Events

This month the Society returned to Sage and Chef K.K. Cheong for a special event, a winemaker's dinner with the owner and winemaker of Domaine Taupenot Merme, Mr Romain Taupenot. This is one of the dynamic emerging wineries from this region with an increasingly high profile. At nearly 30 acres, Domaine Taupenot-Merme is a rather large estate by Burgundian standards. The roots of the family estate go back to the 1760, and today’s superb vineyard holdings include Gevrey Chambertin, Morey-St. Denis and Chambolle Musigny.

Our members were treated to a selection of excellent wines from the winery and each food course was selected to pair well with the wines:

Canapé: Kataïfi Prawn, Sea Scallop with Belgium Endive, and Parmesan Cheese Choux Pastry. Taupenot Merme Bourgogne Aligote 2008 A perfect wine to start the evening with the canapes.

1st Course: Carpaccio of Australian Yellowtail Kingfish with Smoked Avruga Caviar.  Taupenot Merme Auxey Duresses Blanc 2008, a lovely, easy drinking villages wine.

2nd Course: Confit of Free Range Chicken with Porcini Mushroom Ragoût.  Taupenot Merme Gevrey Chambertin 2006. This wine delivers the goods and is certainly worth a look.

3rd Course: Pan-Fried Pink Snapper with Sauce Périgueux.  Taupenot Merme Nuits St George Les Pruliers 1er Cru 2002. An extremely ripe nose of crushed black fruit, plums and a hint of chocolate with refined, elegant tannins that underpin dense and quite concentrated, robust and intense flavours. (Burghound 89 points) A wine ageing well from the outstanding 2002 Burgundy vintage.

Amuse-Bouche or Palate Cleanser: Dark Grape Granité

Main Course: Confit of Duck Leg with Foie Gras and Natural Jus Alternatively Wagyu Beef À la Plancha with Mushroom Velouté and Julienne Black Truffle. Taupenot Merme Mazoyeres Chambertin Grand Cru 2000 and Charmes Chambertin Grand Cru 2001. Very deep ruby with hints of blue and black. Decidedly earthier and more concentrated spicy dark fruit aromas lead to complex, backward and tight full-bodied flavors that display prominent finishing tannins. This is particular in style as there is an emphasis on extraction but it's pretty and well made just the same. (Burghound 90 points)

Dessert: Poached Fresh Pear Fruit with White Wine Jelly and Vanilla Ice Cream.

Coffee or Tea

The Dancing Fish is a new restaurant in Kuala Lumpur serving delicious Malay-Indo cuisine. Chief Chef is Mr Hi WK who believes in coaxing flavours out of all their dishes by relying on the freshest and highest grade of ingredients in order to bring out the true unadulterated and uncompromising flavours of Malaysia and Indonesia.

The evening took off with a generous serving of Grant Burge Sparkling Pinot Noir Chardonnay NV, a sure winner to set the mood for a spicy dinner.

The dinner started with satay and charcoal grilled calamari. This was followed by three dishes: golden wrappers stuffed with fresh prawns, water chestnut, herbs & spices, soft shell crab with mango kerabu and –finally- the Dancing Fish!

The signature dish & namesake of the restaurant - Dancing Fish is a delightfully fried Red Tilapia so skill fully fried till the entire fish can be eaten, bones, head and all. With accompanying ladies fingers, long beans and tomatoes and served on a sweet/sour tangy sauce, the cleverly-contorted fish looked ready to dance!

The next set of dishes:  Bebek Goreng Bali (Fried Duck) marinated with a special mix of Balinese herbs and spices for 24 hours then fried until the skin is crispy, Belimbing Ikan Masin (Star fruit with fresh herbs and vegetables), Buntut Belado (Charcoal barbequed oxtail) and Udang Sambal (Fresh wok fried tiger prawns with homemade sambal goring mixture) and Javanese Salad in Asian Lime Vinaigrette was a delicious combination of flavours provided a full array of flavours.

The wines accompanying the dinner superbly were:

• Trimbach Gewurztraminer, Alsace, 2008. This wine has the intense aromatics to go brilliantly with Asian food
• St Clair Block 6 Sauvignon Blanc, NZ 2009, a wine that fully lived up to its WS91 pts rating.
• Grosset Polish Hill Riesling, Clare Valley, 2008, widely recognised as one of Australia’s best white wines with its “remarkably generous tangerine mineral and iris flavours which linger forever on the dry finish.” (Stephen Tanzer, 93 pts, and finally
• Malgra Gaiana Barbera d’Asti, Piedmont, 200.4. “Intense perfumed black cherry and mineral with Silky, green texture, and pinpoint fruity intensity. Still tight and will age. Drink from 2008.” Decanter, 15.25pts on 20 pts scale

For those who had room to spare the night finished off with Dessert: a Trio of Lemongrass jelly with Sour Plum Burst, Crispy fruit roll & fruit Gelato followed by Coffee or Tea.