De Bortoli Wines and spring racing appreciation

If change is as good as a holiday, the Royal Randwick racecourse has been on a massive vacation that's rejuvenated its heart and soul.

Having missed most of the bigger Spring Racing Carnival race days at Royal Randwick this year, I was delighted to be able to make the De Bortoli Wine Appreciation Luncheon earlier last month, which was as much a showcase for the rebuilt grandstand and ballrooms, as it was a wide range of De Bortoli Wines.

BellaRiva Pinot Grigio Vermentino 2012 by De Bortoli Wines

The beauty of the ballroom lunch was shelter away from the elements that General Admission would endure, access to the upper grandstand, in-room betting facilities and endless tastings of De Bortoli's broad range of wines under a number of labels and price points.

For example, the BellaRiva label range with a Pinot Grigio Vermentino blend hailing from Victoria's King Valley is a great sub-$20 option with the latter grape adding intriguing complexity, differentiating itself from the masses of pinot grigio on shelves.

De Bortoli Wine Appreciation Luncheon at Level 2 Ballroom, 9 November 2013, Royal Randwick Racecourse, Randwick

Tea smoked chicken, fennel radish slaw, sesame seeds, dill

Matched with the Pinot Grigio Vermentino was a mound of tea-smoked chicken slices; a worthy drop going up against strong smoky flavours. The breast was served with a refreshing slaw of fennel and radish with a dill and sesame dressing.

Gnocchi con Ragu di Maiale - potato gnocchi with pork shoulder ragu

The alternate entree was the signature dish of Locale, the restaurant in De Bortoli's Yarra Valley estate. Luciously light pillows of potato gnocchi were served up with a relatively light but flavourful ragu of pork shoulder and vegetables, topped with chopped herbs and cheese.

While it could well have been a cool weather dish, the match with De Bortoli's Yarra Valley Estate Grown Chardonnay 2011 was a spring day's delight.

Betting facilities in the Level 2 Ballroom, Royal Randwick

I put down a few inter-meal bets on the day's races, with very little luck in what wasn't a big Sydney race day, although with a still dressed-up, jolly crowd: fascinators and glam dresses for the ladies and of course, shirts, ties and jackets for the boys.

Seared citrus Atlantic salmon fillet, artichoke white bean mash, roasted cherry tomato chutney

To mains, the seared salmon fillet was placed before me, interestingly with the Vinoque Gamay Noir 2011.

Being an oilier, heavier fish, the light, cherry notes of the wine matched surprisingly with the salmon, which was served on a bed of artichoke and white bean mash with asparagus and a grilled lemon half.

Oven roasted lamb rump, crushed rosemary potatoes, roast truss cherry tomatoes, green herbs

The alternate main was a huge serving of roasted lamb rump, impressively medium-pink within for a large group lunch. The dark, rich jus was an absolute highlight, flavouring the meat, potatoes, beans and picturesque roasted cherry tomatoes.

De Bortoli Yarra Valley Estate Grown Syrah 2010

I have a penchant for big, bold reds like shiraz and the De Bortoli Yarra Valley Estate Grown Syrah 201 didn't disappoint. Peppery and rich with dark berry notes, the Syrah together with the lamb rump alone could have made the lunch.

Lemon curd tart, vanilla mascarpone cream

At dessert we were treated to De Bortoli's award-winning dessert wines: the deliciously palate-coating, honeyed De Bortoli Noble One Botrytis Semillon 2010 and the heavier, fortified De Bortoli Black Noble.

I'm not one to say no to stickies and fortified wines, especially the Noble One being one of the best stickies out there. It went with dandily with the generously-sized lemon curd tart with a facinator-like tuille, passionfruit sauce and the most delightful, torched mini meringues.

Layered dark chocolate tile, white chocolate ice cream, chocolate crumb

The sophisticated fortified Black Noble matched beautifully with the sweet, moussey chocolate dessert without issue, although the white chocolate ice cream with violet candy was actually my favourite part.

Miniature Royal Randwick signature scones with preserves and whipped cream

As the races went on, the lunch concluded with Royal Randwick's signature miniature scones with jam and whipped cream so despite any losses it would all still end on a sweet note.

While I always appreciate a good day at Royal Randwick and any opportunity to wear a fascinator, the De Bortoli Wine Appreciation Luncheon was another step up from that. Giddy up and keep your eyes peeled for the next one.

Level 2 Ballroom at Royal Randwick
(Image courtesy of ATC)

Food, booze and shoes attended the De Bortoli Wine Appreciation Luncheon at Royal Randwick Racecourse as a guest.

Biota Dining and Rooms: A special place and time

The word 'biota' means a total collection of organisms of a geographic region or time period. It's with this beauty and depth of thought that owner and chef James Viles offers Biota Dining and Rooms in Bowral in the Southern Highlands.

Biota's garden cabbage patch, Biota Dining, Kangaloon Road, Bowral

This year crowned Regional Restaurant of the Year with two hats in the NSW Good Food Guide, Biota combines self-proclaimed "country boy" Viles' passion for local artisan produce and regional botanicals, with techniques to make the most of the plant and animal forms we consume.

Biota's resident geese and ducks

It's this respect for Bowral and Southern Highlands biota that has the restaurant tending its own kitchen garden behind the venue, complete with resident geese and ducks and a large greenhouse.

Snow peas

I love the idea that the five-course degustation dinner I had earlier this month in Biota's tranquil dining room was a snapshot of the local biota for November 2013; elevating an elegant dinner to some level of historical importance perhaps.

Trout jerky

The meal commenced with one of the most delectable amuse bouches I've had all year – an opaque, bright orange slice of cured and air-dried ocean trout in a salty, fishy rendition of jerky, served like a flag sticking out of a block of salt.

With just the right amounts of smoke, salt, fishiness and chew, the jerky – eaten with the fingers – was something I would want to buy in bulk bags and consume en masse – just divine.

Martini

It was a little while before drinks arrived, the first of my matching wines before my martini though; the latter well made with Hendricks gin and garnished with cucumber and olives.

House baked bread and butter

I'd seen chef Viles demonstrate Biota's house-churned smoked butter earlier in the year, served ingeniously on a river stone, and it was a delight to taste its creaminess slathered generously onto the soft, warm, house-baked whole wheat sourdough bread.

Cucumber, native lime, oysters, bronze fennel

Our first course was as green as our Southern Highlands surrounds with cucumber – raw with core and skins served separately, and in sorbet form – propping up a single, huge, minerally, raw oyster.

Foraged bronze fennel fronds joined the plate with an airy foam of, I think, oyster cream for an overall clean, green flavour in what was a subtly-flavoured but impactful course to start, matched with the fruity, local Tertini riesling.

Chickpea shoots, served at the table

The next course was much fun from the time it hit the table with a terracotta pot of chickpea sprouts and little scissors for harvesting your own garnish.

Egg yolk, cooked curds, rye, chickpea

A dream of a dish, it starred slow cooked and still oozy egg yolk, cushioned on sheets of silky, smooth pasta and cooked curds beneath; pre-cheese, if you will that was creamy but not at all rich.

Crunchy, butter-cooked rye crumbs added texture while the egg-on-egg encounter of bottarga cured mullet roe shavings contributed the perfect balance of saltiness and a hint of the sea.

Lightly garnished by yours truly with the intriguingly-flavoured chickpea sprouts, the entire dish came together impressively – definitely a dish that was greater in its whole than the sum of its parts.

This was served with the 5 Maddens Lane sauvignon blanc which had been pleasantly oaked for five months to dull the tropical flavours of the grape.

Lamb breast, dried lactose, young oats, sorrel

Meatier dished followed with the sticky, caramelised, fatty lamb breast topped with crisp thins of dried lactose – milky, slightly sweet and pretty much what one would expect of this entirely unexpected ingredient.

Young sprigs of sorrel and puffed oats decorated the arrangement which was set on something milky and curd-like that was rather unmemorable, served with the also local Pulpit Rock chardonnay.

Duck, pine, cauliflower, pear, white raisins

A rare-cooked duck dish was the final savoury offering; a slice of duck breast paired with a jus of sweet white raisins and cauliflower foam. The sweet, earthy flavours of the dish were matched to a young Rotherwood shiraz from the Southern Highlands.

Topped with impossibly thinly-shaved cauliflower and what I think was crisp pear skin, the dish was garnished with pine needles which added theatre although were a little difficult to eat. This dish seemed somewhat autumnal to me but had echoes of my experience at Marque many years ago.

Liquid nitrogen mixed with meringue

Having seen a few desserts head out earlier in the night, it was with pure excitement that we awaited our dessert being prepared at the table with the help of liquid nitrogen.

Liquid nitrogen was added and mixed with an egg white mixture with rose petals that formed a frozen meringue served atop the rest of the dessert; its cold steam drawing looks from around the room every time it was served.

Mum's roses: stonefruit sorbet, rose meringue, peach gel

The 'Mum's roses' dessert comprised peaches and perhaps apricots in various forms: a firm gel, sorbet, a wedge of peach in its raw form and a creamy quenelle – all topped with rose petals from flowers grown by Viles' mother in the garden outside.

Mum's roses: stonefruit sorbet, rose meringue peach gel

Topped with the chilled rose meringue at the table, the dessert was made a dramatic and spectacular sight with flavours of summer and romance in one bowl. Indeed, the rose meringue was an amazing addition to the dessert and end to the enlightening meal.

Biota Rooms

We were able to catch chef Viles for a quick chat after dinner – he is clearly someone who enjoys what he's doing. It's been a great year for chef Viles and it's just onwards and upwards for Biota now.

We also had a nosy peek at the huge kitchen and equally spacious bar area where diners can drink and eat from a separate bar menu. The Biota Dining space actually huge and with the new, added luxury of being able to stroll over to the adjoining Biota Rooms accommodation to sleep the off the meal and matching wines.

And as for Bowral in November 2013, it sure was a special place and time.

The people’s China Republic

With the rise of China's global and economic influence, it seems a timely development that modern Chinese restaurants are finally getting their time in the Sydney dining spotlight.

The long-awaited China Republic has recently opened across two grandly-decorated stories in the World Square complex, just north of Chinatown.

Entry to China Republic, World Square, Sydney

Following many months of delays related to importing crucial bits of the restaurant from China, the restaurant has now opened for lunch and dinner seven days a week in the space that once was Equilibrium Hotel with its many beer taps.

Pastry kitchen

In many ways, there's a distinct feel of 'new' meeting 'old' at China Republic, particularly in the restaurant’s décor – much of which was imported from China.

Terracotta warriors

Replica terracotta warriors and handcrafted bamboo models of Beijing’s Forbidden City imperial palace stand next to boldly colourful oversized chairs and tables, teapot shelf displays and upturned umbrellas on the ceilings.

I think it’d be pleasing for both modern Sydney-siders and Chinese traditionalists, which is probably also where the menu aims to be.

Counter seats looking into the pastry kitchen

Also a little different is that China Republic does not prescribe to one regional style of Chinese cuisine. Instead, the menu happily traverses the entire nation, as if taking a 'best of China - today' approach to its modern Chinese offerings.

Dedicated duck kitchen

The downstairs level features an ornate cocktail bar beside the duck kitchen and ovens – a dedicated Peking duck kitchen featuring two fiery, purpose-built ovens which can produce up to 20 ducks an hour.

The elevated duck kitchen is surrounded by a moat-like goldfish pond, with real, live koi goldfish swimming about.

Seating

The rest of the dining area is split between an corridor area with natural light and inside which is darker and moodier, while there is also counter seating in front of the glassed-off pastry and dumpling kitchen. All up, China Republic seats 250 diners.

Entry to private dining room

The spacious upstairs seating and décor feel a little more formal with four private dining rooms (including a super VIP room that can be accessed from the service lift) set around the central open space which can be used for functions or normal sittings.

Private dining room

Private dining room

VIP private dining room

Media launch table settings

We were welcomed to one of the media launches with flutes of Moet and the sweet Concubine Yang cocktail, and tours of the restaurant before moving upstairs to settle in for 13 courses featuring dishes from Executive Chef and Co-owner Mei Sheng Yu's 'Top 10' menu – chef Yu's hand-picked special dishes, if you will.

Beijing-style spicy and sour cucumber

The meal commenced with cold entrées matched to 2010 Pegasus Bay Riesling from the restaurant’s premium wine list.

Crisp pickled cucumbers are always a great way to start a meal, and these slightly spicy Beijing-style ones with kaffir lime leaf were no exception; readying the palate for more food and flavours.

Eggplant and coriander salad with garlic dressing

The eggplant salad was also a northern Chinese dish featuring soft, steamed logs of eggplant doused in a dark, thick, green dressing pungent with raw garlic.

White cut chicken served with spicy lemon sauce

We then headed south to the Guangdong province, which diners of Cantonese food will be much more familiar with, for a rendition of delicately poached white cut chicken thigh.

The chicken was well cooked and served with an unusual, creamy lemon sauce that was a little a overwhelmed by Sichuan pepper.

Tofu dish presentation

As part of the restaurant's 'modern Chinese food meets art' ethos, presentation of dishes is immaculate and at times, astounding.

Small bowls of cold tofu topped with tobiko flying fish roe arrived on an intricately carved wooden stand that certainly elevated the dish to a piece of art.

Beijing-style tofu with shallots and fish roe

Crumbly-textured, as must be characteristic for the Beijing-style, the tofu was particularly subtle in flavour, highlighted by thinly sliced shallots. The salty, smoky fish roe, popping on the bite, was the perfect accompaniment to the delicate tofu.

Mushroom broth

Chef Yu cooked and served the next course as two dishes, starting with a pleasantly earthy, herbal-style soup of six mushroom varieties including enoki and shiitake mushrooms.

China Republic special coral trout hotpot with mushroom broth

It was in the mushroom broth that chef Yu cooked boneless fillets of coral trout - a revered and favoured fish of many Chinese - infusing some of the mushroom flavour into the smooth, skin-on fish.

Condiments for coral trout

And not that the fish wasn't well flavoured but eight separate condiments were served with the coral trout, including chopped peanuts, soy sauce, vinegar, minced ginger and shallots.

Flaming Peking duck

There was a bit of fanfare when the whole roast duck arrived for the Peking duck dish, carved at the table as is traditional.

Less commonly seen is the flaming of the bird, where the whole duck goes alight in blue for a bit of extra heat and crispness, and theatrics of course, before serving.

Carving the Peking duck

The speed, precision and neatness in which the duck was carved at the tableside was simply awe-inspiring, with the skin over the duck breast removed in a perfect piece within the first 10 seconds.

Peking duck pancakes

China Republic's Peking duck is served with a fabulous array of condiments and an accompanying instruction pamphlet on how best to eat your course.

It starts with what I found to be a slightly unusual dip of duck skin alone into white sugar. It ends up being like roast duck skin candy, which doesn't do it for me despite the lovely, crisp and unfatty skin.

Steamed bread pockets

With options of both thin pancakes or little pockets of impossibly thin, steamed bao-like dough, the traditional Peking duck serving with cucumber sticks, shallots and sweet bean sauce doesn't disappoint.

Another serving style with a salty pickled vegetable, raw Spanish onion and mustard sauce certainly changed my perspective on Peking duck, while the steamed bao pockets are definitely, and surprisingly, as good as the pancakes.

Sliced roast duck

The roast duck was good, very good even, without any overly fatty bits and while it was tasty enough in the Peking duck style packages, its overall seasoning was a little lacking in comparison to some Chinatown barbeque shop peers.

Peking duck steamed pocket with cucumber, onion and sweet bean paste

Even with a varied array of sauces and condiments, the duck was lovingly matched with the 2009 Etude Carneros Estate Pinot Noir.

Sauteed banana prawns

The huge head-on de-veined banana prawns, cooked in a sweet, spicy sauce, were impressive specimens with impressively tasty heads and as good a substitute for lobster as any.

Kung pao chicken with peanuts

Main dishes continued with a more sweet than spicy kung pao dish featuring boneless pieces of very soft chicken, capsicum and plenty of crushed peanuts in a thick sauce.

Chef’s special sweet and sour pork spare ribs

Familiar to anyone who's had Chinese takeaway will be sweet and sour pork, here served as tender, deep-fried pork riblets in a sticky glaze. This probably would have been nice with a bowl of steamed rice, and served at the same time as the vegetables that followed.

Stir fried broccoli

The stir fried broccoli, baby corn and carrot, in comforting ginger and garlic flavours, seemed like a vegetable afterthought; necessary but not quite on par with some of the impressive dishes of earlier.

Sichuan-style dumpling

It almost seemed a shame to finish on the boiled dumpling in vinegary sauce - it's one of my favourite Chinese foods and I was a bit full to really enjoy its well-flavoured minced pork filling.

Glutinous rice ball stuffed with mashed fruits and sweet porridge

If you can leave space for dessert the subtly sweet rice porridge, served cold and flecked with fruit, is an intriguing approach for a Chinese dessert.

The softly sticky glutinous rice ball is surprisingly lighter, filled with a mixed fruity centre and just lovely with the lightly sparkling 2012 Banfi Sciandor Moscato d’Asti Strevic DOCG.

Teapot display

There's plenty of hype and fanfare around China Republic, which is great as it's bringing modern Chinese food to brighter lights - it has indeed opened my eyes more beyond Cantonese food and yum cha.

It's the full experience at China Republic: the artful food, exciting atmosphere, amazing fitout, food theatre and more - it's all there for the people. Now, let's see if Sydney is big enough for it all.

Food, booze and shoes attended the China Republic media launch, with thanks to Liquid Ideas.