Weapon club Chinese

Why weapon club Chinese? was a question I was frequently asked on the day, the answer is:

• Partly to show case heritage dishes, e.g. ham choy tong
• Partly to challenge wine with spicy dishes (Chilli hot dishes)
• Partly to push new boundaries.

This review is not a review of wines tasted on the day, but a recap of key points, perhaps with a food focus, as I was cook on the day.

Chilled abalone salad: left me wanting more dressing. The smell of abalone genuinely evokes erotic heady aromas for me, I think this is partly why the Chinese value it so much. At S$39 per can this left me wanting more. The salad format whilst refreshing it did not do the aroma and texture of abalone justice.

Wines:
- Mosswood 2011 semillon
- Sancerre, Roger Naudet & fils

Harm Choy Tong with dumpings: note to self, do not wrap filling with the night before with wonton skins. This dish was more like pork broth with mince pork and dumpling wrappers. Still reminded me of my childhood though. Slightly herbal with the salted mustard and pork bones.

Wine:
- Lupiac 2010
- Chablis 1st Cru Cote de Lechert 2010

Prawns, shelled on then coated in a prawn chilli garlic ginger sweetish sauce. I enjoyed seeing the reaction from members here. It is a pain in the ass peeling prawns but it is finger lickin good, the punits seem to favour burning fingers peeling prawns over waiting for it to cool down (including myself). Almost claimed as a croching tiger hidden burn't fingers moment.

Wines served after:
- E Guigal Condrieu 2010
- Henriques & Henriques 15 yo Maidera.

Mapo Tofu, some essence of the previous prawn dish. ok this dish was hot, but the heat was short lived. I snacked on some peanut and ikan bilis chilli after, and found it much hotter.

This dish was critical in todays experiment. Overwhelming, dispite sweet or acidic wines choosen, they still couldn't deal with the heat. There were calls for a beer course.

Wines:
- Gruner Veltler 2011 Weingut Berhart OTT
- Fusta nova, moscatel

Steamed patagonian fish with ginger and spring onion. The sauce of light soy, Shao Xing wine, salt and sugar was so simple but blended well with the fatty juice that came out of the fish. I struggled a little in deciding to purchase this fish from a sustainability perspective and tried to balance it with a non-imported sparking water.

Wines:
- Marchant & Burch 2010 Chardonnay
- Chablis 1st Cru Cote De Lechart 09

Red braised pork, with steamed bread. Big heavy sauce, that left most wanting more with their steamed bread. I have traditionally struggled with steam bread, thinking how do people eat this steamed flour/water nothingness, but with the right sauce its ok. I must admit, normally I cut the skin out of pork belly, but with 3hrs + braising time, everyone including msyelf ate the skin!.

Wines:
- Wendouree Shiraz Mataro 02
- Ashton Hills Pinot 2010

Dessert - Red beans and coconut cream. Severely challenged most to the core, this is not a tradittional western dessert!

Wines:
- PX Cordenal Cisneros
- Pizzini Brachetto 09

Outcomes from Weapon club Chinese:
- No conculsive wine styles found for dealing with Chilli heat - beer seems the better option.
- The finer points of wine are lost in the heat.
- I am left satisfied that members were left feeling perhaps a little challenged in some areas, interestingly there was no talk of the caveat of not shopping at big box wine retailers. Most members looked to their cellars or boutique bottle shops to source their wine. The 2nd caveat of not bringing a wine previously brought to weapon club may of played a bigger part here. Much respect.
- Experimental food found some new dishes that were favoured - fish with ginger and spring onion & pork with steamed bread. This was perhaps most satisfying for me. sure the dessert was crap but had we not of pushed food boundaries these dishes might not of been tasted. You don't get this without taking risks.

Highlights for me were:
- people enjoying the rustic "eat oustide" prawn course wanting steamed bread for the sauce! All the dishes did not have specific sauces attached to them in the french sense, but the sauces were just part of the seasoning of the dish.
- Henriques Madiera was in the spirit of pushing boundries and needs to be commended.
- Marchant and Burch Chardonnay mostly due to familiarity. But why is it we value familiarity? is it because the new world is genuiely better? Would like to see a new world / old word event to address this question.;
- Most including myself were left wanting red wine!