Vanilla (xiang cao) is my favourite flavour in ice cream, my daughters reminded me. Therefore, I should not forget the little restaurant in Ekamai, not far from our neighbourhood in Thonglor, Bangkok. Well, I thought, but what can you expect from a chain restaurant with standardized dishes and tastes? Tearoom and dim sum, I thought, how does that go together? The Chinese characters in ‘pinyin’ read “huang jia xiang cao” which means “royal vanilla”.
The interior of Royal Vanilla looks like a Chinese tea house. The lacquered furniture is not my favourite style, I prefer a simple and more robust wood varnish. The room divider doors were copies but succeeded in creating a private atmosphere. In contrast the wooden door at the entrance seemed to be solid and real. We ordered an assortment of various dishes which, I admit from the outset, were delicious, very delicious.
Without some chilli I cannot live any longer.
Beautiful dim sims.
Spring rolls on a bed of dried seaweed.
Dried tofu (dofu).
The fish (Japanese gindara = silver cod fish) was spectacular.
Also the chicken was very delicious.
The spinach with ham was one of my favourites.
The soup was spicy and very tasteful.
The choice of drink, was a Tsingtao beer, solid traditional German style.
Pouring a glass of beer.
We had a great time at Royal Vanilla in Bangkok. The garden around it is beautiful too. There is also a cake shop and a book store. If you are around somewhere in Ekamai, check it out. It’s worth it. And in case you are a tourist in Bangkok, I highly recommend to explore this neighbourhood (Ekamai and Thonhglor) with its many charming restaurants and eating places.
This coming weekend I would love to be in Mansfield, Victoria. That weekend, our association, the Upper Goulburn Winegrowers Association (UGWA) is going to host its 2009 vintage celebrations. What a treat, I tell you, the best of our wines are going to be on display, what a wonderful tasting out there in the High Country. On Saturday, 25 April (11:30-17:00) a day of wine and food tasting is going to be held, titled: “A Day on High”.
And on Sunday it is followed by the so called “Long lunch” at Orchard Farm Cottage where various chefs present their food combined with Upper Goulburn wines. The menu sounds delicious, though for a conservative European like me, Australian food is often too rich. I explain this in my postscript, no offence.
The following wineries are presenting their wines:
– Buller View
– Buxton Ridge
– Delatite
– Gioielle Estate
– Growlers Gully
– Kinloch Wines
– Mt Samaria
– Murrindindi
– Nillahcootie Estate
– Penbro Estate
– Sedona Estate
– Snobs Creek
– St Winifred’s
Apart from the wines, one can also taste local food produce and buy a whole lot of other things. There is music and a program for children, in short it should be a fun day out there.
At the “Long Lunch” on Sunday, things are more structured. The dishes on offer are appropriately paired with the various wines from the region. I leave out the food so that there is something left for you to be discovered by yourself.
First, there will be canapés served (prepared by Café 41 and the Mansfield Regional Produce Store) with the following wines:
The dessert is by Michael Nelson from The Deck on High in Mansfield to which a ‘2008 Delatite “Catherine” Gewürztraminer’ will be served. Goodness me that sounds all so nice. We have never participated in the vintage celebration ourselves, but the time will come, I am sure. In the meantime I will further explore Thai and other wines and train my palate. If anyone who reads this is in the vicinity of the High Country, I suggest you better check it out.
Cheers to all the good wines, the producers and presenters and: have fun.
PS: Australians like to not just use one or two main ingredients for a dish but many, many. I give you an example to illustrate that: a typical pizza margherita, with only tomatoes and cheese with some basil leaves, is considered by most Australians a kind of rip-off. There needs to be more on a pizza, at least 3 to 4 toppings and heaps of it (a little mountain on top of the dough). If you read the above menu, you see what I mean.
Spaghetti alle Vongole was the right pasta to be enjoyed with one of my “treasure” Riesling wines. From my last trip to Germany I had brought two bottles of Riesling back to Thailand.
One of them was a ‘2007 Ayler Kupp Riesling Kabinett’ (dry), Saar from Bischoefliches Konvikt Trier. Nothing special, you might say, but a very decent Saar Riesling for sure (price: about 10 Euro/bottle). The terroir “Ayler Kupp” is world famous for producing excellent Riesling wines.
The wine is a typical young Saar Riesling. Actually the wine region’s official name is Mosel, but I stick to Saar, Saar being the river where the grapes for this wine are grown in a small hamlet with the name of Ayl.
We poured the wine, which had a light straw colour and is low in alcohol (11%), so that I could take a picture. I love the Saar Rieslings, they are wines to die for. They are well balanced, acidity, sugar and alcohol in a perfect combination. They have character, texture and structure. Aromas of melon, citrus, passion fruit, peach and/or floral notes are to be found.
The match of the food with the wine was perfect. The slight spiciness of the seafood pasta and the basil went very well with the citrus aromas of the young, slightly bubbly Riesling. The wine was very fruity, a citrus bomb, so to say, marvellous. If you have a chance to visit the Saar region, please take your time and taste some of the local wines.
PS: After the extensive lunch, by the way, we had some chocolate, espresso and port of course. I smoked a big Cuban cigar. The tropical heat made us feel mellow; what a joyful day.
Our flight from Jakarta to Bangkok was pleasant. Though we had about six hours delay. We arrived in the evening after 9 pm. From the Internet we knew that there were violent clashes between the armed forces and the red-shirt demonstrators in the centre of town. As long as the airport is not occupied…, we thought, it should be fine for us getting home. And so it was. The streets were deserted and it took no time to reach Thonglor, Soi 17. The family had come back from Krabi island the same day. Reunion, what a joy.
Easter Monday is an official holiday in Germany. Now that the family was together again, we did one of our normal Sunday routines: reading, listening to music, doing some sport and eating together. After about a week on Asian food, I longed for a pasta and a pasta it was to be! (rigatoni ricotta spinaci).
No better wine than a Thai wine, I thought; it would go well with this meal. I chose a bottle of ‘2006 Fiori Unwooded Chenin Blanc’ from Gran Monte Family Vineyard in Asoke Valley. Chenin Blanc is usually not one of my favourite white varieties but I knew that Gran Monte produces a decent one.
The wine has a nice golden colour, not much of a nose though, but typical Chenin Blanc flavours with a well- balanced acidity. The tropical fruit flavours went well with the pasta. This is a nice wine.
The sun was shining, four people were digging in, hungry like construction workers and busy telling stories from the holidays on Krabi and the elections in Indonesia.
We had a business lunch at a restaurant which was non-existing during my time in Jakarta. It’s right in the centre of town, and its name is “Seribu Rasa” which translates as “a thousand flavours”. The place was officially openend only on January 5, 2009.
We arrived early for lunch and the restaurant was only sparsely occupied. That, however, should change fast. The place was packed when we were having our meal.
The main entrance
Coming from the street, the place look rather odd, because the entry leads down to a parking in the basement. To the left is a little footpath which leads to the gates shown on the picture above. There is a lot of glass but also a lot of wood, pillars, window shutters, window frames as well as wooden furniture. I loved the garden, the fountains and the small walkways linking the different parts of the buildings.
The wall consist of white washed bricks. The mirror above gives it a more spacious feeling. I also loved the various colourful lamps and the lamp structures.
Unfortunately, I have only one picture of the food. The business atmosphere was not conducive to the taking of photos somehow.
Moreover, I messed up and only one of the photos I took is somehow presentable. It shows the “Kankung” ( a kind of water spinach) with seafood dish and the beef, both were very delicious. Furthermore, we had steamed fish, a dish of crabs, some chicken, squid and some lobster. The other remarkable vegetable was the Batak stype singkong leaf stew.
The “kangkung” and the beef dishs
The good news is that there are great photos of the various fusion cuisine dishes on a blog called “Daily What Not”. Please go there and admire the excellent shots.
Regarding the drinks I could not detect wine on the menu. My Indonesian friends all ordered Semilir Brastagi, a local strawberry variety from Sumatra which is served as an iced strawberry punch with pieces of fruit.
I will definitely come back another time to explore further the menu and the many Indonesian delicacies. If you are in the centre of Jakarta near the Grand Hyatt Hotel and the Deutsche Bank building you should just go around the corner and dive into the peaceful atmosphere of Seribu Rasa, an oasis in the city jungle.
Address: Seribu Rasa
Jl Haji Agus Salim 128
Menteng, Central Jakarta
Tel.: +62-21-3928892
By default I had some time for myself. I took the opportunity and strolled through Kemang, the area in Jakarta where my hotel, the Grand Flora, was located. The other day, I had briefly met friends at the “Elbow Room”, a brand new place to hang out in Jakarta but we only had a couple of beers.
I was impressed by the shiny new décor of solid wood panels and the copies of paintings by classical and modern artists. Also the high ceilings appealed to me, so did the non-smoking ban which provides the air of freedom in a world which more and more subdues private lives to the wisdom of a certain kind of political correctness. I consider myself a non-smoker despite my occasional cigar burning rituals I perform with great gusto.
Last night I went there again, this time for tea, as we say in Australia, which translates for non-Australian as “dinner”. Apart from the wood beams and wood panels, the bar contains also some type of ship-features, in golden metal colours. At first sight the large round window on the first floor gives the impression of a porthole. The smaller inner-circle is more reminiscent of an eyeball though which you can look through and out to the street. The toilets are done in ship-style too.
I choose a table on the first floor near the window and sat in the big and solid country-style leather chair, I like so much. I was not very hungry. Actually, a glass of wine would have done it for me. From the earlier visit I knew that you can only order whole bottles. The waiters are extremely friendly and helpful (great service). The jazz music gives the place a flair of intellectual sophistication. The lights are subdued, in fact the place is rather dark.
My little digital camera could not cope with the general darkness of the place. This is why I cannot show you pictures of the interior and of the food I consumed. I ordered bruscetta and fried zucchini, both quite tasty snacks. The Australian Shiraz (Penfolds) was out, so I settled for a bottle of ‘2004 Geoff Merrill Cabernet Merlot’, from South Australia, the only other red wine on offer.
I had not heard of this wine and this producer before. The Cabernet Merlot blend is a medium bodied wine with a wonderful dark red colour (14.5 % Vol). The black fruit aroma was quite nice, and the wine tasted also like black fruit. The mid-palate weight was very remarkable, the finish was OK but nothing spectacular, in short a solid wine. When researching the wine, I did not find it on the Geoff Merrill website (there is no cuvée of this type). But the wines are reasonable priced (16 to 30 A$). The Elbow Room charged INR 469,000.-, about € 30 for the bottle which I find to be a bit on the dear side.
I asked the waiter if I could take the bottle home in case I could not finish it and he kindly agreed (otherwise I would have left the place). I smoked some kretek cigarettes and had a jolly good time.
If you want to know what the interior of this bar-cum-restaurant looks like, you have to go yourself and find out. I personally prefer to eat in more lit up places. The prices for the snacks mentioned above were very reasonable. I recommend to the Elbow Room management to consider introducing a wine-by-the-glass policy. Check the place out if next time in Jakarta, it’s worth visiting. I will definitely visit again.
Address: Elbow Room Restaurant
Jl. Kemang Raya No. 24 A
Jakarta, Indonesia
Te.: +62-21-7194274
“In all things there is something of the marvellous”, Aristotle, 384-322 B.C.
Four days ago my colleague and friend Christian brought us a bottle of Riesling Cuvée from Saale-Unstrut, the most northern wine region of Germany. It did not last long. The first occasion was excuse enough for us to open this rare bottle of German wine. The ‘2007 Riesling Traminer Saale-Unstrut’ from the Winzervereinigung Freyburg-Unstrut (a type of co-operative) was a most amazing wine, a treasure here in Bangkok.
Saale-Unstrut is not only the most northern wine region of continental Europe but also one of the smallest in size (below 700 ha). It takes it’s name from two rivers: Saale and Unstrut. Grpae growing and wine production, though, go back a long way. The earliest prove dates from around 998 A.D. and covers the wines from Memleben Abbey.
The climate in the region is generally rough and very cold. Only in very warm years can good wines (Spaetlese, Auslese) be made. Yields are usually very low in comparison with other German wine regions. About 75% of the grapes grown are white varieties, among them Mueller-Thurgau, Silvaner, Pinot Blanc, Riesling, Traminer and other white varieties. However, given global warming more and more wines from Saale-Unstrut are of outstanding quality and find eager consumers.
We had this Riesling-Traminer Cuvée with Sunday lunch. I must admit that I never before heard of such a cuvée blending Riesling, my favourite white wine, with Traminer. Both are aromatic varieties but of a very different nature. The Cuvée displayed a honey aroma and tasted like peaches and apricots. The finish was acidic and sharp but not unpleasant. The wine has 12% alcohol, is very young but well balanced. Unfortunately, we had only this one bottle. It matched the food perfectly. So what was the food?
Well, it was a recipe from my favourite cooking book, the Philosopher’s Kitchen by Francine Segan which contains recipes from ancient Greece and Rome.
“Grouper with herbs and pecorino” (originally the fish in the recipe was ray fish, Francine uses skate, but any white fish will do) was the plate of the day.
The dish is accented with fresh fragrant marjoram, a herb that “Aristotle believed was an antidote to most poisons”. You take the following ingredients:
– 1 ½ cups of white wine
– 2 pounds skinned grouper, cut into 4 pieces
– Salt and freshly milled pepper
– 2 tablespoons minced assorted fresh herbs, such as parsley, mint, dill, and chives, lots of majoram
-1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
– 2 tablespoons grated pecorino cheese
How is it done?
Well, first bring white wine to a boil over high heat until reduced to half (5-6 minutes); season the fish with salt and pepper.
Then add marjoram and minced herbs, oil and mix with the hot wine, add fish and cook until firm, about 3 minutes. Serve topped with the cheese and a sprig of marjoram. The recipe can be found in the above book of Francine Segan page 97 (From Life of luxury, Archestratus).
We had it with potatoes and a salad (cucumber with orange and walnuts).
The potatoes
The fish with the herbs
On the plate
Needless to say, the food was very yummy. The four of us gobbled it up in no time. Especially my children were amazed (usually they prefer meat) that fish can taste that good. It is only the second recipe I know of where fish and cheese are successfully matched together.
After lunch it was espresso and Averna and some Belgian chocolates. I followed up with a cigar (a Casa de Torres, CT, Nicaragua, hand made).
We were nine all together, one Thai, one Burmese, three Germans and three Australians plus myself. A famous Thai restaurant was our object of desire. We assembled at pier N 9 at the Bangkok Chao Phraya river, jumped into two taxis and drove to the area near the Grand Palace. Here, in a little side street called Phraeng Phuton you will find “Chote Chitre”, a family restaurant of the highest order.
The entrance to the living-room restaurant
The menu
The gods were with us
The owner of the place is Mrs. Krachoichuli Kimangsawat, or Tiem as she is called. Ms Krachoichuli inherited her restaurant from her grandparents whose pictures are stuck to the wall. It’s about 100 years old. Khun Tiem learned her trade from her mother and grandmother. The restaurant is open from 11:00 AM to 11:00 PM, six days a week.
Restaurant’s reviews on the wall
The family style cooking produces the most amazing results. All the dishes we ordered were just delectable, delicious, just great food. Awesome. Below you’ll find some of the dishes we had ordered.
Fish and green mango salad
The signature dish: Banana flowers in coconut sauce
We had also some pork but I failed to get a picture. There was no wine but Singha beer. I was told that one can bring wine from home. I might do this the next time (maybe a Spaetlese Riesling).
Table loaded with delicious and magnificent Thai food.
Before
and after
My recommendation: Chote Chitr is a must; I would award it all the stars I can think of. We had such a jolly good time and a great feast.
After dinner we wandered the streets around the restaurant. On some of the many food stalls my friend Bjoern bought some sweets for dessert. We passed by a Chinese temple and I heard singing and music from the door. I could not resist and checked it out. There was a fully fledged Chinese opera performance going on. Mostly older folks were sitting on plastic chairs. The actors were in colourful costumes and sang in a southern Chinese tongue, if I am not mistaken. How wonderful. I love Beijing opera. I was reminded of our times in China in the early nineties and the great time we had there. We watched for a while. What a wonderful end to a great evening.
Address: Chote Chitr
146 Soi Phraeng Pu Thorn, Thanon Tanao Rd.,
Bangkok, Thailand
Monday to Saturday, 11 am to 11 pm
Telephone: +66-2-221-4082
(Not far from the Grand Palace and the Democracy Monument)
On the 8th of March 21 years ago, I entered an Italian language class and sat next to a blonde girl from Australia. In the morning of the same day, my boss, Luciano Montesi, had send me out to buy flowers for all the women working in our service. This is how I learned about world women’s day.
It was a glorious day in Rome and I was glad that my friend Jim had taken me to his language class. What I did not know at the time was that I would marry that blonde Australian two years later.
Today, we felt like celebrating this first encounter and decided to go out for lunch. We called the Patara Restaurant which is only one Soi away from us in Thonglor, Bangkok, and they sent their tuck-tuck to pick us up at 13:20 h. All four of us like Thai food, so the choice of Patara came very natural.
Patara is located in Thonglor, Soi 19. The building used to be a private residence in a single house with a large garden, I guess. Inside you’ll find an elegant Thai restaurant, just the right place for such a celebration as ours was.
The interior of Patara
The decoration is very tasteful
We ordered two starter platters, a selection of various small Thai dishes and the three dumpling assortment. Don’t get fooled by the colours. The dumplings are most delicious.
This was the first starter platter
Three kinds of Thai dumplings
Then we ordered the main dishes, among them a tofu in red curry, a green chicken curry, an oxtail red curry, some green vegetables and some rice (which came in four colours, unfortunately my photo of the rice was blurred). All of us like spicy food, therefore we just followed our instincts when ordering.
The main dishes
Green chicken curry
The ossobucco-type dish
Green veggies
The food was so wonderful, so perfect, so delicious; our taste buds went from one sensation to the next. This is Thai food at its best, wow. I could not believe it. Margit and the kids had visited Patara earlier but for me it was the maiden visit. This was the best Thai food in ages.
What about the wine? Food and wine pairings in Asia are at times a challenge. Patara has a well assorted wine list. Since the first encounter had taken place in Italy, I choose an Italian wine. The ‘2005 Campogrande Orvieto DOC Classico Superiore’ by Antinori seemd to be just the right choice.
First, many times we had stopped in Orvieto when returning to Rome from Umbria so that a lot of happy memories are tied up with Orvieto Classico wines. Second, just a day earlier we had this wonderful ‘2005 Antinori Tignanello’, so I thought why not stay with the same producer.
Wine is expensive in Thailand. The bottle was under 2000 Bath, not bad for a restaurant offer. I know that this wine retails for about US$ 10-12 in other parts of the world. The wine has a pale straw colour. It is elegant and fresh. The wine has a good structure and a very pleasant palate of tropical fruit.
As typical for Orvieto Classico, the wine is a Trebbiano blend. Varieties include Procanico, Grechetto, Verdelho, Drupeggio, Malvasia and – surprise surprise – Chardonnay (15 %!). Antinori went up to the maximum allowed as regards Grechetto (27%). With the exception of Verdelho and Chardonnay, I have never tasted any of the individual varieties included in this blend as single wines.
Cheers
Happy children
After lunch the children entertained themselves in the garden.
These are the ingredients for Irish coffee. It’s worth to order it. It’s freshly made at the table, a spectacular show, truly amazing.
The finished product: Irish coffee
Before we got on the tuck-tuck again, we were served refreshing towels. What a wonderful celebration this family meal was, a delight for the palate, a pleasure for the eyes. The staff at Patara is incredibly professional, very friendly and extremely helpful.
Happy diners
If you want to experience something special and you have the chance to drop in a Patara Restaurant, please do so. I highly recommend it. And if you are in Bangkok, the choice is clear: visit Patara, its’ worth it.
Recently, my friend Holger from Berlin had given us a bottle of “Francis Coppola wine”. I had never tasted anything from this producer though I have read a couple of reviews on the net. Therefore, opening this bottle of Pinot Noir and enjoying it with a Sunday roast (chicken this time) promised to be an exciting experience.
The ‘2006 Francis Coppola, Diamond Series, Silver Label Pinot Noir’, originates from Monterey County, a cool climate wine region in central California. During an Agricultural Economist Conference in 1997 I had the opportunity to visit this wine region. It’s a marvellous place and I treasure my memories of tasting various delicious boutique vineyard wines.
The ‘2006 Francis Coppola Pinot Noir Diamond Collection Silver Label’
So tasting wine from this part of the world was exciting indeed. We do not drink very many wines from California so this wine extended our experience with USA-wines. Ratings of the 2006 vintage vary (87 or so points), but it is definitely not one of the best Californian Pinot Noirs. However, the price of US$ 20 in the USA indicates that there is quite a market out there for this “very drinkable” drop.
The medium-bodied wine showed plenty of fruit on the nose (cherries, raspberries), it felt silky in the mouth with some forest flavours, and displayed a nice finish. No bitterness could be detected as some tasters have reported earlier. To my taste buds the pairing of lemon chicken with Pinot Noir worked well.
Port wine from Portugal helped us to digest the meal
What a pleasurable tropical afternoon on our terrace we had. The 38 degrees Celsius did not feel that hot but the dry-hot seasons has definitely started. After the meal I had a port wine. I always liked port. Our visit to Porto last summer re-enforced this passion.
With the port (10 years old), I smoked a cigar from Nicaragua, a hand made ‘Casa de CT Torres, Nicaragua, Hecho a mano’. The “smoke” was very pleasant, not to heavy; the tobacco was mild but distinct. I should buy more cigars from Nicaragua.
Cigars relax me and that is what I needed between two very busy work weeks, some relaxation. Also the bad news that we would not have a vintage this year at Two Hills Vineyard needed to be digested. Well, so is nature, unpredictable, unsteady, volatile, but marvellous.
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The Man from Mosel River 