Wineshark Weekly - 20 May 2012

This week I was in Manila for four days, and had a team building with the staff. Getting up super early at 4am is not the hardest part, but the exercises really were taxing. I had attempted wall climbing, obstacle run, earthball, rope sliding, canoeing, swimming pool coin picking, with only the mud-sliding I skipped. After bathing in a super hot day and get burnt, during lunch the weather turned bad with torrential downpour and thunder. Running back to the gathering place I got totally wet and it was quite an experience, but still fun... In summary, I felt I am overweight and lack of exercise...

Coming back to the restaurant, this week we tried Chi Kee in Mongkok Langham Place. It is a noodle cafe with nice wanton and congee, with quite a few outlets elsewhere also.

I had the wanton and dumpling noodle, with fried fish ball. The soup was prepared in the traditional way, with a strong 'Da Di' fish flavor and the noodle was chewy. The wanton was also made to the right size, overall a good one!

The fish ball was without surprise, though not bad.

Ivy had a congee with pig liver and kidney, plus a wanton with spicy 'red oil'. The congee looked soft and creamy, with the liver fresh and cooked at the right level. The wanton was good, though dipping in the chili oil did not suit it well.

Overall it cost $117, quite reasonable and if you don't have a lot of time but still want something decent, this is a noodle shop I recommend.

The weather was very unstable when I returned home on Sat. And as a result I decided to cook instead of dining out. This week I made two dishes: Baked Curried Fish and Busecca Soup Italian. Both are nice, with the soup a healthy one because of the large amount of vegetable. I also replaced the vealtripe with pig stomach. The curry is sweet, a bit like the Japanese style, and certainly a good dish to have with rice.

Chateau Famaey Fut de Chene 2007 (Cahors)

Good quality Cahors with deep purple colour and reasonably intense and youthful nose of oak, cedar, vanilla, black fruit, blueberry, cloves and violet. Medium in acidity, the wine is of fairly high tannin, ripe yet grippy in texture. Fairly full body, it has a reasonably intense palate of black fruit, oak, cedar, tobacco and violet flavors. Finishing in reasonable length, the ripe, fruity palate and fragrant nose of reasonable complexity is the highlight, with a smooth and rounded structure. Though on palate it is simpler. Ready to drink now and can benefit from further ageing of another 2-3 years.

Happy to know that my business class ticket to France had been confirmed, and now working on the final details with the group and the agent in France, hope to get it all fixed next week!