Yesterday was a truly impressive evening with a creative Asian infused evening at Matteo Pignatelli’s ‘Matteo’s’ in Brunswick Street, Melbourne with the Wine and Food Society of Victoria. With my official welcome as member I found with this my third foray with the WFSV yet another wonderful evening. I keep saying to myself can these evenings get any better???? —But oh yes they can!
The WFSV cellar was opened without any restrictions for the ‘Great Growths Dinner’ for this event. We enjoyed all Grand Cru wines, three of which I especially enjoyed. As with all WFSV evenings the flow had all masked tastings of wines and food, so after each course there was a critique and appreciation of the course with an unveiling of what we actually enjoyed.
My first favourite of the night was the Diebolt Vallois Fleur de Passion 2002 served with the yummy canapés of Yuzu-cured Ora King Salmon with an avocado-wasabi guacamole on top of Avruga caviar. Overhead was an intriguing distraction of Orchids defying gravity and fiber optic lighting all a unique decorative drop.
The next course to follow was seafood with Saikyo-yaki miso-baked black cod fillet, with seared pan-fried ocean scallop, a very delicate eel plus a scallop & eel dim-sum and a parmesan polenta.
The third course hosted my second favourite wine, the Domaine Gerard Raphet Chambertin Close de Beze 2009. It was served with an exceptional quail dish with shitake marmalade composed from veal & shitake jus with garlic & ginger and confit king brown mushroom, and a truffled mushroom sauce.
My last favourite of the evening was the Chateau Margaux 1986 served with seared wagyu beef skirt-steak. This was beautifully pink and, as we all know, that was quite hard to consistently achieve for our party of 24. The wagyu was served with an Asian infusion of panko-crumbed-tomato-sambal eggplant, snake beans, bell pepper piperade and a tamarind beef sauce.
The grand finale of the evening was the dessert that burst with flavour from the salted sakura cherry blossom ice-cream served on an Asian trifle of coconut milk panna cotte, plum wine jelly, nashi pear and a potpourri of fruits, with a honey combed crunch of crushed macaroon. This was served with a sauternes.
To conclude the quietly-spoken Chef Brendan McQueen (ex-Ezard) summed up his Asian infused menu and shared with us some hidden secrets.
Hold the Prosecco 
I'd really love to hear your comments.