Wine Dinner at Bistro Soori: Domaine Chateau Malartic-Lagraviere

Tags

Château Malartic-Lagravière, red wine, white wine, wine review, wine tasting, wine tasting notes

This is a long overdue post. After this I’ve got one more wine event I’d like to review, but perhaps after the truffle series ;p. Way back in June I had the opportunity to attend a wine tasting dinner in a very cosy and intimate setting (about 10 of us at most) with the owner of Château Malartic-Lagravière, Mr. Jean-Jacques Bonnie, at Bistro Soori.

We had the following wines available for us to taste:-

Château Malartic-Lagravière White

2009 & 2007

Grand Cru Classé, Graves

&

Vertical Tasting of Château Malartic-Lagravière Red

2009, 2006, 2005, 2003 & 2001

Grand Cru Classé, Graves

Little bites and wine before going into the room for dinner.

I think the above picture shows the Château Malartic-Lagravière Red 2009. It tasted of toast wood, smoke, stone and red fruit with dark, sweet berries in the nose as it is quite young. Pretty balanced wine with around 7 seconds finish. Smelt buttery after a while ;D It has been given a score of 92 by Robert Parker.

I remember having the Malarctic White 2009 as well but only remember it being dry and fruity. Not much to work with I know ;(

Wines in decanters

Wine list above, and menu below:

The scallop was paired with the White 2007. It consists of 85% Sauvignon, is straw greenish in color and more viscous than the 2009. Quite a nice wine and I preferred it to the 2009. I think the fruit taste in this wine leaned toward the more exotic fruits like pears and lemon? I like it better paired with the food rather than a standalone wine.

This red 2003 has a reddish brown colour to it and was pretty tannic. According to the owner this was a difficult vintage despite the good weather. To me it didn’t leave much of an impression to be honest, not my favorite and didn’t have much structure to it.

Beef that I couldn’t eat ;(

The red 2005 is also pretty tannic and smelt/tasted young and green. Still pretty closed at this point and full potential has yet to come out.

The Red 2006 on the other hand, while it also had the tannic astringency that I’m not too fond of, had a some mocha in the nose and spice in the palate with a medium finish.   Perhaps will have to try this again in a couple of years, it didn’t seem ready yet.

I liked the red 2001. It is thicker, smoother with some toast. A pretty masculine wine with some earth, smoke, plum and jam on the palate. It is very subtle but has structure to it. My favourite of the night would have to be this one, the white 2007 and the red 2009.

I enjoyed this dinner particularly as it was very educational to talk to the owner and learn about his wines and the effort that had gone into the making of the wine. I really hope I would get the opportunity to attend more wine functions such as this one in the near future!

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White truffle series part 2: Uni rice and uni sushi with white truffles

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easy recipes, fusion food, ikura, japanese, japanese food, sea urchin, sea urchin and white truffle, sea urchin rice, sea urchin sushi, seafood, sushi, uni, uni and white truffle, uni sushi, white truffle, white truffles

Above: Uni RiceAbove: Uni sushi

Technically this isn’t a recipe but rather just an entry to record the combination of ingredients used for these two dishes. White truffle just goes so amazingly well with uni *drool*.

I just had to show the sheer size of the uni tray that I bought… crazy big!

The only difference between these two dishes is that one has ikura and the other has mayonnaise. Otherwise the ingredients are exactly the same. Let’s start with the uni rice:-

This I copied from the chefs at restaurants like Shinji and Sushi ichi. It’s a small mound of lightly vinegared rice (the mound was way smaller at the restaurants because… well the more rice you put it, the more sea urchin you’ll need) where you plonk a generous helping of uni and use a pair of chopsticks to mix the rice and uni until each grain is covered with that silken orange. It shouldn’t be dry, it should be almost like a risotto (and to achieve this you need quite a bit of uni to rice ratio). Then you top it with a spoonful of ikura, more globules of uni and if you have it, some chopped negitoro (spring onion and otoro) before finishing it off with shaved white truffles and chives. Use a spoon to drip some soy sauce onto the rice. Really good combination there. Too bad I was missing the negitoro bit ;(

Next, the uni sushi. I molded some vinegared rice first. The rice should be warm and you should have a bowl of salted water next to you when you do this. The water will keep the rice from sticking to your fingers and allow for easy molding whereas the salt is just to flavour the rice.

I think I might have used too much rice for each sushi T____T. Use less rice!

Yes, perhaps just dab a little wasabi onto the rice before spooning a generous amount of uni on top. Then squeeze some of the japanese mayonnaise over the uni like so:-

My massive white truffle! (and my hungry puppy)

Add the chive sections to the sushi before shaving the white truffle all over the sushi. 

Indeed a delightful mixture, I wish I could have some now ;D

Tatsuya, Goodwood Hotel Singapore

Tags

akami, anago, bonito, caviar, ebi, flounder, goodwood hotel, goodwood park hotel, halfbeak, ikura, japanese omakase, japanese pear, japanese singapore, kajiki, maguro, musk melon, omakase, omakase singapore, otoro, prawn, restaurant review, salmon, sayori, sea urchin, seaweed, singapore, singapore restaurant, sushi rice, tatsuya, tuna, uni, yuzu

*Edit: Updated Review on Tatsuya here

I’ve heard quite a bit about Tatsuya from friends, and as Japanese omakase is my not-so-secret crush I was pretty thrilled when my makan kaki suggested Tatsuya for dinner. We went after the recent renovation so I have no idea what it looked like before.

It is a good sized traditional Japanese restaurant located at Goodwood Park Hotel and offers counter seats where you can watch the chefs do their thing as well as table seats.

As far as omakase goes, the rates are similar to other omakase restaurants in Singapore. We went for the SGD 280++ omakase option and topped up a little for desserts.

Sat at the counter, always very educational and you’re left with a better idea of the skill level of the chef as well as the dedication they put into their food.

Now, so far I’ve only been to the really traditional types of Japanese omakase restaurants and I expected Tatsuya to be the same. However, I quickly realized how wrong I was. Yes indeed they do go about the traditional methods of preparation but they also favor the technique of “aburi” (flame-torching) alongside using modern twists in preparing the fresh seafood.

Here’s a beautiful carpaccio dish that serves as a good example to the delightful little surprises that they come up with at Tatsuya.

Beautiful is it not?

First up we each had a dish of ikura with some yuzu grated over the top. What makes this ikura stand out is that each roe is separate from the other. I’ve gotten so used to roes sticking and clumping together that this came as a bit of a surprise. A good one of course. Each individual sac was fresh and not at all slimy, bursting with briny goodness. 

Some dish that the chef was preparing for the other guests.

Next, we had some simmered mackerel (on the left) and monkfish liver (on the right). I love monkfish liver, but I’d gauge these two dishes as average. Perhaps I just prefer raw fish haha!

Above, some flounder topped with seaweed, uni and bonito. Great texture on the fish, a little bite, alongside the game changers, the toppings. While the uni topping was my favourite, the bonito came a close second.

Here we had a plate of half beak (sayori) sashimi with ginger and spring onions. Shiny skinned fish tend to smell a little stronger so ginger and spring onions are often used to balance out the smell. As the fish was fresh there was hardly any smell, while the ginger and spring onion only served to heighten the flavour of the fish. 

Once we were done with the sashimi, they whisked away the bones of the fish and deep fried it so that you can enjoy those too and nothing is wasted. 

The next offering: a plate of delectable, thick-cut sashimi

Akami remains my favorite. The fried ebi topped with caviar and yuzu was heavenly as well. Fantastic combination.

This is something we did not try as we both do not take beef. It looks good doesn’t it? The fat on the beef was just melting before our eyes as they torched it.

❤

Torched abalone with yuzu, I think they must have added some butter at some point. Tender and flavorful, but not as mind blowingly good as the one I had at the curb market in Sapporo .

*drools*

Above, an aburi toro. Meltingly soft and juicy, the fish went so well with the rice, daikon and spring onions with just a hint of smoke from the torched surface.

This is definitely a place that has got its rice right. Nice short grains of lightly vinegared rice.

Next up, aburi Kajiki (swordfish belly) which had a little more bite to it in comparison to the toro. While it doesn’t hold a flame to the toro, it holds its own ground pretty well too.

Aburi Kampachi belly topped with bonito flakes, nori and roast sesame seeds. Oh and yuzu of course. I love how Tatsuya manages to blend all these strong flavours together and never overpower the fish. The flavours all come together very harmoniously.

This? Party in my mouth! Aburi Ebi with mentaiko mayo topped with yuzu and lumpfish caviar. BEST COMBINATION EVER! Or rather perhaps I’m biased towards anything with mentaiko mayonnaise. Prawn is amazing with that mixture. When they torched this baby I could hear the mentaiko popping furiously as they cook. The sweet mayo, marinated mentaiko, half crunchy, half creamy ebi and caviar just took this dish to level heaven (yes I’m dramatizing food, I loved it that much)

This is yet another favorite! Hotate (scallop) and Foie gras lightly touched and topped with yuzu and er… tiny anchovies haha. I thought that the anchovies got in the way of the scallop and foie gras a little. It was divine nonetheless.

Rich heavy foie gras with the smooth clean and creamy taste of the scallops… mmm…

This is something I’m more familiar with, the conventional sushi as it is. Uni and ikura ❤ 

I remember asking for no eel at the start of the meal. I’m not sure why this came but I’m glad it did. It was nicely broiled and delicious.

Lastly, a really crunchy, simple roll that you just eat with your hands. Simple, no fuss, minimalistic yet really satisfying. Did I mention that the nori is fabulously crunchy?

Chef preparing hunks of beef

Beef on fire! It was sizzling and I found myself drooling over a meat I’ve only tried once or twice in my life and never crave for!

Ended the course with some fruits; a musk melon and japanese pear. As Japanese fruits go, these were extraordinary in flavour and texture as well.

We couldn’t resist…. ordered a yuzu sorbet and caramel ice cream. Refreshing end to a fantastic meal.

Tatsuya

ADDRESS

22 Scotts Road Goodwood Park Hotel Singapore 228221

(65) 6737-1160

White truffle series part 1: Garlic soy lamb with white truffles

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aluminium foil, baked, dinner, easy lamb recipe, easy meals, easy meat recipe, easy recipe, garlic, lamb, mains, meat, soy sauce, truffle lamb, truffle oil, truffles, white winter truffles

This is a super easy recipe, all you need is a rack of lamb, some chopped up garlic, soy sauce and some white pepper. And then you shove it in the oven. I used to make this in university when I could spare the money for some lamb meat (definitely did not fancify it with truffles back then!), and I ate it with rice. It made for a really satisfying meal!

This time around I made the dish again along with my other truffle themed dishes:-

Top left; uni mixed with sushi rice topped with ikura, truffles and more uni

Centre: Sea bream/tai sashimi with chopped canned black summer truffles in truffle oil, fleur de sel and shaved white truffles. I’ve made this before with black winter truffles

Bottom right: Garlic soy lamb with white truffles

Bottom left: Uni sushi with truffles, japanese mayonnaise, chives and white truffles

Here are a couple more pictures of the sashimi, won’t be doing up recipe posts on it as I’ve done it before:

(Yes, I bought a mountain of uni in honour of the white truffle! Hello cholesterol!)

Ingredients for the trio of truffle carpaccio dish (yeah well it was supposed to be a carpaccio but truth be told I bought it as sashimi)

Chopped canned black truffles

Here’s a peak of the monster white truffle…

Ingredients (for 1 pax):

(Please ignore the ice wine, balsamic vinegar and honey that’s in the photo… I had initially wanted to make a separate sauce for the lamb but I found that the sauce from the lamb after cooking was more than sufficient!)

• 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 small rack of lamb, around 200g with the bone – this was a really small rack of lamb, thus only feeds one person
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• white pepper to taste
• 1 tsp white truffle oil (optional)
• white truffle shavings to top (optional)

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 160 degrees celsius
• Place the room temperature lamb in a sheet of aluminium foil large enough to entirely wrap the lamb.
• Rub in the soy sauce, minced soy sauce and a dash of white pepper into the lamb

• Place 1 tbsp of water into the sheet before wrapping up the lamb.
• Place the lamb in the oven for about 35 minutes for a pink centre (you can adjust the temperature slightly higher and/or leave it in the oven for longer if you like it well done)
• Remove from oven and let rest for 10 minutes at room temperature.
• Shave white truffles over the top and serve

mmmmm…