Tetsuya's Restaurant

Tetsuya's, a name that you will often hear if you are surrounded by a group of food loving friends in Sydney.  I have been longing to try the amazing French-Jap fusion food, which has such extraordinary praises and top reviews.  The waiting list for a table reservation used to be at least 6 months long, it is designed for the organises!  Luckily, our friends have asked us to join their wedding anniversary celebration and will arrange the booking.  Excellent!  Why not, let's do it!

A table of four was booked in January and the dinner was in March, the two and a half months wait was so itching; constant flicking of my diary didn't make it come any quicker!  A thirteen-course degustation menu with matching wine option (it wasn't much of an option for me, yes, wine please!) by the world-renowned Tetsuya Harada, WOW!

Finally, the day has come!  We arrived at the front door in our friend's Mercedes, a gentleman opened the door and told my friend about the complimentary valet parking service, how cool is that?  We got out of the car and were escorted to the restaurant's reception desk.  Initially, there was an issue with our booking, but we have finally sorted it out.  I will be totally disappointed if we would have to come back another time.  We were told to wait at the bar while our table was being organised, my friend ordered a sparkling wine, the Petaluma Croser Proprietor's Reserve 1999, her husband ordered the Tyrrell's Vat 1 Semillon 2002, my husband couldn't wait to try the special Pinot made for Tetsuya's and started with a red, the Felton Road Pinot Noir for Tetsuya's 2008 and I ordered the Delatite Dead Man's Hill Gewurztraminer 2008, thinking that it will be a slightly sweet and refreshing Gewurztraminer as a pre-dinner drink, however it was quite heavy and oaky, I wish I had chosen my friend's sparkling wine to start the night, good choice!

The waiter showed us to our table, it was right at the end of the corridor, a small room with no decorations except two abstract paintings on the wall.  Five tables of 4-6 per table were arranged in the room and our table was in a dark corner.  I wasn't too impressed since I expected even without a view, there would be more thoughts put into the decorations.  Never mind we are here for the food and wine.  Haven't seen or read the menu, we were all expecting surprises throughout the night!

We sat down and were served with warm bread and truffle butter, we had a choice between white bread and sourdough, and we all picked sourdough, of cause!  It was warm and soft with a nice crust and full of sourdough favour.  Yum!  If a bread roll can taste so nice, what else are in line for us?


Our first dish was the chilled Japanese pumpkin soup with white miso cream, the first sip was weird, I just didn't expect to taste a cold pumpkin soup.  But the flavour was nice, the miso flavour lifted the whole sensation, smooth but lively, I really liked it.  Then the pacific oysters with rice vinegar and ginger was served, it was very nice and refreshing, oil drizzled on top but it didn't taste oily as it was balanced out with the acidity of the rice vinegar and ginger.  This was an optional dish and I was glad that we have chosen to include it.



Our first wine came, the Tengumai 天狗舞 Junmai 純米 Bunseirokunen 文政六年 for Tetsuya's from Ishikawa, Japan.  It wasn't the best sake I've tried, it didn't have the Junmai aroma or flavour.  Is it light and easy to drink? I'll give it that!  The sake was served with sashimi of kingfish with blackbean and orange.  It was simple and fresh, the blackbean was quite subtle, not overpowering.

Next, we were served with the Twofold Riesling 2008 from Clare Valley and soft roast scampi tails with herb and citrus oil.  The wine was a lighter style Riesling, dry and crisp, matched so well with the citrus oil, nice!  The scampi was soft, perfectly cooked, I just wanted more!

Then it was the highlight of the evening, Tetsuya's signature dish, the salad of confit ocean trout with zucchini and non-pasteurised roe.  Firstly, the presentation was so pretty, the ocean trout fillet was shaped into a fish presented on the dish with a flapping tail!  Secondly, the flavour was excellent, confit but not too salty, and the refreshing salad balanced the flavour so well.  This dish was served with the Delatite Dead Man's Hill Gewurztraminer I ordered at the start of the night, since I didn't really enjoyed it, I asked whether I could choose something else.  The waiter gave me the wine list, it was so difficult to choose.  I've finally decided on the Massena Surly Muse Viognier 2007 from the Barossa Valley, and this time, I was happy with my choice.  It has a beautiful Viognier fragrance, a well-balanced medium body wine with long palate.  It actually matched quite well with the fish.  I guess now I understood that the Gewurztraminer should be served here and not as a pre-dinner drink.  Anyhow, I still preferred my Viognier!

Our next wine on the list was the Mountadam Pinot Gris 2009 from Eden Valley, a full body style Pinot Gris, with balanced acidity and sweetness.  It was served with fregolone with Queensland spanner crab and bottarga, the fregolone was quite nice and not too starchy, the rest of the dish just tasted like a fancy risotto.

A Margaret River Chardonnay was next, the Higher Plane Chardonnay 2007 served with raviolo of octopus with oregano and black olives.  It was a Chablis style, cool climate Chardonnay with oaky aroma, balanced mineral and stone fruit flavour.  The chewy octopus in raviolo was quite interesting.




Our first red wine was the Felton Road Pinot Noir for Tetsuya's 2008.  I have been waiting to try this wine due to my love for Felton Road (Felton Road post).  When the waiter was pouring the wine, I asked him how was this special Tetsuya's wine different to other Felton Road wines, he said it was a Felton Road style Pinot Noir.  Felton Road style Pinot?!?!  The block 3 is so different to block 5, Calvert is so different to Cornish Point!  Later, I found on the Felton Road website that winemaker Blair Walter created a special cuvee of Pinot Noir that suits Tetsuya's modern Japanese cooking.  The Pinot was served with breast of chicken with corn and foie gras, although the chicken breast was smooth and just cooked, it was slightly under for me.  The overpowering corn flavour did not serve the dish right, the whole dish was just full of corn taste and foie gras was lost.  Is this a good marriage of food and wine?  I don't know, but I quite enjoyed drinking the Pinot on its own, maybe I'd prefer the Felton Road Block 5 Pinot Noir if I had a choice!

The next wine was the Wanderer Shiraz 2008 from Yarra Valley, it was a cool climate Shiraz, medium bodied, very nice.  This was served with the sirloin of wagyu with braised leeks, sansho and soy.  My imagination of the dish and the taste was so different, I was expecting a peppery steak tartare-like dish or a sour ponzu wagyu dish, but the dish presented was very sweet, almost like a Korean BBQ marinated beef and the foam didn't really work for me either!

When our mains were finished, we were served with the Heggies Botrytis Riesling from Eden Valley.  It was a beautiful botrytis wine, with nice roasted honey aroma and not overly sweet. 

Our first dessert was banana ice cream with pineapple sorbet.  The banana ice cream has a strong banana flavour, like banana essence, which I didn't really like.  There was not enough pineapple sorbet, only a tiny bit on the bottom, a little more acidity from the pineapple sorbet could have balanced out the flat banana ice cream.  The second dessert was cannellini beans with mascarpone and soy caramel, it was not impressive, just mascarpone plus caramel!  Looking over to the next table, we saw a lady was served with a different dessert from the others, it was a chocolate fondant with hazelnut and fresh cream.  We asked the waiter whether we could change ours to that dessert, so the ladies had the chocolate fondant and the guys had the floating island with double anglaise of vanilla bean and praline.  I was happy with my choice, I definitely preferred the chocolate fondant to the floating island.  It was nice and soft with rich good quality chocolate and beautiful freshly roasted hazelnuts, the nuts were still warm when served!  The floating island (Île flottante) was a light fluffy eggwhite pudding, not too bad, at least the boys liked it!

Our last wine was the Seppeltsfield Cellar No. 6 Tokay from Rutherglen.  It was a beautiful Tokay to finish off the night.

The very last dish presented on our table was the petit fours, a last little surprise was brought to us in the chocolate macaroon.  As we were expecting a sweet filling, it was very sour at my first bite, then the lime flavour came out, and it was actually quite nice.  The friand was soft with a nice honey flavour, but my favourite was the green tea marshmallow, super soft and lovely.  I ordered a flat white to go with the petit fours, the coffee was amazingly nice and creamy!

In summary, there were a few highlights and a few disappointments in my Tetsuya's experience, the sourdough was definitely one of the highlights!  My husband has managed to eat four that night.  To me, for such an expensive dinning experience and delicate food served, I would prefer to have a Sommelier telling us more about the wines and 'food and wine matching'.  Throughout the night, the service was a bit rough, I could hear waiters running into each other.  Oh, and my menu has a misprint, the Tokay was left out of the wine list.  It was generally a nice food and wine experience, but will I go back?  Probably not!

Southern Highland Wine Region

This year's Australia day was on Tuesday, as it did not fall on a long weekend, we've decided to visit Bowral with another couple for a one-day trip.  Bowral is a nice historic town locates 1½h south of Sydney, where there are antique, art and craft shops, cafés and most importantly it is the center of the Southern Highland Wine Region.

The Southern Highland wine region is a small wine region in Southern New South Wales that specialises in cool climate wines.  The average temperature in winter is 9°C and it can get to as low as 1-2°C.  Since I was not familiar with the wines from this region, I looked up the James Halliday guide on the wineries.  I found a five-star winery, the Centennial Vineyards, they have a huge list of wines and many different varietals.  Their Savagnin on the list caught my eyes, the Australian Savagnin/Albarino muddle was a heat topic in 2008.  Just a little background; the Australian cuttings of Albarino, a varietal from Spain, was mixed up with Savagnin and was later discovered by the CSIRO.  This caused a huge threat to the wine producers since what they thought was the noble Spanish varietal Albarino, was actually Savagnin.  There was a big drama of what to name it, how to name it, whether to change all the wine labels... ... as they were not allowed to put Albarino on the labels anymore.  I guess at the end of the day, if it is a good wine, wine drinkers will still love them, but it might take some time to recover from the shock!

We arrived in Bowral, visited the local information center and a few local shops, had brunch in a little pastry café, and then we headed to the Centennial Vineyards.  It was a very beautiful vineyard, with a neatly maintained garden in front of an elegant sandstone building.  My original plan was to have high tea at the vineyard, but unfortunately their restaurant does not open on Tuesdays.  After taking a few photos, I was so eager to do some wine tastings.

We first tried the Bong Bong Classic White 2009, it was a blend of Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris, Riesling and Chardonnay, a nice refreshing start of the day!  Then we tried their Sauvignon Blanc, first the Woodside and then the Reserve, both wines were nice and crisp, less grassy then the ones from our New Zealand neighbour.  We went on to try the Pinot Gris, a light body wine, not as creamy as the King Valley Pinot Grigio style.  Then followed by the Woodside and the Reserve Chardonnay, the first one was a lighter style and the Reserve has a nice creamy, vanilla mouthfeel, a fuller body wine.  Then, it was the Savagnin that I was waiting for.  I have tried some Savagnin at the Wine Focus Australia Savagnin/Albarino forum, they all have different characteristics, some were crisp and fragrant and some were rich and creamy.  In comparison, this one was a little bit ordinary, not a style that really stands out.  As the lady at the bar was looking a bit impatient while we went down the list, I skipped the Riesling and Verdelho, as I suspected that they will not be as good as the ones from the Canberra District and the Hunter, respectively.

Finishing the white wine list, I turned over the page to try the red wines.  We started with the Pinot Noirs, Woodside and Reserve, they were not as aromatic as I expected.  Then we tried the Sangiovese, it has a very nice aroma, a gentle medium body wine.  The Shiraz Viognier was next on the list, the lady pour some out and I can immediately smell vinegar, she opened a new bottle and it was quite nice.  The spiciness of the Shiraz was balanced out by the Viognier, full of berry flavours, a nice dinner wine.  Then we tried the Barbera, I had a sip and it was oxidized.  I really wanted to try the NSW Barbera and compare it to the King Valley Barbera so I told the lady that it was oxidized, but she disagreed and said the acidity was the characteristic of a Barbera and she didn't open a new bottle for us to taste.  Yes, Barbera has certain acidity and therefore goes well with many tomato-based Italian dishes, but when it is tart and damp, something is wrong!  Anyway, we quickly tried the Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot, brought some wines and left.

After all the tastings, we brought the Woodside Sauvignon Blanc 2008, the Reserve Chardonnay single vineyard 2008, the Reserve Sangiovese single vineyard 2008 unfiltered, the Reserve Shiraz Viognier single vineyard 2006 and the Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot 2004 and were given the Bong Bong classic red as a gift when purchased 6 bottles.  Interestingly, almost all of their wines were made from grapes from the Orange region, and other wine regions in NSW.  I guess you just don't get to taste the "Terroirs" in this region!  A little disappointment especially when you are visiting the wineries or regions for this purpose.

After wine tasting we went to Berrima for the Australia Day celebration and had lunch in a little tea house.  There were many European style boutique shops in this beautiful town, just like a fairyland in cartoons.  The shops were all linked together and they were like little cottages with many rooms displaying the special art and crafts, toys and clothes.

With the disappointment from the first winery, I remembered another outstanding winery from the James Halliday guide, the Cuttaway Hill Estate.  We couldn't find the winery on our map but saw a sign to Cuttaway Creek, we drove along the creek but still couldn't find the winery but we found Tertini Wines, and we later found out that Cuttaway Hill Estate does not have a cellar door!  We stopped at Tertini Wines and were greeted by their German shepherd Bella and Tertini's sales manager Robert Kay.  He was so passionate about the Tertini wines and was telling us all the trophies each wine has got, wine medals from Hong Kong, etc etc... ... 

I have mixed feelings on wine trophies, since almost every bottle you find in a bottle shop will have at least one trophy, some have as many as ten or more, and what does it all mean?  Some of my childhood memories came back when I put some thought into this question.  When I was younger I was a dancer, I started dancing when I entered high school, which was quite late compared to other dancers who started at the age of five.  At the beginning, I never had great confidence in dancing but somehow getting awards from dance competitions made me think that I have gain recognitions in the field, and I started to like dancing more and more.  So I guess wine trophies do mean something about the wine, and when you flip over pages in magazines, you will appreciate this a little more when they tell you the categories such as "Best wine under $20", "Best cool climate Shiraz", etc... ... and you just can't compare across the categories thinking that a trophy means it is a good wine.  Anyway, back to Robert's story on his Hong Kong trip, wine competition and wine dinner.  I was delighted to hear about the battle between the 2 Michelin stars Alvin Leung vs. our famous Sydney Chef Sean Connolly.  At the Hong Kong International Wine and Spirit Fair, tourism NSW and Hong Kong tourism have organised an event to showcase NSW food and wine.  Alvin and Sean need to create a nine courses degustation menu with 18 matching wines using local ingredients from NSW.  He told us that Alvin used vegemite in one of his dish, a very brave attempt but it turned out very well.  I was salivating listening to his story!  Let's do some wine tasting! 

We started with the Rieslings, the Tertini Riesling 2005 and the Eighteen55 Riesling 2006, and I like both of them.  They have a beautiful Riesling kerosene aroma with floral fragrance, you can immediately identify it as a Riesling.  They both have young fruity characters and balanced acidity, very nice.  I saw Arneis on the list, but they were all sold out and the new vintage was not for tasting.  Having engaged in a lovely conversation on the Hong Kong wine fair, food and wine matching, and most importantly knowing that I have the WSET cert, Robert has decided to bring out the 2009 Reserve Arneis for us to try.  I was very happy since I like this varietal as soon as I tried it the first time at King Valley.  It was a very special wine but I can understand the purpose of the winemaker not to release it so soon.  It was quite young and high in acidity, but I was interested to see it mature so I brought one home to cellar!  We finished the whites and tried the Tertini Rosé, it was made from Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, a dry version of Rosé, to enjoy it with a cheese platter would be nice!

Then we tried the reds, we started with the Pinot Noir, the 2006 Tertini Pinot Noir from the Southern Highlands then the 2005 Eighteen55 Pinot Noir from Berrima Valley.  They were both very aromatic, beautiful floral, berries, perfume aromas, my friend sat there with the wine and said she can smell this all day!  They were both beautiful, medium body, cool climate Pinots, definitely worth adding them to my cellar.  After the Pinots, we tried the Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot and the straight Cab Sauv.  The 2005 Eighteen55 Cabernet Sauvignon was the only wine from Tertini that uses 80% Barossa grapes and all the others were grown locally.  Last but not least, we tried their 2008 Reserve Noble Riesling, which was made from natural Botrytis.  It was a lovely wine to finish off, a beautiful Botrytis wine! 

We couldn't leave without buying some beautiful wines, we brought the 2005 Riesling, the 2006 Eighteen55 hand picked Riesling, the 2006 Pinot Noir, 2005 Eighteen55 hand picked Pinot Noirs, 2009 Reserve Arneis Barrel fermented and of cause the 2008 Reserve Noble Riesling.  I was impressed with the small but focus and full of regional characteristic wine list.  Although they are still a very young winery, their first plantings in 2000 and first vintage in 2005, but you can already see the potentials.  I guess after all, being proud of the wine trophies is not a bad thing.  What a surprising discovery from our little detour!

WSET certificate

I am getting serious and obsess in wine, with my investigative personality, I want to learn more and know more about wine.  At the Good Food and Wine show, I came across the Wine and Spirit Education Trust (WSET) stand, I walked forward and spoke to the gentleman standing behind the stand.  He gave me a brief introduction on all their courses.  They have a range of courses from wine appreciation to professional sommelier, I think I have found the right school.  Based on my interests and the price tags on the difference courses, I have chosen the "International Wines - Foundation" course.  The International Wines courses consist of three levels, Foundation, Intermediate and Advanced.  If you want to go further, you can even do the Diploma and Professional Certificates.  Mind you, the prices go up as you advance in your study!

The International Wine Foundation course is a six hours lesson plus 50 minutes examination time.  At the end of the course, you will get a WSET level 1 certificate.  I chose this course because I wanted to do more then just wine appreciation and I didn't need to get into the industry being a sommelier, this will be a good entry level course learning about international wines.  I have enrolled myself and also my husband to be there for my company!

A week before the class, we went to Ryde TAFE to collect our study materials.  I immediately went into my study mode and started reading through it.  I need to pass the exam to get the certificate, study, study, study!  Some of the information was quite basic, but I really enjoyed learning about the region names, hence wine names of the old world wines.

Then the exciting day came, the course started at 9 am in the morning, we arrived around 8:45 and most of the students were already in the classroom seated.  There were 20 seats in the classroom.  We sat down and saw many cheese platters and wines in the front, wine glasses on our desk, I was already very excited. 

The tutor walked in and introduced himself, Clive Hartley, who has worked in the industry for 20 years and I later found his article in the Gourmet Traveller WINE magazine!  Then he asked each one of us to introduce ourselves.  Everyone seems to like wine and hence enrolled in the course, except for one lady who said she hates wines and only drink champagne if she has to, so Clive asked her why is she doing this course and she said because her whole family loves wine and always talk about wine, therefore she was here to find out what it is all about.  Interesting!

Then the class started with a basic introduction on wine styles, geography, grape varieties, wine making, etc.  It was quite interesting and I could pick up on some knowledge that I didn't know before.  The most interesting part for me was learning about the old world wine regions, I tried very hard remembering Chianti = Sangiovese; Rioja = Tempranillo; Beaujolais = Gammy; Chateauneuf du Pape has 13 varieties; etc etc.  I was so happy to add them to my database together with the existing Bordeaux, Burgundy and Chablis!  I guess because I was more familiar with the new world wines, the varietals was quite important to me in choosing a wine.  With this knowledge, I can now confidently dine in a French or Italian restaurant matching my wines with food.

Then it was wine tasting, it was a list of nine wines from all over the world, excellent!

1. Henri Bourgeois Sancerre Les Baronnes 2006
2. Curly Flat Chardonnay 2005
3. Craiglee Shiraz 2005
4. Chateau Langoa-Barton (St Julien) 2002
5. Louis Roederer Champagne Brut Premier NV
6. Mader Riesling Alsace 2006
7. Domaine Christian Moreau Pére et Fils Chablis 2007
8. Domaine Henry Gouges Nuits-St-Georges Premier Cru Les Pruliers 2001
9. Valdivieso Merlot Single Vineyard Reserve 2004

The first wine was the Sancerre, a Sauvignon Blanc from the Loire Valley in France.  It was bright and clear, the colour was pale, straw yellow with a hint of green.  The aroma was fruity, grassy, citrus with strong lemon on the nose.  It has crisp acidity and not too grassy, full of fruit character, very nice.  The second wine was the Curly Flat Chardonnay from the Macedon Ranges in Victoria that has a cool climate.  It was bright and clear with a mid yellow colour.  It has medium acidity and was buttery and oaky on the nose, despite the fact that it was from a cool climate region.  It has a peach and melon fruit character and the new oak gave its long palate.  Then we had the Craiglee Shiraz from Sunbury, Victoria, which was a classic cool climate Shiraz, which resembles a Rhône Valley Syrah.  It has a bright ruby red colour, medium tannin and acidity with red current fruit character and a hint of oak and peppery on the nose, a very youthful wine.  Then we moved to Bordeaux, the Chateau Langoa-Barton, from the left bank of the Gironde river in the St Julien region.  It was an earthy Cabernet/Merlot blend, which has a deep red to black colour, leathery, mushroom-like, damp on the nose with medium tannin and gentle French oak.  It has a dusty, peppery character with a touch of mineral, a very complex Bordeaux wine.  After this, it was a lunch break, I was so glad that I have more time to slowly investigate this wine.

After lunch, we started with a non-vintage champagne.  It has a pale straw colour and an aroma of dead yeast and bread dough, a typical dry champagne.  It has high acidity but at the same time very creamy.  It has green apple character and gave a long finish, very nice.  The next wine we had was the Riesling from Alsace, just on the border of France and Germany.  It has a dry citrus and tropical fruit aroma with a bit of honey with medium acidity and slightly sweet, very refreshing.  Then it was the Chablis, an unwooded Chardonnay from Burgundy in France.  It has strong mineral and oyster shell character with medium acidity, very different to the Australian Chardonnay, a totally different style.  I used to like the buttery, vanilla character of an oaked Chardonnay, and dislike the unwooded Chardonnay, which is just less in favour.  But the Chablis surprises me with its balanced acidity and mineral character, very interesting, I think I liked it. 

We then tasted the red wines, starting with a red Burgundy.  It has a brick red to brown colour, full of berry aroma but also has earthy, smoky, mushroom-like aromas.  It wasn't a very old wine, but the aged character was already there with its fruit character.  A very beautiful wine that reminds me of some very nice aged Burgundy that my friend has introduced to me in the past.  The last wine in the course was a Chilean Merlot, which has a ruby red colour and stalky, leafy aroma with leathery and earthy character.  It was a full bodied wine with strong tannin and very low acidity, very strong oak character.  A wine that might be a little bit big for our afternoon class, but should be nice with a heavy steak dinner!

After the tasting and learning how to take notes, we did a little food and wine matching.  We had corn chips, green apples, smoke salmon, cheese and chocolate on our desk and we had to rate the taste with our wines.  The standard smoky food with oaky wines, acidic food with high acidity wines didn't surprise me, however, I was quite surprised that Champagne can actually go with everything, even green apples and chocolate.  It is such a complex, celebrative drink!

It was generally a very enjoyable class, but with more depth in each topic would be nice.  I guess, that just means I have to do the next level, but to move up, I need more cash to pay my fees!  Meanwhile, why don't I just take my existing knowledge and drink! 

My Japan Drinking Trip (1)

I want to say this is the most memorable wine experience I ever had!  NO, I lied!  My memory was actually very blurry, we had too much fun and too much to drink!

Seriously, "I LOVE JAPAN, I LOVE JAPAN".  This was the most amazing trip I had even though we only stayed in Tokyo for most of our trip, but because we can finally meet up with our wine buddies after they left Sydney, the drinking experience was incredible. 

As soon as we arrived, we went to an izakaya (居酒屋), an old fashioned Japanese drinking establishment, and started drinking sake.  We had the Juyondai (十四代) ginjyo (吟醸) with a sashimi platter, so delicious.  Juyondai is a boutique winery and therefore they only have limited production, their sakes are quite rare and difficult to find.  The sake was served chilled in a small shot glass inside a square wooden box.  The wooden box is for the overflow sake, no wastage, pretty smart uh!  I always like chilled sake, since you know it will be a good sake when it’s served cold.  The Juyondai was so smooth, and fresh, with a hint of sweetness, perfect with the premium sashimi.  Note, this was only our first night, first meal in Japan, what else is waiting for us?

Next, was a night on the cruise having monjayaki and an unlimited supply of Japanese beers!  My friends have organized this event for us even before we arrived in Japan, it was a get together with all their drinking friends.  We have met some of them in Sydney and were so happy to see them again.  Monjayaki (もんじゃ焼き) is a type of teppanyaki (Japanese pan-fried) that you cook for yourselves in a hotplate embedded in a table.  Ingredients usually include meat, seafood, vegetables, noodles and mochi or cheese.  The food was delicious and a totally different experience for us.  Since the meal includes the “all you can drink” beer, we ordered the Asahi, Kirin, Sapporo, back to Asahi… … I was so glad that they have stocked up the boat!  But I guess the highlight of the evening was meeting a group of wine drinkers, with our limited Japanese and their rusty English, plus our friends’ translations, we’ve managed to come up with interesting conversations.  After dinner, we went straight to a wine bar, we ordered the La Chasse du Pape Cotes du Rhone Prestige.  They only have two bottles in stock and we had both of them!  A beautiful Rhone valley red, dark cherry colour, very feminine.  The most constructive thing we did that night was organizing our next gathering.  After talking about all our wine experiences and the wines we like, we have decided that in our next gathering we will all bring a bottle of wine to share.

Since there is no such thing as BYO in Japan, one of our friend has managed to organise with the restaurant she often dine in, who will allow us to bring our own wines but pay for the full dinner menu that includes a “all you can drink wine and cocktails”.  How good was this arrangement?!?  Never mind, we were just happy that we can BYO!

Then the big night came, we all prepared a wine to take to the restaurant.  Before I left Sydney, I’ve chosen four bottles of wine to take with me, two for my friends to keep and two to be enjoyed together.  So we have decided to bring the Willow Creek’s Benedictus 2006 to our BYO dinner.  It was a Pinot Noir from the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria, where they have a cool climate for growing Pinot Noir.  My friends took three bottles of wines from their cellar, a Western Australia Marsanne Roussanne from Lillian Winery, a Francis Ford Coppola’s Diamond Collection Zinfandel 2005 and a Delta Vineyard’s Pinot Noir. 

With our wines in hands we headed off to the Cardenas Chinois in Shibuya-ku.  We were first to arrive, a long table next to the bar was setup for us.  The restaurant has dim lightings, a bar in the middle with wines on display, a very romantic place to enjoy fine wines.  Not long after we arrived, one friend brought 5 bottles of wines with him, three Rioja, a Merlot and a Moet Chandon Champagne; another brought 2 bottles, a Merlot and a Bordeaux Pomerol 2005; another friend brought a Bordeaux Margaux 2005 and our last member brought the Egly-Ouriet Champagne.

We started the evening with our two Champagnes and the white together with our entrée, a king fish sashimi salad and clams and mussel risotto.  The Egly-Ouriet Brut Tradition Grand Cru was so complex and full bodied, very balanced acidity and oakiness, a real Champagne.  Later I found it listed in the “1001 wines: You must try before you die” book, alright, one down and 1000 to go!  Then we moved on to the reds, as I was the guest at the table, we started with my Pinot Noir.  Not many Australian wines are found in the Japanese market, most of their import wines are French.  Since they were not used to Aussie Pinots, I was afraid that they didn’t like it.  It has a light cherry colour, a young fruity flavour and aroma, a new world Pinot.  They said they liked the wine, but you can never tell whether they are just being too polite!  Then we had the Kiwi Pinot Noir from the Delta Vineyard in Marlborough.  It was a fuller body Pinot, with very nice berry aromas, a more earthy wine.
 
Then came our main courses, a rack of lamb and duck with mesh potato.  We then opened the Zinfendal, a full body red, very masculine with soft tannins.  My friend brought this wine to introduce Zinfendal to me, since I have told her that I never tried a Zinfendal but have only heard about the “Two Buck Chuck” reputation, a valued wine!  She tried to convince me that a Zinfendal can be very elegant, I do agree that it was quite enjoyable with the rack of lamb!  As the evening progressed, we enjoyed our wines, conversations and food.  We opened the Bordeaux, Melot, Rioja, at the end of the evening, we had consumed 14 bottles of wine between the 8 of us.  When it was time to go home, we really didn’t want to say goodbye, as we didn’t know when we’ll see each other again.  It was a sad farewell.  Our promise to each other was that we will KEEP DRINKING!

My Japan Drinking Trip (2)

My Japan Drinking Trip (2)

It was Christmas and we were invited to my friend’s parents place for dinner.  It was a sukiyaki dinner (すき焼き), which we started with pan-frying some premium wagyu beef dipped in raw eggs, then we filled the pan with mushrooms, radish and udon and topped it up with stock to make a soup, just like a shabu shabu (しゃぶしゃぶ).  It was so delicious, the beef was so soft and tasty and the udon was specially ordered from one of the best in the country.  We drank the Kagatobi’s (加賀鳶) Gokkan Junmai (極寒純米), it was a limited seasonal edition.  It was a very nice sake with interesting strong rice favour as it was not filtered.  Then we opened the Piccini’s Burnello di Montalcino from Villa Al Cortile, a Tuscany’s Sangiovese, all I can remember is that we enjoyed it so much.  A very lovely evening!

 

Our drinking trip has not finished yet, for the ten days we were in Japan, I couldn’t remember a night without alcohol.  Not to mention the weekend away to Hakone (箱根), we had tried some very good stuff!  The first night at Hakone, we’ve decided to go for a hot spring before dinner, we were a bit worried that our heart will be overloaded with the combination of hot spring and alcohol!  After a nice Japanese style dinner, we went straight back into our room and drank.  My friend, the old world wine expert, has kindly prepared all her favourite wines for us, it was such an honour to try as well as learn about them.  She opened the Chianti Classico, my favourite Sangiovese!!!  It was the Rocca Guicciarda – Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG from the Barone Ricasoli. Oh, I was so happy, and when I was still seduced by the Sangiovese, my friend opened the next wine, the Monsordo Bernardina estate’s Monsordo Langhe Rosso DOC Ceretto, it was a Nebbiolo blend with Cabernet, Merlot and Syrah.  It was the first time I tried a Nebbiolo blend, very nice and complex.  It was from the Piemonte region just next to the famous Barolo. I just could not find words to describe this indulgence in the beautiful, romantic charm of lovely Italian wines.  I had a good explanation of the Italian wine regions by my friend, and trying them in parallel was such a wonderful experience.  I was starting to love old world wines!

The second night, we continued with our wine adventure!  We started with a local sake, the Hakone Yama (箱根山), and then back to our wines.  The first one we drank was the Le Haut Medoc de Giscours 1998, this wine was produced by Chateau Giscours.  It was made from crops just outside their Margaux boundary, a beautiful Bordeaux wine.  I have learnt that the producer of the old world wines is always the most important thing to look at in a wine.  Then we opened the Francois Labet Pinot Noir 2006, Francois Labet is the owner of the Chateau de La Tour in Burgundy.  A real Bourgogne Pinot Noir is always nice in a happy relax evening after a hot spring bath!  Our Hakone weekend away was like a European weekend away, first arriving in Italy from Piemonte to Tuscany then travelled to France from Bordeaux to Burgundy.  Wakey wakey, stop dreaming!

The last evening we spent in Japan was New Years Eve, and of cause it was another big night.  We were so honoured to be invited to my friend’s parents place for a REAL Japanese home style dinner.  Mind you, the luxurious food and wine we had that night didn’t seem to me as an ordinary home style meal!  Our evening started with a crab entrée, my friend ordered the hair crab (毛ガニ) and the red king crab (タラバガニ 鱈場蟹) from Hokkaido for me as I have mentioned to her before that I couldn’t afford the red king crab but kept seeing them on the restaurants display windows when I last visited Japan as a poor student.  I was very happy that she remembered I always wanted to try these meaty long leg crabs!  We had champagne with the crab, the Veuve Clicquot NV Rosé and a special sake that is only available during the New Year, the Kesa shibori (今朝しぼり) Junmai Ginjyo (純米吟醸) from the Marumoto Sake Brewery (丸本酒).  The sake was very interesting, light and fresh but with a good mouthfeel and texture, I really liked it, and was given one to bring home, THANKS!

Next we were served with the delicious tuna toro with fresh wasabi.  There was a standard grade and a premium grade, the standard grade was already so delicious and fresh that I have never tried in Sydney.  The premium grade, a beautiful pale pink colour, was so soft, it just melts in your mouth.  It was so funny to see my friend’s old cat, who don’t usually move a lot, has actually jumped onto the table only for the premium grade toro, what a smart cat with a sensitive nose.  It was the first time I have seen fresh wasabi, it has the shape of a carrot and you just need to peel and grate it finely for use, very interesting.  We then drank another wine that I brought from Australia, the Ten Minutes by Tractor’s Chardonnay 2007 from the Mornington Peninsula, very nice and buttery.  During our wine conversations, I mentioned that I really like Daiginjyo (大吟醸) since it always seems a little bit more premium, but they said it is only the method of making the sake, and some of the Honjozo (本醸造) can be very nice, the most important factor is the winery.  So they quickly got out the rare Hakkaisan (八海山) Honjozo and opened it for me to try.  Hakkaisan is a very famous boutique winery in Japan.  It was very aromatic, stronger fragrance and texture then a Daiginjyo, and more complex then a Daiginjyo.  Then we had the specially ordered soba from a famous soba shop in Japan with freshly grated radish and salmon fish roe, it was amazing, I couldn’t imagine soba can be that delicate and smooth, it just slides in your mouth with a gentle slurp! Yum!!!  Last but not least, we drank a Bordeaux wine, it was the Chateau Dassault’s Saint-Emilion Grand Cru Classé 2001.  We were so happy to be served with a beautiful and exotic dinner and finished with a lovely Bordeaux wine. 

Before we flew back to Sydney in the afternoon, we went to a Japanese Temple, which was a traditional New Year Day event.  The New Year Eve big night gave me a hangover and I couldn’t eat the beautiful New Year bento (Osechi 御節料理) that my friend’s parent ordered.  I was so disappointed since I was told that there were some very special favours in there, and they all tasted delicious!

This was the most amazing trip in my life, so happy and satisfied!

My Japan Drinking Trip (1)