Margaret River, Australia, cork seal
I often think that I don't drink enough wine from Australia's western region of Margret River. I dragged this bottle from my cellar last time I was in Australia; though I've no idea where I got it or what I paid for it. I think the current vintage retails for about A$40-50. Watson's Wine sells Devil's Lair here in Hong Kong and their second label, Fifth Leg, is readily available. The wine spent twelve months in new and one year old French oak.
It smells like sunny old school Chardonnay, big and rich with obvious oak. It's good though and the aromas of grapefruit, lemon rind, pineapple, walnut and surfboard wax are appealing. The palate is rich and lush; again the oak's obvious alongside almonds, peaches and mangoes. Devil's Lair Chardonnay 2002 is a big, full on wine with impressive length. While not really my style I enjoyed this, though it wasn't Earth shattering and probably, I feel, not worth the asking price.
Visit winery website.
584 Takakura Tooru Street, Kyoto
Visited 3rd February 2009
We stumbled across Yoshinori Saeki while exploring Kyoto. We decided to take a look. They were full. We did the only reasonable thing. We made a booking. We came back the following evening. Yakitori restaurants are normally a raucous occasion of eating grilled stuff on sticks and sculling beer, but the first thing you notice about Yoshinori Saeki is that it's oozing refined charm. The restaurant is built in a 100 year old house, the staff are traditionally dressed the there's refrained elegance in the air. We were seated at the bar a
nd had perfect view of the chefs cooking tasty treats to order. Glancing at their website Yoshinori Saeki proclaims the merits of suppliers; a typically Japanese commitment to local quality ingredients.
OK, OK the menu was all about grilled stuff on sticks, but I was impressed that there were almost as many vegetable based options as meat ones. The selection we ordered included tender pork belly, chicken fillet with wasabi, beef with leek, delicious minced pork and sweet baby onions on skewers. We also had some delicious sticky chicken wings coated in sesame seeds and fluffy baked Hokkaido potatoes that were so good we ordered a second serve. The food was, well, excellent. The meat dishes were tender and flavoursome, the sauces were delicate and presentation was perfect. Oh yeah we drank beer.
I don't think we had any bad meals in Japan, but some were simply spectacular and Yoshinori Saeki fits the category. What we had was a dining experience where excellent food was perfectly matched by the seating and service. Our meal came to ¥7,250 and even though this included a few beers it wasn't cheap, but it was certainly worth it. At Yoshinori Saeki we drank beer and ate grilled meat on a stick, yet came out feeling calm and meditative - that place is good for the soul!
Visit restaurant website.
Eilandia, Robertson, $68, screwtop
I haven't tried much Pinotage, but when I saw this on special at Park n Shop for bargain price of $38 I thought I'd give it a go. The Ruins is a brand that is readily available in Hong Kong and offers organic wines at very reasonable prices. The back label goes into detail about their method of planting a crop of lucerne as a competing ground cover that encourages deep root growth in the vines and reduces yields; I always find a bit of farming know how interesting.
The Ruins Pinotage 2008 is a vibrant, sparkling purple colour. It smells of great lashing of raspberry candy and fizzy sarsaparilla. The palate is just as sweet as the nose; this wine is all about red lollies, not red fruit. I can taste strawberry chewing gum, cherry candy and sweet children's' cough syrup. I'm not really sure what to make of this, though it is young and could perhaps do with a tad more time in the bottle. It's medium bodied and has a slight frizz to it. Their website suggests serving it slightly chilled and it's certainly the type of wine that could be easily chucked back on a Tuesday afternoon. While it's not really my style there's something a tad morish about it; at the price you can try it for yourself.
Visit winery website.
Burgundy, France, £6.99, cork seal
A wine from the villages of Beaune, with my village pictured in the background. Made by Burgundy big boy Louis Jadot it's a blend of fruit from the Chorey les Beaune and Ladoix villages and has spend twelve months in oak. I purchased this bottle duty free at London's Heathrow Airport, a place where the prices can be surprisingly good.
The wine's a beautiful deep crimson colour. It smells like Pinot should smell; there're cherries and berries with a lash of cream and a sprinkle of pepper. The palate is simple, but basically it tastes like one big cherry party with hordes of cherries, cherries and more cherries. It's a medium bodied wine with a nice round palate and a touch of a spice on the finish. A drinkable little Pinot that I'm certainly not going to claim is complex, but I will say is rather tasty. Louis Jadot Cote de Beaune-Villages 2006 is simple, but satisfying and brings a little bit of Burgundy at a fair price.
Visit winery website.
911 Burke Rd, Hawthorn, Melbourne, Australia
Visited 30th December 2008
Back in Australia and literally the first thing I do is head to a Cantonese restaurant. With most of my family still in the UK my 'welcome home' dinner was a small scale affair involving a feisty nana and a couple of dodgy mates. Tea House on Burke seems something of a cross between old-school Aussie Chinese takeaway and a fine dining Cantonese restaurant. Its owners spent time working at Melbourne's prestigious Flower Drum and this more casual place has established a reputation for excellent food.
There's an obvious Cantonese foundation to the cuisine at the Tea House on Burke, though sprinkling the menu are dishes from all over China. I was particularly interested to see if the food was
tempered for the Australian palate and was genuinely impressed with its authenticity. We ordered chicken san choi bao, pan fried dumplings, fried calamari with spicy salt, roast duck, Sichuan eye-fillet and vegetables. The dishes were presented individually rather than all at once and the quality and freshness of the ingredients was obvious. The tender squid was perfectly cooked, as was the delicious beef and crunchy choy. My favourite however was the rich, tea scented roast duck; I'd love to have a taste off with Tai Wing Wah in Yuen Long. To drink we had a couple of beers and I took advantage of the reasonable A$9.50 corkage to crack a bottle of The Story Grampians Shiraz.
Tea House on Burke is good; really good. The food is exquisite and service professional and courteous. I'm kind of out of touch with restaurant prices in Australian; is A$45 (HK$300-350) a head expensive? It doesn't seem pa
rticularly cheap, but quality was high and the option to BYO wine brings the bill back in line with Hong Kong where wine (along with cruel and pointless shark fin) is the most overpriced thing on the menu. The lovely food was just part of what made this such a memorable meal, the banter as two of my best mates and my grandmother was a poignant reminder of the joys of home.
Visit restaurant website.
Lake Sourton, Devon, UK
Visited 27th December 2008
An integral part of being in England is going to the pub. In winter it's all about roaring fires, piles of abandoned coats and hearty real ales. We spent a week in Devon for Christmas and somehow everyday managed to drop into the Bearslake Inn for a sly pint or two. Located near the cottage we rented on the edge of Dartmoor the Bearslake Inn is classic old school English country pub; think wood panelled public bar, separate dining room and a classic thatched roof. For our final family meal the whole hoard of us gathered in the pub's formal dining room.
There is nothing modern or fancy about the menu at the Bearslake Inn; it's all very old school, though regional produce is key and seasonal dishes abound. The people around me ordered things like
liver and bacon, honey glazed pork, plaice and sirloin steaks, while I went with a trio of local fish fillets. The tender pieces of monkfish, sea bass and sole came simply served with a wedge of lemon, lettuce and tartar sauce. We ordered sides of potatoes while the table was presented with shared vegies; the punters were all happy with the very English bowls of brussels sprouts, carrots and two kinds of cabbage. We finished off with a few shared serves of tasty sticky toffee pudding.
Big serves of honest food prepared with quality ingredients were the order of the day at the Bearslake Inn. Prices were probably fair for the UK; the mains ranged from £12 to £16, with a couple of quid for the side of spuds. The serves were decent and too be honest with today's exchange rates the wine was a lot better value than you get in Hong Kong; the Chianti we drunk at £16.50 a bottle was a tasty drop. The staff were efficient and courteous, though hyper formal and lacked all traces of personality (something that's rather common in the UK). The Bearslake Inn is not modern, stylish or excessively fancy but simply offers old style charm.
Visit restaurant website.
Coulommes la Montagne, Reims, cork seal
Christmas morning and outcome the bubbles. My brother picked this on a tasting tour of Champagne. Before tasting this I knew nothing of Pascal Ponson and could discover very little else. Apparently they are a small, independent grower who produces their own Champagne. The wine is produced in Coulommes la Montagne, a hamlet just to the west of Reims. 
Pascal Ponson Champagne is a rich golden colour, with slow, rolling bubbles. It smells of freshly baked bread and fresh red berries; strawberries, cranberries and plenty of ripe raspberries. The palate is rich and complex with an interesting preserved lemon note amongst all the red berries. I wrote 'summer berries' on my tasting note, but crossed it out and wrote 'summer pudding' instead; there's a yeasty, breadiness amongst all the pretty raspberries. This has a lot going for it. The flavours are complex and interesting, but more importantly it’s just plan delicious. I've got no idea what it cost but from what I gather it wasn't over the top for Champagne; definitely recommended.
We also had a delicious bottle of the Pascal Ponson Grand Reserve Champagne, but I wasn't in the mood for writing notes by then. From what I can recall it was more complex, but with less of the up flirty fruit charms. A couple of bottles of good Champagne; I've never know my brother to be so generous!
Christmas Drinks
Family Christmas in Devon with the English relatives resulted in a rather large bill for booze. A rather large bill for booze quickly resulted in the need for a custom made, impromptu wine cellar. I was impressed with out work! 
Alba, Piedmont, Italy, cork seal, $195
Home made pizza called for something Italian and I couldn't go past this. I'm a fan of Barbera, but was also suckered in by the label; I really like the image 
of silhouetted, but distant gaiety. It's a DOC Superior classed wine from Alba that's seen a year in French oak. I purchased it from il Bel Paese in Wan Chai.
It's a dark purple colour, though it's fading to red around the rim. The nose is bright and cheery with plenty of ripe fruit aromas. I get whiffs of cherries, boysenberry, milk chocolate and herbs (perhaps bay leaf). The palate is a fruity affair dominated by red cherries, cranberries, with a hint of darker blackberries. It's a medium bodied, has a touch of acidity that keeps it fresh; the whole package is wrapped in lovely silky tannins. Pagagena Barbera d'Alba 2003 is a pleasant, if not earth shattering, drop that I can imagine this going well with a whole range of foods
Visit winery website.
Languedoc, France, $20.60, synthetic seal
This was going for a crazy $20 at my local Park N Shop. Though they're not often to be trusted they claim the usual price for this $69 which makes it a rather serious discount. I couldn't find out much about this Vin de Pays wine from the Languedoc, though it's strangely packaged in a classy heavy bottle yet sealed with a crappy synthetic cork.
This is a little more golden than I expected and the couple of years of bottle age could have been a factor in its heavy discount. La Baume Sauvignon Blanc 2006 smells like there's a touch of creamy oak, though there are also aromas of tropical fruits and gooseberries. This is surprisingly big and full bodied. It tastes of grapefruit and honey dew melon. Long, rich and round this is pretty good, though it lacks flair and real interest. Certainly excellent value at the price I paid.
Visit winery's bizarrely Dutch website.
15 Rue S Joao, Taipa, Macau
Visited 7th December 2008
Sunday lunch in Macau and we stumbled, limped and dragged ourselves into A Petisqueira to celebrate good performances in the Macau Marathon. Hidden down a winding lane in Taipa Village, this place would be pretty hard to find if it wasn't for bright blue and yellow outer walls. Its location gives it an authentic ambiance, as do
the checked table clothes, wood beams and white washed walls.
The menu is everything you'd expect in a traditional Macanese Portuguese restaurant. There're all the favourites - bacalhau, seafood, grilled chicken and plenty of meat - plus a good selection of daily specials. We shared cod cakes and a generous serve of cheese, ham and sausage to start. While the fish cakes were good I was blown over by the quality of the charcuterie; the salty cheese was beautifully crumbly, the grilled chouriço rich and meaty and the ham a divine merging of silky and smoky goodness. For a main I ordered the boar loin off the specials board and wasn't disappointed. The huge chunks of meat were rich, but amazingly tender, they came simply served with potatoes, steamed vegetables and a wedge of lemon. The complimentary bread rolls were crisp and airy while the green salad the table shared was excellent. The serves were all massive so I managed to try the others dishes and was equally impressed with the chunky lamb chops, well flavoured spicy prawns, char-grilled chicken and an awesome paella that was packed with top quality seafood. To drink I had a couple of Super Bok's before enjoying the bottles of wine we shared. Oh yeah and dessert; we were all stuffed by this stage so we rather frugally shared a serve of chocolate mousse and egg pudding between eight of us. Both 
were outstanding; the mousse was unbelievably rich, though not overly sweet, while the pudding was deliciously silky smooth.
Though it's doesn't offer fancy cuisine or frilly stylish atmosphere what A Petisqueira does, it does superbly. The big serves of hearty food are well cooked, use top-notch ingredients and are excellent value. Our bill came to a very fair MOP225 a head, which included entrees, mains, booze and a hint of dessert. The staff are friendly, knowledgeable and more than happy to help by making recommendations. I've just noticed A Petisqueira is one of the few restaurants not in a casino to get a mention in the Michelin Guide to Hong Kong & Macau 2009. I'd have to agree as it takes the hat as the best Portuguese restaurant I've been to in Macau. A Petisqueira really is the type of place I love; a relaxed, friendly environment serving top quality, honest food.
12 Travessa de S. Domingos, Macao
Visited 6th December 2008
Surprise, joy and a waves of ecstatic glee; Café Ou Mon is back! This little coffee shop, that's meant to be just near
Senado Square, strangely vanished for over a year in time-warp like renovations. The 'new look', renovated Café Ou Mon doesn't really look that different, it's just a tidied up version of the same simple European charm; the polished counter at the back displays tasty cakes while the wooden tables and chairs are always packed with punters.
Café Ou Mon keeps things simple; there's a choice of daily soup, plate and dessert, but it's the baked goods that most come for. I went for a pork chop bun. The thin, char-grilled pork was slapped between a crispy ciabatta style roll that offered a tasty change from the usual round white rolls. My friends ordered an assortment of goodies including the famous 'milk buns' toasted and filled with delicious ham and salty cheese, beautifully flaky Portuguese egg tarts and a lemon cake that was divine. Unlike the
milkshake style beverages produced by Hong Kong's coffee chains Café Ou Mon offers real coffee and the cafe latte I ordered was perfect; it wasn't overly milky or sweet, just simple well made coffee.
Café Ou Mon really is a little haven of civility. Service is normally excellent as the blokes who run the place are friendly, efficient and on the ball; our waitress was polite, but did unfortunately get one item confused. All up our bill came to MOP190 for coffee, cake and sandwiches for four of us, at MOP45 a head that's certainly fair value in any one's book. I'm so glad Café Ou Mon has finally reappeared.
The 
The hillside trails lead through hundreds of spectacular red 'torii' or shrine gates.
In Japan the fox is traditionally seen as the messenger of Inari, the god of cereals, and fox statues littered the hillside. They often had a key to the rice granary stuck in their mouths and this fellow also had something of a modern touch. 
A chilly morning with misty rain only added to the charm of the 
A bonsai in one of Kyoto's many formal gardens.
Plenty of local produce was on display at the 
Lanterns are a hint of Kyoto's fantastic nightlife.
Okonomiyaki is always a winner.
As was our brunch stable; the bowels of steaming noodles that we sucked up with relish each morning.
After skiing at Nozawa Onsen we headed to Kyoto to explore Japan's former capital. Our first afternoon was spent amongst the tranquil beauty of the Fushimi Inari Shrine and next morning we caught the train to 
The views from the summit were spectacular.
The skiing was great; fresh snow, empty runs and beautiful views.
Yep we're in Japan!
Sunlight flickers through firs.
The local steamed buns were a tasty treat on the way the onsen.
Udon and tempura; the local restaurants were all excellent.
When you live in Hong Kong having Christmas in England and New Year's Eve in Australia is a bit of a big commitment, but some things need to be done. I left Exeter train station at 10am Sunday morning and when I finally parked 
The booze was just as much a task of love. Last July I helped bottle beer and there was a tasty range of homebrews to choose from alongside some great Aussie wine. The beers included:
While a late contender the evening definitely took the crown for 'wedding of the year'. A truly great weekend amongst great friends that made me almost miss Australia.
This spectacular tor sparkles in the sun, though the winter weather is not always so inviting.
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