, I hereforth no longer will refer to Adelaide as the city of Churches. City of Chocolate seemed more apt. Two years ago, I travelled there with a real lady who pretty much gets whatever she wants. We were in a traditional pub and she got a craving for chocolate truffles and the bar-tender whips out a martini glass full to the brim with these handmade chocolate truffles that the Hilton Adelaide provides to their VIP staff. True Story. So there, if you can get chocolate truffles from a pub here, how else would you perceive the city?

I find Adelaide a place that's serious about produce and fooding. Why else would so many Adelaide contestants proceed so far in National cooking competitions? Who could forget 2012's MKR finals the battle of the South Australians Nic and Rocco v Leigh and Princess Jen? Or of Masterchef fame, Poh and Adam Liaw?

At this point, I am tempted to gush all about my dining experience in the Marquis here because it was real fine, but I will be reserved and keep that for another post. This one will just be about chocolate consumption whilst in Adelaide.

Behold:

Some of these you would have seen from my previous two posts, but oh my I tell you, these ChocoMe on the top right hand corner are a SA brand to watch. I would have had three bars to photograpgh except Mr.HEA devoured one before I could stop him. He ate the Strawberry and lemon myrtle bar and (ok I partook in some of the consumption) it was D-I-V-I-N-E.

Now tucking into my truffles from Haigh with a cup of hot tea, a spot of indulgence I now afford myself to remind me of the wonderful region of Adelaide.