Cheong Liew at Botanical

To open the year, the Victoria Branch sought out the cooking of one of Australia’s most respected Chefs, Cheong Liew, who is considered by many to be the pioneer of fusion food in Australia.  Liew’s reputation had been built over many years at the highly successful Grange restaurant in Adelaide.  With his move to Melbourne to take over the kitchen at the recently refurbished Botanical Hotel, there was no doubt that we would be keen to take a look.

Now cooking in a less formal style than in the past, Liew produced a series of exciting dishes, particularly his ‘Suckling black pig porchetta’ and ‘Red roast snapper with leek fondue, celery and spring onion jus, calamari shavings’.  Not a dull dish arrived and each showed evidence of Liew’s creativity albeit in a somewhat more relaxed style.

With the wines, we were treated to a wonderful start with an aged Krug Grand Cuvee Champagne, donated by Yi Wang (President of the Shanghai Branch) who was in Melbourne at the time.  This Champagne is brilliant when it achieves some age and for us, it was our wine of the night.  Also impressive was the bracket of 1998 Chateauneuf-du-Papes (Beaucastel and Vieux Telegraphe).  On opening, the Vieux Telegraphe appeared to be the preferred wine, but with increased breathing, the Beaucastel was simply stunning – a great bracket and a great match with the Wagyu rump with a cardamom pepper crust. Function organisers Peter Millington and Charles Harper did an excellent job putting this dinner together.

Please view the menu here.