Wineshark Weekly - 29 April 2012

Weather is very bad now when I am writing this blog. There are heavy rain, thunderstorm outside. Scary... I need to drive in a while and have to be careful... Personally this week is a hectic one for me. On my job there are many things that I need to handle, and going to have a lot of big changes that will certainly play a critical part in my career and personal life, which I have to be careful how to deal with them...

 

OK, this week the restaurant I featured is Olala, not the western restaurant (which I covered earlier) but their Shanghai Noodle shop. Located in Wanchai Star Street, it is a small shop with only a few tables. Simple decor, but giving the atmosphere of a friendly and personal touch. We ordered a Pork Strip in Garlic Mash, Marinated Eggs, Shrimp Noodle and Beef Noodle.

The eggs I would say were a bit salty, though could tell the skills of the chef in making the yolk still creamy. The pork strip was quite nice, with a good balance of garlic and the other seasonings, though I prefer to be a bit more spicy.

The noodles definitely were the main dish, as the name of the restaurant implied. My shrimp noodle was tasty, with the noodle very chewy and quite sure that it was self-made. The soup was simply gorgeous, similar to the lobster bisque but lighter and thinner, without losing the flavors of the shrimp. Ivy had the beef noodle. The beef was tender though she did not like it to be in chunk but prefer to be in slides.

One thing to note, each noodle costs $150, one of the most expensive noodle I had. On the night for the above the bill was $360. Not something you go often, but still nice to try once in a while, for the noodle and the soup.

This week I did not do any cooking because Ivy was not at home. Just alone I had instant noodle. So who say I only eat good stuff? I am a flexible person and can have lunchbox too!

Not been back to UST for a long while, this week I went there to give s sharing to the students, invited by their career center. The other speaker is a pilot in CX, and his story was really inspiring and interesting. He is still young, but hearing how he did not give up in trying to achieve his dream gave a lot of positive energy to the students and even myself. And for my own I also enjoyed the sharing especially all the questions and interactions with the students.

During the week I also went to a wine tasting organized by Links Concept, featuring Alvaro Palacios himself. Really nice to meet him in person, but unfortunately did not buy the L'Ermita to have him signed. Having tasted six of the wines, I like the white the most, with the others acceptable to good. But since it was quite cheap I did order all of them... Along with what I ordered from ORD and Ponti, this week I bought 19 bottles... Again don't know where to keep those...

Happy to meet my friend Jack from HACTL again, he is my big brother when we worked together in Kai Tak to develop the new ground handling services for the company after moving to CLK. Got updated on how he is doing recently, and the progress of the new CX terminal was fun, and certainly look forward to going to the next gathering in which we cook ourselves.

Some tasting notes to share on this week:

Chateau d'Arche 2003 (Sauternes)

Very good quality Sauternes of amber color, with a fairly intense, complex and developing nose of raisin, honey, apricot, oak, orange marmalade, cinnamon and caramel. Sweet but not cloying, balancing well with a fairly high acidity, the wine is full-bodied, with fairly intense flavors of apricot, honey, walnut, orange marmalade and raisin. Finishing with a good length, the wine is ready to drink now but can benefit from further ageing of another 8-10 years.

Chateau La Vieille Cure (Fronsac)

Good quality Bordeuax with a deep ruby color, this wine has a fairly intense nose, showing developing and complex aromas of blackberry, bilberry, plum, liquorice, charred oak, forest floor and savory. Medium in acidity, the tannin is fairly high, with some bitterness though still ripe and velvety. Fairly full-bodied, the wine has reasonable intensity, with flavors of blackberry, plum, cloves, charred oak and savory. Finishing with a reasonable length, it is of good balance and ready to drink now, though can benefit from further ageing of another 2-3 years.

Need to get ready to go out soon, in May I will need to do quite a lot of traveling. So until next week, take care and be careful when driving!