Jacques Reymond – What i’m eating at the time 26.04.13

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Dinner 26 April 2013
Executive Chef Jacques Reymond

Jacques Reymond, a name synonymous with the best of Melbourne’s culinary delights displaying innovation, modernisation, consistency and artistry on the plate. Located on the outskirts of the CBD, Jacques Reymond occupies an old and lovely Victorian mansion complete with flourishing gardens, fireplaces and has been used as a restaurant reception centre for over 50 years. The house has undergone extensive renovations since the Reymond family purchased it in 1992 resulting in a fusion between traditional and contemporary décor reflective of Jacques cooking style. If you walk past the kitchen, you may get a glimpse of Jacque in the kitchen commanding the troops with his daughter Nathalie in front of house as the sommelier. This highly regarded restaurant is affiliated with the Relais Chateaux association, awarded three chef hats for many consecutive years and currently holds two and three gourmet traveler stars for food and wine respectively.

I have been blessed with the opportunity to have dined at Jacques Reymond on three previous occasions. My first two visits played a big part in my fascination of food and wine so there is a special place in my heart here. I can still remember the sweet lobster bisque with crab dumplings and the flavors of the foam on a perfectly cooked king fish…just magic. The third time I visited Jacques was early 2011 where I felt a slump in consistency and quality in the dishes, a shame really. Nevertheless, when my 30th birthday came around this year, there was no other place I wanted to be than Jacques. It was like a pilgrimage, one all Melbournians should take so thank you to all the guests of the night making it a memorable one.

Friday came around quickly and we soon found ourselves outside the mofo of a mansion scanning the soon to be nommed 9 course degustation menu. Three taps on the old door later, we were greeted by some fabulous wait staff, patient, accommodating and friendly; easily some of the best.

We filtered in two at a time around a circular table within one of the three rooms flanked by fireplaces and carts of Dom Perignon. The menus came around along with one of the many reasons to dine at Jacques; the cheese balls.

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Penfolds Grange 2008 – what i’m drinking at the time 04.05.13

Ahhh Grange….nothing gathers a flock of Asians like the word Grange…well perhaps the phrase ”Louis Vuitton on Sale”…maybe. Anyway, today was the release of Penfolds Icon and Luxury release for 2013 and Dan Murphy’s held a tasting for the highly regarded and highly scored 2008 Grange along with the 2009 St Henri and the 2010 RWT. I would have liked to taste them in the correct order, but there were way too many seagulls clamoring over the Grange to risk it…so first up, the granddaddy of Penfolds.

Penfolds Grange 2008

2008 Penfolds Grange

$643 per bottle

This vintage has made a big splash scoring 100/100 by Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW of the Parker bunch adding to the price hike already added my China. Lets see how it stacks up.

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2008 The Family Tree Shiraz, Lambert Estate – what im drinking at the time 11.04.13

Hey guys, today we are back to Adelaide tasting a little Shiraz from Lambert Estate “The Family Tree” Barossa Valley. Lambert Estate wines (previously Stanley Lambert Wines) are very hard to come by produced in small volumes and usually exported overseas. This bottle happens to be 1 of 5,888! The Family three Shiraz is a big rich style wine selecting fruit at optimum ripeness and matured in American oak Hogshead for 12 to 15 months.

2008 The Family Tree Shiraz, Lambert Estate

2008 The Family Tree Shiraz, Lambert Estate
Individual Vineyard, Barossa

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ARIA – what i’m eating at the time 01.04.2013

ARIA

ARIA
Autumn Tasting Menu

Hello gang and welcome to Sydney, today we are experiencing ARIA. The missus and I took a little trip to Sydney over the Easter break for my Auntie’s 70th birthday. Since we had some “spare time”, we decided to also dine out and catch up with our good friend Eugene who recently moved to Sydney. Originally I was going to revisit Quay and introduce the wife to le snow egg but everything was closed! Luckily, for a slightly dearer price, ARIA was open to cater for our fine dining needs.

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Kenny’s 30yo wine – what i’m drinkning at the time 22.03.13

Greetings young scallywags. Last Friday I reached the ripe old age of thirty and decided to drink some wine. A little out of character I know, go figure.

Today we dabble into a few wines I had over the weekend starting celebrations at a long lazy lunch at Bistro Guillaume. Before we get drinking, I just wanted to mention that I have had a recent surge in followers and wanted to say thank you to all of you as well as my other followers who take the time to read my blog. I hope you have been enjoying my stuff and had a bit of fun.

So Friday. A workmate of mine also recently tuned 30 and being fans of la French food, we booked a table at Bistro Guillaume. We were lured by their lunch deal; $45 for two courses, $55 for three which you pick off the menu or specials board and if you check out their menu, you can see it’s a pretty good deal. Naturally there was wine to be had and the first victim to have its cork popped was…

2010 Bass Phillip Crown Prince & 2006 Chateau les Grands Maréchaux

2010 Bass Phillip Crown Prince Pinot Noir

2006 Château Les Grands Maréchaux, Premières Côtes de Blaye

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The Point – What i’m eating at the time 10.03.2013

The Point Header

The Point

Welcome to the nom noms peoples, today we are going to get straight to the “point”. Yes that was a terrible joke…I’m here every Thursday.

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Yarra Yering Underhill Shiraz 2001 – what im drinking at the time 22.02.13

Hello again, welcome to a slightly more recent drinking adventure. Today I’m going to be showcasing the wine we have for my wife’s birthday; her favorite (well, at least her favorite at the time of purchasing) the Yarra Yering Underhill Shiraz 2001.

YY Underhill 2001

Yarra Yering Underhill Shiraz 2001

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