Marvelous Seven (@JCF_2010 Food Blogger's Dinner)

It was around this hour yesterday, me and 32 other bloggers had the privilege to delight in 7-course dinner from amazing line up of topnotch chefs. Gracias Goorme.com and Ismaya for the invites and for arranging such a wonderful event. Not just solid food, we were feed with interesting insights on foodphotography and food reviewing, both from the experts in their field as well. However, on this post, I just want to relive that night once again with you beautiful readers, as I go through the photos and the menu.

In order of appearance:
1# Cold Appetizer // Balinese Chicken Salad with Coconut Vegetables and Sambal Matah
By Fahmi Widarte (Corporate Chef of Rotaryana Prima)
As the starter salad, the spicy taste kicks in real quick to my taste buds, and kinda jump start me to taste the next one. As spicy food lover, the hot-ness is simply yum!

2# Hot Appetizer // Braised Wagyu Beef Cheek in Sweet Miso
By Hugo Adrian (Executive Chef of Blowfish Kitchen & Bar)
Not a big fan of radish, however, I gotta say the miso complements the radish. It gives a good mix of sweet and salty, while the wagyu does what a wagyu beef does. It splendor my tongue.

3# Soup // Authentic Sultan's Tomato Cream Soup
By Agus Ishermawan (Head Chef of Ismaya Catering)
And now, we're talking. Very creamy soup (in coffee term this might close to an espresso), tasty tomato, and the surprise foie-gras! It wasn't on the description, that made us guessing, and @glister_blister got it right.

4# Pasta // Red Shell Pasta With Duck Ragout, Pine Nut and Rocket Salad
By Gianfranco Beltrame (Italian Chef de Cuisine at Casa D'Oro Hotel Indonesia Kempinski)
A plateful of pasta after a bowl of tomato cream soup is simply not the best sequence to taste them. A quarter way to this, my belly started to repulse. Sad that I had to left it halfway. However, the braised duck was a feast when munch together with the pine nut. I like the mix of soft and crunchy texture.

5# Fish // Chilean Sea Bass With Lee Kum Kee Ginger Oyster Sauce
By Sofyan Joshua (Technical Culinary Chef of Sukanda Djaya)
It was one of my favorite simply because of its lightness, kinda refresh the palate after all the creams. And again, intriguing blend of soft swirly fresh fish and crunchy pine nuts. Oh, yum!

6# Meat // Short Rib, Truffle Demi Glaze, Charcoal Oil, Glazed Carrots, Potato Hot Foam and Nuts Fake Cous Cous
By Ignacio Virgen Jimenez (Chef de Cuisine of Potato Head)
Now, this is a tricky menu for me. On the plate was five different flavor. I tried the ribs alone, was grilled with exact tenderness that I like. Then tried mixing it with the charcoal oil and the carrots. I gotta say, the carrot was truly something. Unlike any other I've ever tasted, the partly glazed skin with slight bitterness and the partly stewed carrot-meat with its full sweet taste was gooooood. However, I didn't quite get the chopped 'something', was it the nuts fake cous cous? Gotta be it, it smells weird for me. I left that part and finished the rest though. =)

7# Dessert // Green Tea Cake Ala Tropicale
By Rinrin Marinka (Artistic Chef)
Finally! The part that I've been waiting for, the la finale, the cherry on top of the cake! Yeehee! Anw, photo-wise its a very tricky food to shoot, however, I kinda nailed it, didn't I? Back to the taste, as I expected, it was a great closure for my tastebud, the sweet that I've been waiting for. You know this Asian tongue likes it that way. Dipping the sliced green tea cake with the yellow sourly passionfruit sauce was delightful. The best part for me was the crunchy biscuit covered in chocolate and the baked crispy apple slices. It was outstanding =)

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Sad that it has to end, but with a happy belly and a stream of good foodphotos I'm twice happier a man. =))  Marvelous seven course dinner, awesome night, cheers to the beautiful people that accompanied me that night Ivan, Dessey, Michelle, Astrid, Natalixia, Imel, Selby, Daniel, and Adhi Putra. It was an honor sharing the table with you. Until our next toast together (oh sigh, we forgot to toast together, o well, save it for the next time =)

Smile on, Shine on,

Fellexandro Ruby 
Snack on my tweets @captainruby
Email me at fellexandro.ruby@gmail.com

Wine Me. Wine Me Not. (Pairing With Food)

The common and simplest rule-of-thumb is red wine to complement red meat, and white wine to complement white meat. However, as to which red wine to choose for a particular red meat, and which whites to fit a particular chicken or fish menu, that would be up to you. Yes, YOU! Why? The answer is best explained by Chef Will Meyrick & Dean:

"Everybody has their own palette, its about finding one that suits yours."

After all the recommendations by friends, or even your favorite Sommelier, in the ends its your tongue that decides, not anybody else. Of course, there's guidelines, and Sommelier knows it best, however, after trying several wines from Champagne, to German's Riesling Kabinett, to French Viognier in one streak, Chef Meyrick has got his point delivered. And that is everyone's wine experience is personal. From those selections of wine, I like the Riesling Kabinett the most while my friend like the Viognier, the rest might find Champagne most acceptable for their palette.

Same thing when it comes to Asian food. Chef Meyrick had us tried his Roasted Duck and San Choi Boi along with different types of wine. And over the years, he has concluded that when it comes to asian food, there's no such thing as red meat red wine, white meat white wine. With its spicy characteristic, wine as it come close as drinks to augment your palette, what you look for is something that suits you. Dean even stated that its almost like drinking es-teh-manis, he like it and it complements most asian food as our asian tongue usually crave for sweeter cuisine and that explains why I preferred the Riesling Kabinett which was sweeter than the rest of the wines that night.

All in all, when it comes to pairing food and wine, its about opening up your options and giving it a try with different ones. As for my conclusion, I've found that right, and I think once I find that one wine that fits me best, I'll still enjoy it even with various kind of food. Don't you think so? Its like "apapun makanannya, minumnya .... "

One final toast with my favorite Riesling Kabinett,

Fellexandro Ruby
Snack on my tweets @captainruby

Wine Me. Wine Me Not. (Tasting Wine)

Put this in mind before we start, tasting should never be frightening even for starters like me or you. I'll let you know why as we go through, in the mean time relax, enjoy this light reading, and just like chasing girls where one should never be intimidated by her beauty, as it is on wine, you should never be intimidated by its elegance. Appreciate it instead (now that's a hint for singles out there =p) and have fun with it (or her =p).

Alrighty, let's waste no time. Wine tasting is as straightforward as 123 as tried and tested in JCF Roundtable Session and another one-on-one session with Fredy.

One - Observe
Hold your glass and tilt it forward, but don't spill it. It wouldn't be cool if you spill it while having dinner with the beautiful girl. =p If it helps, put a white napkin underneath, and watch the color under the light. Not just see but also observe, compare and contrast the color. If its red, is it closer to purplish grape, red ruby =p, or maroon maybe? Also find hints such as sediments which will indicate the older wines.

Two - Smell
Take up your glass real close to your nose, don't hesitate, dip your nose in, and take a looooong deep sniff. Savor every inch and second of it. Now what you smell is what we call aroma or bouquet. These two terms usually used interchangeably, not for the advanced wine taster though. O well, forget them for a while, lets go back to sniffing. Now right behind our eyes, close to our nose, there lies this amazing sensory called olfactory bulb. It's actually part of the brain, and responsible for transmitting the scent we smell to brain. Here comes the tricky part, since it connects to our brain, it can only tells us the scents that we have smelled before and stored up in our scents-database.

This explains why if you youtubed videos of wine tastings, two people tasting the same wine can have a different hint of smell. One might say it has a hint of peach, the other says apricot just because its the closest fruit smell he can detect in his database. I remember, in one of the session, one of the participants said she smelled 'rubber' ! However, there's no right or wrong in tasting. This what makes wine experience is personal. You and I can have a sip of the same bottle and enjoy it differently. Its totally okay.

Three - Taste
Finally, after all that hustle, you get to drink it. Halleluya!  Take that sip you've been waiting for and let it wander around your mouth a while, let your taste buds savor it before swallowing it. Now swirl your glass of wine for a while, sniff it again, you'll reckon different smell as the wine meets oxygen and take out the subtle scents. And drink it again. When it come to taste, as listed by Sommelier Suyanto, there are several guidelines to describe the subtleties of wine: sweetness, acidity, tannin, body, flavors. However, that's a whole 'notha level. I don't think I have the capacity (yet) to share, but I will, if any of you kind readers be so kind to fund me for a wine study abroad. (notice I said 'kind' twice, yes, you deserve that).

Wow, its been three post already. I hope I don't bore you and help you shed some light on wine. Up on the next post is matching food and wine. Come back for some more if you share the same passion for wine. And feel free to share with your friends by clicking on the Tweet button below. =)

Until our next toast,
 
Fellexandro Ruby
Food Photographer
Snack on my tweets @captainruby
Email me at fellexandro.ruby@gmail.com

Wine Me. Wine Me Not. (The Glass)

Amazing line up at the Jakarta Culinary Festival was it? The four of them has refined my basics about wine and also allow me to conclude my own perspective which I'll share at the end. Let's waste no time.

Glass
The proper use of glasses influence your wine experience. The simplest rule of thumb is that the wider glass complements red wine while the tall-slim glasses complements the white wine. Why? Cause the wide glass allows the red wine to 'breathe' and allows the natural aroma to blossom up. So the next time you see people swirling their glass of wine, you know they aren't just playing around, they're helping the 'aeration' to release their divine smell. On the other hand, the white wine, well known to be best served cold, need to maintain their temperature with the slim and tall design.

Holding The Glass
You most probably see people holding the glass with all fingers and the palm touching the bowl of the glass. Bad news! Those images we see on Hollywood movies are misleading. --" You know you did that. Its okay, Me too. =P The best and correct way to hold a glass of wine is by the stem of the glass (see how Fredy holds it here). Why? Serving temperature is important for wines, when our hands touch the surface it will warm the wine and therefore change the taste. In general, wines are better served at a certain cool temperature (8-10 C for Whites and 15C for Reds).

Alrighty, see I've just saved you and myself the next time we have a VIP event that only serve wine, we'll surely know how to at least 'appear' knowledgeable about wine. =P More serious stuff coming. I hope you have one or two good glass until then.

Cheers with a Sauvignon Blanc
Rubs
Snack on my tweets @captainruby

Wine Me. Wine Me Not. (JCF Chef Roundtable Session)

Wine. For most people this particular beverage sounded foreign, hard to comprehend, and expensive. Me too at the start of my wine adventure! So, friends, you're not alone. However as destiny took me to the new world of wine in Australia, and further to the capital of wine - France, I finally came across my revelation at the previous Jakarta Culinary Festival. I had a chance to sit on the wine appreciation sessions (yes! thats plural, i took three session in a day =p) at the Chef Roundtable with four of the best in their field. What strike my interest was how each and every one of them has their own take and their own enjoyment to wine. I'll lay them out here in several sequential post in hope of bringing out that bright-yellow-eureka-lamp above your head at the end of each post.

Senior Master Sommelier at Four Seasons Hotel - Suyanto
Sommelier is what they call the wine specialist in a restaurant who's responsible for educating the staff about wine and assisting customers with wine selections. In his presentation, he's truly no doubt has a broad and in-depth knowledge about wine - from the winemaking process to tasting the wine. His take on wine is very technical as is required from a sommelier. Kudos. However, I'll be good to you peeps, I'll save the complicated stuff for another time.

Sales and Brand Manager of exclusive glassware & tableware brand such as Royal Doulton, Schott Zweisel and many more - Fredy
He's got a very outgoing touch in explaining wine. With his vast knowledge he tried his best to communicate it in plain language for us wine-rookies. I learned the most from him. I came back the next day to sit on a personal session with him, which I couldn't be more thankful for his humbleness in giving his time and sharing about wine.

Sarong Masterchef - Will Meyrick & The Supercool Guy - Dean
I seriously don't know about the last guy, but this hilarious dude deserve to be the supercool guy, as he and Will Meyrick changed my perspective about wine and asian food. They are the perfect couple that summed up my whole point-of-view toward wine and its world of wonder.

Enough introduction. I hope you're getting as intrigued as I was when I decided to sat on that same chair for three straight session.  Hmm, I hope you are. And as I was at that time wondering "wine me, or wine me not",  these four experts slowly shine me with revelations, I'll slowly uncover in points the light-bulb-moment that I got from them. So bear with me to the next post will ya?

Cheers with a Vouvray,
Rubs