Get to know the Greek: The Progressive Greek wine and food tours

Posted by Kath

I have to admit that when I'm after a nice glass of wine or two as comfort in the middle of winter, Greek wines don't often jump to mind with my preference usually heading towards Australian, French or Italian wines.

However, I'm always keen to expand my palate and was excited to take part in 'The Progressive Greek' event hosted by Greek wine importer, Douglas Lamb Wines.

"Many people don't know that the Greeks have been making wine from about the third century BC and actually took the art to Italians, who then introduced it to the French," says David Lamb, a qualified sommelier and third generation wine importer.

"The Progressive Greek' guided tour by Douglas Lamb Wines starts at Alpha, Castlereagh Street, Sydney

Throughout the month of July 2014 'The Progressive Greek' promotion by Douglas Lamb Wines aims to open minds to the possibilities of matching Greek wines with food that's not necessarily Greek.

Following the three venue, guided progressive dinner we had through the Sydney CBD, I can attest to the eye-opening matches that really highlighted the versatility of the Greek wines we had: the Kir Yianni wine range from the Amyndeon region in the far north west of Greece.

Kir Yianni 'Akakies' Brut Rose at Alpha

Our guided Sydney tour began with a feast for the eyes at the beautifully designed space of modern Greek restaurant Alpha.

The first wine for the night was the Kir Yianni 'Akakies' Brut Rosé which would be a perfect thirst quencher on a hot summer's day. The rosé had a lovely strawberry pink hue and was bubbly with a crisp acidity and a nice hint of sweetness; a great wake-up call for the palate.

Melitzanosalata smoked eggplant dipat Alpha

Although we were dining on a cold winter's night the food pairing with the rosé certainly brought to mind warmer days.

Served to share, we were presented with a moreishly delicious, chunky and smoky eggplant dip with lots of warm, fluffy pita bread.

Pickled octopus, cucumber and sun-dried olivesat Alpha

We also shared beautifully soft, melt-in-the-mouth pickled octopus tentacles, served atop cucumber slices and olives in a zingy salad-like dish.

Ouzo cured ocean trout, fennel, orange, watercress and sumac onions at Alpha

And lastly at Alpha, we had a superb dish of succulent cured ocean trout with the faint taste of anise from the ouzo, sliced thin with a refreshing fennel, orange and watercress salad.

All three dishes were rich in their own right and I found that tartness of the rosé helped cut through them, allowing me to keep going back for more.

Kir Yianni 'Petra' with food at Danjee, Albion Place, Sydney

The next stop on our tour was Danjee Korean Restaurant which was a surprise as wine and Korean food aren't two things I usually associate with each other. I was pleasantly surprised and have to admit that the white wine pairing of Kir Yianni 'Petra' with Korean flavours was my favourite of the night.

The Kir Yianni 'Petra' has a light honey appearance and was dangerously easy to drink, probably due to the fact there was very little acidity and its very smooth finish that didn't leave the palate dry at all.

Banchan side dishes at Danjee

As is customary at Korean restaurants, we were supplied with a variety of sides to get things started, including cabbage kim chi and other cold vegetable side dishes, but the highlights at new-ish Danjee were definitely the mains.

Yukhoe - beef tartare at Danjee

To share across the table was a yukhoe beef tartare consisting of thin strips of frozen raw beef dressed with plenty of sesame oil and soy sauce, mixed together at the table with a raw egg yolk, cucumber and pear.

Refreshing in its coldness yet rich in mouthfeel, the yukhoe was surprisingly well matched to the white Kit Yianni 'Petra'.

Hew dup gap - salmon and kingfish sashimi, vegetables and rice at Danjee

Our second main was the delicious hew dup gap, similar to rice-based bimbimbap but with raw, diced salmon and kingfish sashimi in place of beef.

The fresh flavours and chilli hit was a fantastic pairing with the silky Petra white wine, which really complemented the varied flavours well.

Kitchen at Glass Brasserie, Hilton Sydney, George Street, Sydney

What I enjoyed most about the concept of the progressive dinner was the fact we actually got up and walked to our next meal which in turn worked up our appetites.

Kir Yianni 'Paranga' at Glass Brasserie

The third and final destination of the guided tour was Glass Brasserie in Hilton Sydney with the final wine for the evening, the Kir Yianni 'Paranga' which was a medium bodied red, quite spicy with a fairly short finish.

Braised wagyu short rib with Pedro Ximenez, carrot & cumin puree,
horseradish and piquillo peppers at Glass Brasserie

It was a good balance to the decadent wagyu beef short rib, doused in sweet sauce of pedro Ximenez sherry, sitting atop a delectable carrot and cumin puree without any hint of the promised horseradish.

Dessert wasn't on the cards but overall the 'The Progressive Greek' evening was thoroughly enjoyable, thoughtful and well planned with food and Greek wine pairings. We couldn't have had a more knowledgeable and approachable host in David Lamb to explain the origins and history of the Amyndeon region wines, all the while keeping the affair casual, light-hearted and most importantly, delicious.

Amazing food at three Sydney CBD restaurants, some really versatile Greek wines and to share the whole experience with some new friends - it's surely ignited a desire to continue progressing my palate, one Greek wine at a time.

During the month of July, wine and food lovers can book guided tours in Sydney hosted by Douglas Lamb Wines' David Lamb. If you want to take things at your own pace there is also a self-guided option, with participating restaurants in Melbourne and Sydney with meal and Greek wine pairings.

Food, Booze & Shoes attended 'The Progressive Greek' dinner as a guest, with thanks to Douglas Lamb Wines.

Glass Brasserie: Breakfast to see you through a day

Porridge as breakfast just doesn't do it for me, especially in the colder mornings. Those pre-flavoured sachets are tasty but the sugar content and other stuff in them doesn't seem appropriate for that time of the day. And plain oats are just plain.

I'd much rather have breakfast at Hilton Sydney's Glass Brasserie everyday but failing that, even once in a while is pretty special. Looking out onto the Queen Victoria Building facade one Saturday morning, I felt a little like a tourist in my own city, which I keep meaning to try one day.

Fresh juice mixes at Glass Brasserie, Hilton Sydney, George Street, Sydney

Glass Brasserie offers a la carte or buffet breakfast options daily. It's been a very long time since I was faced with a breakfast buffet and Glass strives to impress.

Start with a specialty 'Juice Master' cocktail - booze-free, of course, at this time of the day (although bubbles for breakfast are an option!).

Cappuccino

A lazy weekend breakfast is hardly complete without a cruisy coffee, rather than one gulped in front of a computer, with the espresso coffees made to order and specialty teas available.

Steamers feature more hot options, including Asian breakfasts

While there's cereal and museli and all, I'm all about the savoury breakfasts and there sure are some interesting choices at Glass to cater to the international hotel guests. Anyone for congee, fried rice or steamed dumplings for breakfast?

Cold cut meats and cheese buffet options

Or, would you rather cold cut meats and cheese in proper European style? I definitely would have gone back for this if I had time or stomach space, as the last time I had salami for breakfast was years ago in Munich.

Hot breakfast buffet options

The 'standard' breakfast options looked pretty enticing too: plenty of roasted bacon, mini sausages, eggs, hash browns and mushrooms, looking fresh and appetising - which is not always the case with breakfast buffets.

Selections from the breakfast buffet

We somehow managed a buffet selection without bacon or sausages; instead drawn to the vivid orange smoked salmon at the buffet, and also featured in the signature a la carte breakfast dish.

The smoked salmon shared the massive plate with a generous helping of creamy scrambled free range eggs, crunchy potato hash browns, sauteed mushrooms with spinach leaves and a bit of cheese.

In-house cold smoked salmon

Claiming to be Sydney's best smoked salmon, I don't think they're off the mark at all. Made in-house the Tasmanian farmed salmon is cured in salt and sugar for 24 hours and then rinsed, marinated in vegetable oil before being cold smoked.

The smoked salmon has an actual texture and flavour beyond mush and salty smoke, which is what some of the commercial packet stuff can taste like.

This glorious smoked salmon comes from Hilton Sydney's new-ish executive chef Carl Middleton (ex Lilianfels in Katoomba) and his own killer recipe with a new smoker installed at Glass.

Yoghurt pot with bircher museli

For a healthier turn, cute little yoghurt pots with what I think was bircher museli and nuts do the trick.

Buffet fresh fruit selection

As does the fresh fruit selection from the buffet, where cubes of melon and pineapple, but especially the passionfruit, add a sweet and light touch to the morning.

Chinese style congee with toppings

Curiosity got the better of me and I just had to sample the congee and steamed dumplings - possibly a bit of a controversial addition to the buffet line-up given Chinatown is mere minutes away.

The plain congee was that variety which is made with just rice and water, so my failure to add soy sauce as a condiment - in addition to the fresh and fried shallots - was a major error. In any case, this type of congee is meant to be plain and cleansing. For the dumplings, go to Chinatown.

Breakfast omelette from the a la carte breakfast menu

If there's not enough enticement in the buffet or for those just too lazy to get their own, Glass offers an a la carte menu, priced separately to the buffet, where the likes of omelettes are cooked to order with a choice of fillings.

This fluffy, folded-over and perfectly golden specimen enveloped diced ham, mushroom and cheese in a still-wet and stringy-with-cheese classic combination.

Signature dish of beach wood house smoked salmon with English potato scones, pan roasted
asparagus, free range scrambled eggs and baby watercress  from the a la carte
breakfast menu

And starring the aforementioned 'Sydney's best' smoked salmon, Glass' signature breakfast dish is a fresh, pretty construction.

This brightly coloured dish is quite a substantial breakfast of scrambled eggs, roasted asparagus and hidden beneath it all, an English potato scone that was more like a buttery, pan-fried hash brown than the afternoon tea style scones I know.

Chocolate croissant and guava danish

To finish on a sweet note, I returned to the buffet - although breads and pastries are located in a different area, closer to the entrance. The stunning mini guava danish was irresistable and had to be on my plate, along with a flakey, buttery mini chocolate croissant.

We took leave of our gorgeous QVB vantage point completely and utterly sated and ready to take on the day. Indeed, this epic breakfast at Glass saw me through the entire day with lunch admittedly skipped.

Food, booze and shoes dined at Glass Brasserie courtesy of Hilton Sydney.

The other side of the Glass

A change of perspective - the concept is easier said than done. And definitely easier as a temporary, seven-second experience than longer term applications. But it's such a powerful yet simple notion that it shocks me that people, myself included, don't use it more often.

When I do think about it, personally, a few major events have evolved from simply looking at a situation in a different way. I guess it's the taking away of any past experiences, pre-conceived notions, judgement, expectations, 'sunk costs' and any other million possible things that frame a perspective.

The lure of the Hilton and Luke Mangan brought us to a special Time Out magazine event at Glass Brasserie. My initial perspectives of Glass being rather snooty and inaccessible were broken, smashed and generally turned around.

Apologies first up for the criminally poor photos - high ceilings and ambient lighting, and then a predominantly business/high-end tourist crowd that probably wouldn't appreciate bright flashes every course.

The deal was two courses plus wine and other goodies from Time Out and Zeta bar. Unlike the Merivale-fest, a menu with three choices per entree, main and dessert was presented. Despite the shortened menu there were still moments of indecision with the waiter needing to return a few times. Pity this attentive service didn't continue the entire night.

Selection of bread and extra virgin olive oil
from Glass Brasserie at the Hilton, Sydney

We started with bread that wasn't complimentary but definitely worth the few dollars. There was a chewy sort of sultana bread that seemed more breakfast than dinner and the most perfect white bread I think I've ever tasted. Perfect crunch on the outer, heavenly soft and fluffy on the inner, and oh-so-good with Mangan's extra virgin olive oil. I don't even really care that I'm filling up on bread before the meal - it's that good.

Fig tart, red onion jam, blue cheese, truffled verjuice dressing

The fig tart entree carried a strong resemblence to a dessert dish and the taste wasn't all that far off to be honest. Sweet and ripe figs hid a generous filling of a sharp and heady soft blue cheese on top of a red onion jam - the cheese doing its very best to cut through all the sweetness. The minature leaves of basil also helped subdue the sugar hit a little. The tart pastry was admirably thin, playing a supporting role to its filling and nothing more.

Spencer Gulf salt and pepper prawns, baby corn and chorizo

My entree was a trio of huge prawns served in a heavily seasoned light crumb bursting with flavour. The prawns were well cooked through, crisp and packing an almost-meaty punch. The natural flavours of baby corn and capsicum match well, as does the range of textures. I wasn't sure of the origins of the yellow puree, which was lightly creamy, and the chorizo failed even a blip on the memory scale. However the dish as a whole was divine and definitely the winner of the two entrees.

Drama was visible from the open kitchen, to which we were seated next to, and although everything on the plates was top notch, the long wait for mains indicates some degree of stress and heat in the kitchen.

Chef's fish of the day: Barramundi with fennel, asparagus, herbs

Chef's fish of the day was some white fish called trumpeter, according to the waiter, but on arrival to the table was pronounced as barramundi. Nevertheless I was glad to have the relatively light main as servings were definitely larger than expected - perhaps the 'Brasserie' part of the restaurant name kicking in. More mystery yellow puree added some bright colour to the dish featuring a golden-skinned fillet of barra. On top was a thin shaving of fennel, asparagus spear and pile of fried dill, coriander and flat leaf parsley.

It was all crackle when the knife first hit the skin's surface - the texture impossibly crunchy and even moreish but mostly surprising for a non-lover of fish skin. The thick white flesh was satisfying and almost played a backdrop for the range of herbaceous flavours. I'm admittedly not the hugest fan of fish mains but here I was very happy and impressed.

Confit Lilydale free-range chicken thigh and leg,
lentils, almond puree, baby leeks

On the other side was a more substantial looking main of confit chicken in golden crumb glory. One small taste revealed its high flavour voltage, a bit of a shock compared to the mild-mannered barramundi dish. The lentils were flavoured with anise giving the whole dish (with the crisp skinned chicken) a slight Asian feel from my point of view.

Rocket, pear, blue cheese, walnuts

Put together a blue cheese enthusiast and a rocket fanatic and what have you got? Two people in raptures over the side of rocket, pear, blue cheese and walnuts. Dressed in a divine, if not slightly salty, vinaigrette, this side was a worthy distraction from the mains.

Stuffed to the gills and downing a glass or two of Luke Magan's sauvignon blanc (drier and without that overpowering fruit aroma of the Kiwi sauv blancs), Glass had the perfect atmosphere to linger a while chatting. The restaurant within the hotel meant there were quite a few single diners, which is a bit rare at other establishments, and of course, quite a few business types.

The Time Out deal also entitled us to a cocktail and beers upstairs at Zeta Bar, which was surprisingly busy for an early weekday night. Perched on bar stools and sipping on raspberry and lemongrass cocktails gave us the opportunity to further discuss life from a very content perspective.