I want to go out and play …

by Chef Ben posted August 27, 2010 category Chefs. Restaurants.

Usually when going out for dinners, you’re offered a choice of ordering from the ala carte menu or to have the set menu/tasting menu. Then usually the choice of having your meal paired with wine would be recommended. Or you would have some (most) guests ordering a preferred bottle of wine. For what they think might go best with the meal. Now, this works for the person visiting the standard restaurant where you get cold savoury, then hot savoury and finally sweet dishes. But what if the element of savoury is taken away? How then do we react to this absurd proposition of dining without savoury selections? OK, no panic is required. Enter 2Am Dessert Bar by Janice Wong, where the missing element of savoury in the menu is not missed. Where only the bold (and sweet toothed) gather to throw out preconceptions that every dining experience needs something savoury. Then what do we do about the wines? The pairing? Enter Pedro Silva Reis, owner of Quinta de Ventozelo together with Top Wines. Collaborating with Janice we were all presented to a night of Premium Port, Wine & Dessert Pairings.

This was a first for me, and to be truly honest I hope it is not the last. Although some flavour sensations were new, I really love the idea of pushing the boundaries by taking your conservative palate to a faraway playground where Janice, Pedro & Top Wines play. I loved being part of the group taking turns to sit on the slide in the sand box of Port, Wine and Dessert Pairings. Heck, the idea was so new to me that I really do not know what to actually comment about, only that I enjoyed it. Let’s be honest, I am pretty certain that it did not hit some of the others as well as it hit me, but hey, they can write on their own blogs. But here in whitejacket land we want to continue to tender for that sand box with the slide.