Moufflon leg and Loch Riesling

When I am at home in Trier, Mosel my mother cooks for me. This time Heinz had shot a young moufflon (a kind of wild sheep) in Schoden. He prepared a leg of the lamb and we had it the traditional way. It was simmering on low heat for ages. The meat was tender and had a fine gamy taste.

This feast was accompanied by a wine from the same place, a ‘2008 Schodener Herrenberg “Stier” by Weinhof Herrenberg and the Loch family in Schoden. This Riesling shows that it was made by hand. It has a fine character, is minerally and fruity with good acidity and length, a perfect Saar wine to be enjoyed right away or cellared for a couple of years.

Nothing could be more perfect, I thought. The moufflons might have roamed the very location of the Herrenberg, the vineyard where the Loch Riesling was produced. I consumed the fruits of the land, the forests of Schoden and the dedicated vintners from the Saar. I am glad my mum is such a good cook. Cheers

It’s vintage time at the Saar right now. Why not go on an outing and drive along the romantic Saar river, visit wineries and enjoy rustic German food?

Address:
Claudia and Manfred Loch
Weinhof Herrenberg
D-54441 Schoden/Saar
Tel.: +49-6581-1258
Fax: +49-6581-995438
info@lochriesling.de
www.lochriesling.de

Restaurant Review: Bon Ton in Kuala Lumpur

The twin towers of KL

After the good news from Australia and the photos of our house and vineyard I did not know what to do with myself. Since I always wanted to buy some Malaysian batik shirts, I went to the Kuala Lumpur Craft Complex in Jalan Conlay. I was successful. The shirts are indeed very colourful, just the right outfits for me.

While strolling back to my hotel, by chance I passed by Bon Ton, one of my favourite restaurants in Kuala Lumpur. Though it was already past 2 pm, I decided to enter and see if there would be a meal for me. And so it was. I was the only guest at this hour. Only when I had finished a Malay couple would join me in the place.

The inside

I love the décor, the furniture and the arrangements, the blending of European and Asian things so to say. It makes you completely oblivious to the fact that the restaurant hull consists of a steel-shed type of structure as it is very common in Australia. The colours camouflage it perfectly and provide the illusion that you are in an old traditional dwelling.

Fettucini ai funghi porcini and salmon

I felt like pasta, after all the Asian food I had tasted over the last couple of days, I needed something Italian. So I could not resist. The ‘fettuccini with mushrooms and salmon’ was very good, though a bit rich for my taste. But the mushrooms were delicious, so was the fish in the crust. The pasta was also “al dente”, not an easy thing in Asia. I would order the dish again, though I am a purist and just forest mushrooms would have been sufficient for me. I would not need the fish in it.

An espresso after the meal

I drank two glasses of house wine, a Semillion Chardonnay from Australia, which was just the right stuff, fruity and zesty and only with a very slight hint of oak. It’s a pity that somehow I did not dare to buy a whole bottle of wine from the interesting wine list. Prices where quite reasonable.

I did not regret sitting there all by myself. The waiter was very attentive, the guys in the kitchen did not mind me being late. And after all, I had to celebrate that our vineyard and our house were not consumed by the Victorian bushfires.

Only two things I did not like. The car park in front of the restaurant looked rather destitute a place on a Saturday afternoon. The restaurant sign there would also benefit from some renovation (letters missing). The second point is the windows of the place. They would benefit from a redo (take the flower design off).
Apart from these little details, Bon Ton is just a great place, a place to relax, enjoy local and international cuisine of a high standard.

Address:
Bon Ton Restaurant
8 Jalan Conlay
50450 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Tel: 603.2141.3848 / 2144.0289 Fax: 603.2144.9289

Restaurant Review: Libertine in Melbourne

During the four weeks in Glenburn, Victoria I made it to the big city (= Melbourne) only once. My friend Tony Arthur had organised a lunch with Joe and Helen and myself at “Libertine”, a French restaurant in North Melbourne.

When Tony mentioned the name of the place we were supposed to meet in town over the phone, I was already enthralled. For a liberal like me, “libertine” augured well, promising freedom of French provenance.

The restaurant is tucked away between various other entrances and not easily glimpsed. I came in my pick-up truck from the countryside and had to circle the place.

The dining area downstairs is rather small but I understand they have more facilities upstairs. When I arrived at 12:30 sharp, my friends had already assembled. Most tables were still empty but that would change very quickly. The place was packed just a little later.

Tony, Helen and Joe had been travelling together in France. As a native of Trier, Mosel, just a few kilometres from France I am not exactly a stranger to French culture and cuisine and consider myself a “francophile”.

We started with aperitifs. I was introduced to a Floc de Gascogne. Based on a XVI century local recipe, this is a fortified sweet wine, a blend so to say, between fresh grape juice (2/3) and Armagnac (1/3). It is kept for about 10 months in the cellar. The aromas it displays are almond, jasmine, roses and honey. The alcohol content of the drink varies between 16 and 18%.

Also the second aperitif, a Pommeau de Normandie was a “mistelle”, in this case a mixture of apple juice with Calvados. It’s usually aged in oak barrels for about 30 months and contains 17% alcohol. The drink displays aromas of vanilla, caramel and butterscotch flavours.

The Pommeau de Normandie

The Floc de Gascogne

The next two photos introduce the diners. A happy lot they were. We had not met for more than a year. It was easy to lure me down to town from my farm upcountry in the Upper Goulburn to meet up and dwell on the happenings of the past months.

Tony and Joe

Helen and me

My steak

We all ordered the set menue were you have a couple of choices. I opted for the fresh onion soup, followed by a steak. The dessert I choose was a “tarte de pomme”, all very delicious. The service was relaxed but very attentive; the food of an excellent quality and taste for a very reasonable price.

We were also advised on the wines. We went with the house wine, all from bottles, a Roundstone Cabernet Merlot from the Yarra Valley. Helen had a Lis Neris Bianco from Italy. The blokes followed up with a glass of Tempranillo but by that time we were beyond producers and other wine information. I just did not record any of it any more because we were deep in philosophical conversation about love, life and the universe.

The dessert

We had a coffee at the end, bid each other farewell and scattered in all direction with the sincere promise to repeat this as soon as possible but latest at our next visit in Australia.

The Libertine is a great restaurant. If you visit Melbourne you should schedule a meal either lunch or dinner with your friends in this atmospheric little place.

Address:
Libertine
500 Victoria Stret
North Melbourne 3051
Melbourne, Victoria
Australia
Tel.:+61-3-93295228
www.libertinedining.com.au

“Greek dinner” at the vineyard

Australian olives and olive oil and Two Hills Merlot, what a treat !

From the outset, I apologize to all Greek people, Greece and Greek culture and so on. I did not in the least want to offend anybody or humiliate the great Greek culture.

What you see in this picture is of course not a Greek dinner, but just a modest dish of olives, Australian olives to be precise. They are coming from an olive groove in Tallarook. Juergen grew them and Michael cured them, and needless to say: they are delicious.

I am of course not known for being a (great) cook or a cook at all. Moreover, I am alone in the vineyard at Glenburn. However, before another session of fruit wire lifting in the evening, I made myself this little dish. The olive oil is also local coming from ‘down the road’. The bread comes from Giant Steps in Healesville and can match any rural bread from Europe.

I am almost done with the wire lifting, only the Pinot Noir is left. Hurrah!!!!

The evenings here are magic. You have to come and see for yourself one day.

Geoff Achison at the Yarra Glen Grand Hotel

I will have to jump a bit regarding the time line. There is so much to write about. Some of it happened in 2008 but I still want so let you know. The live music with Geoff Achison took place on December 18th I think.

Fortunately, it did not rain. We had been unloading containers the whole day and furniture and other stuff was all over the place. It was hard work and we were very much looking forward to the evening.

It was just my second evening in Australia. It should become a memorable event. Michael, my brother-in-law, had booked a table for a dinner with a music performance by Geoff Achison, a famous blues guitar player, at the Grand Hotel in Yarra Glen.

The girls had a bottle of ‘2005 Yering Station Cabernet Sauvignon’, a very nice wine from the oldest vineyard in Victoria (founded in 1838 ) which is just around the corner from Yarra Glen.

When I went to the bar, I discovered that they had a German beer on tap and could not resist (I was also the driver) to order a Beck’s. The food was solid and we enjoyed the atmosphere.

The Grand was packed with people, young and old to listen to the “legend”: Geoff Achison. He did not disappoint us.

Geoff had to give a few encores before the crowd allowed him to take a rest. Before departing I bought two of his CD’s and had a nice chat with him.

Michael had introduced me to his music years ago but so far there was no opportunity to see him live. His voice, is the voice of a black man and his virtuosity on the guitar is just amazing. Check out his webpage: www.geoffachison.com but Geoff is also on facebook and has a fan website. I love his music, especially the old blues pieces.

This pleasurable evening should be an auspicious start to my holidays in Australia, I thought. Thank you Geoff and cheers folks to four eventful weeks in the country.

The best pasta – a farewell lunch

My farewell meal before leaving my Bangkok home was “pasta”. Since there was not much time between the decision to get on the plane and the packing of suitcases, it needed to be a fast one: ’spaghetti alio e olio’ with some ‘peperoncini’ was the choice. A delicious meal on our terrace, very civilized, a moment of reflection and introspection before the outer world was allowed to swallow me again.

The drink of choice was our new “house wine”, a ‘2007, The Bushman’s Gully Chardonnay’, a simple but straight forward white, mass produced wine which sells at about 8 EURO/bottle which is not exactly cheap and much too expensive for a “house wine” for every day consumption. But we are in Thailand and not in some wine drinkers heaven.

Karl Marx and Chinese Grape Wine

To state it from the outset, Karl Marx never ever tasted Chinese grape wine in his lifetime. However, Karl Marx, the most famous son of my home town Trier, used to own for some time some of the better vineyards properties along the Ruwer river, a tributary of my beloved Mosel river.

The Marx family vineyard was found in the location “Viertelsberg” a medium quality terroir near the castle ‘Gruenhaus’. In 1857 the family sold its vineyards in Mertesdorf. Karl not only invested in vineyards and the wine industry but he also loved to drink Mosel wine. I frankly do not understand how Marx could survive those many years in London where good Mosel wines were certainly hard to come by in the latter half of the 19th century.

Marx would have enjoyed the samples of “College Wine” produced by the Chinese Agricultural University (CAU) oenology department. The wine is produced for purely non-commercial reasons. The bottles were presented to me by an old friend. We enjoyed it over a meal which marked our reunion. The wine went very well with the Chinese food on offer. Later at home in Bangkok we would have it with an Italian pasta. But in this case I felt that some depth and ’strength’ was lacking.

The grapes for this wine come from Changli in Hebei province and were supplied to the oenology department by the well known Huaxia Winery. When I lived in Beijing in the early 1990s, it was marketed as Great Wall wine.

Swirling in the glass – what a beautiful ruby-red colour

The wine displays the typical varietal character of a Cabernet Sauvignon but is medium to lights bodied. At 12% alcohol it’s a bit “thin”/”light” for my taste. In comparison, it went well with Chinese but not Italian food.

A somehow classic design

Afterthought
PS: Despite the fact that the CAU is a modern university, at the entrance to its eastern campus, one of the few statues of Mao Zedong graces the gate. When I lived in Beijing in the early 1990s, my friend David McGrath (al marhum), chased the remaining Mao statues still standing in the capital city. He took photos of all of them. If I remember correctly David identified 8 statues. Around ‘Xue Yuan’ road where I stayed, I found 4 of these 8 in no time. All were to be found at the entrances of universities or other academic institutions.

The four Mao statues

F.l.t.r. and up to down: Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration and Development, China University of Geosciences, University of Science and technology, China Agricultural University.

Restaurant Review: La Vaca Veronica – fine dining in Madrid

Madrid is a wonderful place to visit. We were very lucky and had a great time in the capital city of Spain. We used the four days we had to the utmost to explore the amazing town. Foremost, we wanted to visit the museums such as the Prado and the Reina Sofia (we did not make it to the Thyssen museum). But it’s not just art and culture. The people of Madrid are amazingly friendly. It just blows you away. It started with the guy picking us up from the airport. He did not speak a word of English, and he also did not know where to bring us to. Alas, the modern world has mobile phones on hand (what did we do before we had them?). He made a call to the apartment renting agency and the rest was smooth driving. We communicated with hands and gestures, also the Spanish phrasebook helped somehow. It was a marvellous start of our four nights in Madrid.

Needless to say, we also explored the restaurant scene. First we checked out some of the many (many many many) tapas bars. On our last evening, however, we decided to have a different type of dinner. On our endless walks we had passed La Vaca Veronica before. After some appetisers in a famous Sherry bar, we leisurely strolled towards the narrow lane where La Vaca Veronica is located.

The restaurant opened only at 21h which we did not know. We were surrounded by other, patiently waiting, guests outside. My daughters passed the time by jumping from the roadside pillars barring cars from parking on the side walk. But luck was on our side. We got a table without a reservation. The restaurant owner was around and helped us along.

The dining room

What did we order? Well, mainly Italian type cuisine as you can see from the pictures below. We somehow all lounged for a pasta. The food was delicious. The colourful interior contributes to a very friendly atmosphere. We enjoyed it thoroughly and had a jolly good time. After all, it was our last evening after some very busy and eventful days.

If I am not mistaken, we ordered the house wine. I lost my tasting notes, sorry folks. But there is so much good wine in Spain that you cannot go wrong.

The landlady behind her desk.

Here is our recommendation: 5 stars out of five.

The decisions was democratically derived at. We go with the principle: one person, one vote. If you can, visit Madrid, and if you are hungry go to La Vaca Veronica for a meal, it’s worth it.

La Vaca Veronica
Restaurante
Abrimos los Domingos
Moratin, 38
28014 Madrid
Te.: 914297827
www.lavacaveronica.es

Restaurants in Jakarta – Anatolia

It was our last Saturday night in Jakarta. Everything must come to an end. After 10 years, leaving was not an easy thing. A quiet “last supper” with our friends Liz and Walter was our preferred choice. They invited us to Anatolia, a Turkish restaurant in South Jakarta.

Beautiful tiles depicting among others “grapes”.

I am a lover of Turkish food and so it came as no surprise that we just loved the various dishes which were put in front of us. Good food, good company, good conversations, fun and good wine, that should become the recipe of the evening. And look at some of the food!

Various starter platters.

Unfortunately, I forgot most of the names of the different dishes. The atmosphere in the restaurant was lively. We were entertained by a dancer and modern music from the Middle East.

What did we drink? As so often before, I was given the task of selecting the wine. I could have chosen some Australian reds but could not resist to order something new, something I had never heard of: a Turkish wine. Have you ever heard about Yakut (not not the thin Japanese milk-yoghurt drink, which is written with an l before the t)?

‘Yakut Kavaklidere’ was written on the bottle. Fortunately the back label was in Turkish. I just could not resist ordering the bottle and some more were to follow. The wine was dark red in colour. We were all surprised by its round taste, an intense fruit flavour, a bit of plum and cherries. But it was unlike other wines. I could not identify the grape variety. We all agreed that the wine matched the food very well. Existing prejudices about Turkish wines were quickly transformed into admiration. Despite the fact that this wine was simple (and not expensive) and not at all sophisticated, we just loved it. Thanks Liz and Walter for the wonderful evening.

Are you living in Jakarta and having no plans for Friday night as yet? The choice is clear. Have a meal at Anatolia.

Address

The Gourmet Garage, Jakarta III – Jolly Farewell

It was another farewell but one of those were time seems to have stopped. We enjoyed the moment, the pleasure of being together for a memorable meal and we did not think much about parting or not living in the same city again. Any future starts in the present moment, and we were sure we would have lots of it. We were not doubting that we would meet again, as friends do.

Well, were did we go? And who is “we” in the first place? To answer the first question, we met at the Gourmet Garage in Kemang, Jakarta, a very fashionable place. It was also easy to reach for all of us.

The inside of the Gourmet Garage in Jakarta with various shops on the ground floor and the restaurants upstairs.

The answer to the second question is, there were the five of us: Flo (Florian) and Nelly, Jasmin, Margit and me.

Margit, Florian, Nelly and Jasmin

The three had invited us to spend our last Friday night in Jakarta among friends. They talked us into ordering the four-course Japanese meal. Depending on the day, the chef changes the composition of the dishes of the four courses. Surprise, surprise but since we like adventures, we were eager to wait for things to come. Flo and Nelly ordered other dishes from the Japanese menu. There are two more menus to choose from at Gourmet Garage, a Western menu and an Indonesian menu.

Flo started with an oyster.

The starters for the four-course menu were beautifully decorated.

So were other dishes from the menu.

This soup was just delicious.

The miso soup came with the four-course meal.

This was part of Nelly’s dish.

And Flo had a similarly decorated meat dish.

This is one of the desserts we had.

In short, the food was delicious. According to some expat Japanese, Gourmet Garage offers the best Japanese food in town.

You might like to know what wine we drank. Nothing special, I can tell you. Well, we opted for a simple, red wine from Australia. With ‘Penfolds Rawson’s Retreat Shiraz-Cabernet’ you cannot go wrong if you need a wine for every day which is easy to understand and to drink. Gourmet Garage prices these wines very reasonably. The choice was a compromise, of course, but I did not fancy the whites from the wine list. A Mosel or Saar Riesling would have been my preferred choice.

But we had a great time and that was what mattered most. Farewell gifts changed hands (I do not reveal what they were) and at about midnight we parted company as on many other occasions before. See you guys in Bangkok, or on our farm in Glenburn. As you know, you are always welcome; ’sampai jumpah’ as we say in Indonesia.