All about regionality: De Bortoli Wines Windy Peak launch at Chiswick

It's a fairly recent phenomenon that the masses (including me) have started to consider where the food we eat comes from.

Are my cooked prawns local or do they come from the Mekong? Is my supermarket asparagus grown in Australia or imported via a chilled aeroplane from Peru? What's the 'carbon cost' of drinking beers from local microbreweries versus imported Japanese brands produced in Canada?

Chiswick, Ocean Street, Woollahra

While I'm not sure I want to know the provenance of my Maccas cheeseburger pattie, regionality is also becoming a selling point at the more approachable, affordable end of the wine spectrum.

Family-owned De Bortoli Wines recently relaunched its Windy Peak range with a greater emphasis on various regions of Victoria, aiming to highlight particular varieties that thrive in particular regions. De Bortoli Wines sources fruit from vineyards in the Yarra Valley, King Valley and Heathcote in Victoria.

Council land - Chiswick Gradens

I was more than a little excited to receive an invitation to the De Bortoli Windy Peak relaunch, 'A Taste of the Yarra Valley', at the undeniably posh Chiswick.

Not only was it lunch at one of the most in-demand restaurants in Sydney at the moment, the invitation was attached to four bottles from the Windy Peak range.

Guests and glasses for the De Bortoli Wines Windy Peak relaunch

Lunch was a classy but casual shared affair that was much suited to the "gluggable" Windy Peak wines, as put by Leanne De Bortoli, manager of the De Bortoli winery and restaurant in the Yarra Valley.

Two long, glass-laden tables were set up in the enclosed private room of Matt Moran and Peter Sullivan's new restaurant in Woollahra. The space surely had to be a sunroom in another life as the gorgeous glassed doors looked out onto the pristine green Chiswick Gardens.

As we surveyed our luxe surrounds, we started with the Windy Peak Sauvignon Blanc Semillon 2011 from the King Vally and Yarra Valley which Leanne says have similarities that work together. "Tropical fruit, gooseberry and grassy flavours" appear in the tasting notes.

Chiswick's kitchen garden

Out the side view was the much-publicised kitchen garden; 150 square metres of garden directly linked to the kitchen. A dedicated gardener tends to the garden several times a week, while it's currently producing lots of leafy greens, rosa radishes, heirloom carrots, purple basil, dill, lavender and French tarragon.

Chiswick's seasonal menu aims to put the best produce from the kitchen garden on the menu every month, which must be both an exciting and challenging prospect for the kitchen and regular customers.

Olives, roma beans, tomato, mustard seeds

Once seated with a glass of the Windy Peak King Valley Pinot Grigio 2011 ("gentle floral and herbaceous fruit flavours"), our 'nibbles' arrived in a flurry of glass and share plate shuffling. The green and black olives were in an unexpected braise of tomatoes and roma beans; and a little difficult to manage with a knife and fork.

Rosemary flat bread

The warm rosemary and salt flake topped flat bread was devoured almost instantly, with a great crispness and wood-fired aroma to the pre-cut wedges. I'm pretty sure I could have scoffed the entire serve, but there was much yet to come.

Pickled garden vegetables

The striking colours of the pickled garden vegetables were almost too pretty to eat, though it was impossible for several people to all get a bite of the purple heirloom carrot. The light pickling of the vegetables didn't much interfere with the wine.

Leanne De Bortoli of De Bortoli Wines

Leanne spoke a little about the family heritage of De Bortoli Wines and the Windy Peak range, which are described as "not expensive wines" but wines that belong with food, over a relaxed meal, and to be shared with your favourite people.

The 2010 and 2011 vintages are those post the Victorian bushfires that ravaged the state, and Yarra Valley, in February 2009. Leanne noted that 2010 was a particularly good year for their pinot noir, which we later confirmed.

Sliced kingfish, breakfast radish, chive aioli, parsley

The Windy Peak Yarra Valley Chardonnay 2011 ("soft, creamy brioche-like flavours") accompanied our next lot of shared plates, which are simply listed on the menu under 'small plates'.

The presentation of the kingfish was seriously pushing the prettiness-scale and it was the sheer freshness of the fish slices that forced us to ruin the pretty picture.

The pink kingfish slices were topped with a delicate dice of radish, chives, possibly apple and/or cucumber, alongside well-balanced spots of chive aioli. The presentation with herb tendrils and baby shiso leaves was the on-tune finishing touch for a great sharing dish to start.

Pulled veal ravioli, broad beans, cornichons, shiso

There was a lot going on with the veal ravioli dish, but it was equally beautifully presented. With all the greenery atop - baby shiso leaves, nasturtium leaves, whole broad beans, finely diced cornichons, capers and parsley - the huge whack of gorgeously meaty flavours from the ravioli was a complete surprise, but a very satisfying one.

While the pasta would make any nonna happy, it was the incredibly intense flavour and melt-in-the-mouth texture of the pulled veal that shone. I would definitely consider order this stunning ravioli as a meal of its own.

Marinated cucumber, rosa radish, mint, goat's curd and Yarra Valley Persian Feta salad

For the Windy Peak launch, the kitchen had included some ingredients from the Yarra Valley, to further our experience of the wines' regionality. Hence, the very lightly marinated cucumber salad featured goat's curd as well as Persian feta cheese from the Yarra Valley.

It was a very light and subtle dish that contrasted almost a little too harshly with the big-hitting flavours of the prior ravioli, while I thought the deep-fried bread bits were a little out of place.

At the kitchen pass

For mains, we were going to sample three of the shared main menu items, which seems to be a current trend that I rather like.

Matt Moran was spotted pottering about during lunch but not in the kitchen, which was bright and bustling as an impressive line-up of pies hit the pass with bright red pie birds perched on golden pastry tops.

Fish and prawn pie

Patterned to appear like fish scales, the perfect colouring and flakiness of the pie pastry was truly something to behold. The puffy pastry lid hid a white-sauced and dill-laced filling of blue-eye trevalla and snapper in quite large chunks, and large, whole, peeled prawns that were like jackpot when you got one.

The pastry was a little difficult to break up with the serving spoon and the white sauce was a touch floury but these were minor quibbles for what seems to be Sydney's new favourite fish pie.

Chicken, wood roasted in spiced hay with lemon, stuffing

I was looking forward to the roast chicken, which hovers around the top of my list for comfirt food. This whole bird roasted in "spiced hay" arrived jointed in several pieces with a neat pile of stuffing and grilled wedges of lemon on the side.

Moist although a bit pale, this was not so much about a marinade, sauce or skin even but rather remembering how real chicken should really be and all very 'Sunday roast' really.

Wood roasted Moran family lamb, chickpeas, mint

For me the piece de resistance of the mains was undoubtedly the roasted shoulder of lamb, sourced from the Moran Family Farm on the Central Tablelands of Rockley, NSW.

Served on a bed of chickpea puree with a bright green mint sauce, this huge hunk of meat needed little more than gravity and a few nudges for the succulent meat to fall off the bone. For lamb lovers, this is as close to perfection as I can imagine.

De Bortoli Wines Windy Peak Yarra Valley Pinot Noir

Red wines were served with our mains: the Windy Peak Yarra Valley Pinot Noir 2010 which filled the nostrils with a spectacularly fruity perfume ("full, plump, red and dark fruit flavours") and the Windy Peak Yarra Valley Cabernet Merlot 2010 ("rich, full fruit palate and subtle oak") which was lovely with the lamb.

Time was flying as we had much fun serving and passing food around, which is the idea behind shared mains - with lots of wine, of course.

Baked meringue, yuzy, Granny Smith apples

Dessert was a little more difficult to share around although after nine shared savoury dishes, I think most people were more than content without a full dessert.

The scarily perfect baked meringue of snowman-like stature was the lighter of the two desserts, featuring a tart, citrusy yuzu curd within the meringue and smeared on the plate and a very appropriate partner of Granny Smith apple sorbet.

Caramelia éclair, almonds, sugar plums

Richer and sweeter was the eclair served alongside poached sugar plum cheeks and almonds. I adore sable pastry as it is, but surrounding a creamy caramel chocolate filling in a choux pastry tube, well, I'm excited about Peter Sullivan's prediction that eclairs are going to be the new cupcakes.

Chiswick amid the gardens

As lunch ended, it was beginning to get to hard to leave Chiswick: the beautiful garden surrounds and all that food and wine were building a pretty convincing case to stay put - until dinner at least.

But with goodie bags of regional treats to boot (featuring Crumbs Gourmet Biscuits passionfruit yoyos, Chapman Hill extra virgin olive oil, King Valley Fine Foods rocket and pistachio pesto, and more wine), we managed to leave Chiswick with a little, delicious piece of the Yarra Valley and King Valley.

The Windy Peak range of wines retails for about $15 a bottle, which makes it a great choice at the affordable end of the spectrum. See more photos from the Windy Peak launch at my Facebook page.

Food, booze and shoes attended the De Bortoli Wines Windy Peak launch as a media guest, with thanks to De Bortoli Wines and The Cru Media.

Travel Dixon Street to Kiroran Silk Road Uygur

There are at least three different  Uygur (or Uighur) restaurants at the northern end of Chinatown's Dixon Street, each similar but with slight differences in appearance and menu subtleties.

It was actually a tweet from Neil Perry that confirmed the name of the restaurant for me a few weeks after I'd eaten there, as the carpet wall hangings, red tablecloths and extreme yellow light were quite unforgettable.

Cucumber with Uygur garlic sauce from Kiroran Silk Road Uygur, Dixon Street, Haymarket

The group order for “20 lamb skewers, please” forced me to the salad and vegetable options pretty hastily, starting with the cucumber salad smothered with a Uygur garlic sauce. It was crunchy and refreshing in a garlicky way; the pungency of which didn't remain on the palate too long.

Braised eggplant with capsicum

There was unanimous agreement on the spicy eggplant dish with capsicum and onion, although it probably was not as healthy as the mere presence of a vegetable might imply.

Most likely deep fried before being smothered in a very mildly spicy brown sauce, the eggplant was comfortingly delicious. Steamed rice would have been perfect but the Turkish style bread more than sufficed as a carbohydrate side.

Chicken hot pot with hand-made noodles, potato and chilli

Faced with the decision of a small or large serve of the chicken hot pot, we thought just two vegetable dishes, in addition to the 20 skewers, between six people would have warranted the large hot pot.

As it turned out, the large was pretty big. The huge flying saucer of a dish was filled to the brim with bone-in chicken pieces, potato chunks and countless whole dried chillies. Submerged beneath the fiery red sauce were flat, thick handmade noodles of a most chewy, al dente texture.

The noodles softened as they soaked in the red chilli sauce, picking up all the flavour and chilli heat – of which there was plenty. The earlier cucumber salad played saviour to our burning tastebuds, as did the BYO wine (no corkage!).

Lamb skewers

But for the feature, and what we were really here for, 10 lamb skewers to a plate – one normal and the other spicy. After the catch-in-your-throat spice of the chicken, I decided to stick with the milder lamb skewer option which was generously covered in cumin and other spices.

Carefully removing the lamb from the not-too-sharp metal skewers, it was impressively tender with a bit of necessary fat and so much fantastic flavour. Any gaminess in the meat was hidden beneath the cloak of spices which itself was a marvel of flavours.

We managed to finish most everything on the table and get away at a very reasonable price per head. While I'm not sure I can tell the difference between Kiroran Silk Road Uygur and the other Uighur restaurants at the same end of Dixon Street, I can tell they're worth the travel, especially if it's good enough for Mr. Bourdain.

The White Hart: Drinks with a side of novelty

While I've been kind of oblivious living life south of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, parts of the north (that is, anything over the Bridge) have been blossoming with restaurants and bars that are actually worth the road toll over.

Neutral Bay is definitely a suburb on the rise, which is where I found myself one early evening at The White Hart; a British styled drinking house which was surprisingly busy for an early-in-the-week weeknight.

Summer Garden Martini at The White Hart, Grosvenor Street, Neutral Bay

I really just wanted a drink but I was convinced to have one of the more experiential cocktails that had just launched on the menu. The Summer Garden Martini incorporated a cocktail, both olfactory and auditory aspects, and a bit of hands-on gardening.

The props were admittedly adorable: the tiny shovel, rake, pot plant and dry ice filled watering can. I was to distribute the dry ice around my astroturf grass while regularly spritzing with a grass-scented spray as I drank. Post drink, there was an iPod tune to listen to, to really get into the whole summer garden scene.

Martini from the summer garden

There were still a few refinements to be made to the cocktail setup, including that of making sure the coupe-glassed cocktail could remain steadily upright on the astroturfed serving board.

The featured martini was essentially the UK Martini on the normal menu: Plymouth gin, fresh cucumber, elderflower cordial and apple juice - far from classic but very easy to drink. While spritzing grass frangrance, of course.

Absinthe snakes in edible soil

During or after the martini, there was also the matter of gardening to attend to with my miniature equipment. Amid the completely edible soil (of chocolate and several other elements) were "snakes" of sweet absinthe jellies which would be cut up for consumption with the shovel.

The rake came in very handy for afterwards, cleaning out the "soil" from the strands of grass. There was something a little zen garden about it all, as well as childhood playtime and ridiculous novelty, recommended only for those that have a good relationship with the playful child within.

Popcorn with parmesan salt

The White Hart is also on the free popcorn bandwagon with tiny bowls of pre-popped stuff served with a paremsan cheese salt. With a popcorn fiend like me around, the small bowls really don't cut it and we ended up with several refills.

Peppered smoked daiquiri

A little closer to mixologist Grant Collins' work at Zeta Bar was the 'Smoked, Washed & Baked' section of the menu. The Peppered Smoked Daiquiri was a picture of elegance with the grilled, caramelised lime wedge adding some character.

House cedar-smoked rum was the featured booze, shaken with peppercorn syrup and citrus for a very innovative take on the classic daiquiri. The spicy overtones of pepper might be a bit much for some, but I found this cocktail delighful.

Flagon O'mead

A few bowls of popcorn and some gardening had given me the courage to try The White Hart's mead; an in-house created honey wine, served almost Viking-style in a wooden tankard. One sniff should turn off lightweight drinkers as the alcoholic smell is anything but subtle.

There was definitely a noticeable honey flavour beneath the slightly citrusy alcoholic kick, although I probably wouldn't order it again. The trouble was that served in a beer stein-like vessel, I found I was drinking it more like an ale rather than the wine it was.

White Hart Bloody Mary

The British theme continued with the Bloody Mary cocktail involving Belvedere vodka, a dash of port, hot English mustard within the Bloody Mary mix and a Guinness emulsion that darkened the bottom of the glass. It was unlike any other Bloody Mary I've tasted before, mostly in a weird way.

Truffle arancini

There's nothing like a few drinks to get the deep-fried food cravings going, so we picked a few nibbles from the bar snack menu, which I believe Italian chef Danny Russo consults on. The golden panko-crumbed aranicini balls looked the goods, but were let down by dry, cheesy innards scented with truffle oil.

Sweet potato chips with aioli

Much better were the sweet potato chips which were the crunchiest rendition I've ever come across, helped by what looks like a light batter or flour coating. These crunchy surfaced chips retained their soft, sweet innards and were as well matched with aioli as their potato cousins.

While there is the option of proper meals in The White Hart restaurant, we took our leave before the mead kicked in too much and threatened drinkers with falling off the bar stools.

As a drinking hole for the locals, I can definitely see the appeal of The White Hart while for Bridge-crossers, the rather unique novelty of some of the drinks is well worth the Bridge toll at least once.