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Susan Jung

IF the organisers of the 13 year-old Hong Kong Food Festival are interested in expanding our annual event, they need look no further than Singapore.

 For six years, the city state has been holding the Singapore Food Festival, showcasing regional cuisines, and more recently started the World Gourmet Summit, which introduces international master chefs.

 The latest annual food event on the Singapore scene is the New World of Food and Wine Festival, hosted by the Ritz-Carlton, Millenia.

 Last week, the food and beverage outlets in the Ritz saw visiting chefs and winery representatives playing host to Singaporean guests as well as overseas visitors.

 The festival, now in its third year, was the brainchild of Walter Juunger, who helped open the hotel in 1996. Thomas Wurzinger, executive assistant manager of food and beverage, is now organising the event.

 Mr Wurzinger, who previously worked in Hong Kong at the Holiday Inn Golden Mile, explained why the hotel decided to have its own food festival, even as it participated in the other festivals in Singapore.

 'This event is to make a statement that the Ritz-Carlton in Singapore is able to pull off events nobody else can do. My aim was to have the best vertical tastings, the highest and most expensive ever done in Asia.

 'For the Hill of Grace, it took me six months to get eight bottles of wine. I have one bottle of eight vintages,' he said.

 The festival was spread comfortably over six days. Wine and spirit events were exciting.

 The first was a vertical tasting of Robert Mondavi's Opus One, all vintages from 1988 to 1995, presented by Steven Spurrier.

 Dom Perignon held the next vertical tasting, hosted by Jean Berchon, vice-president of Moet & Chandon's Department of Communication and Heritage.

 Guests started off with the just-released 92, then continued with 90, 88, and two vintages of 85, including the rose. They proceeded through 73 and 64, then finally ended with 59.

 The wine tastings culminated in the one which caused Mr Wurzinger so much trouble, Henscheke's Hill of Grace shiraz. Guests tasted eight vintages of this rare and very expensive wine, including the world debut of the 95.

 The last tasting did not involve wine, but it was probably the most interesting for guests, who knew at the other events that they would be drinking something delicious.

 Tequila, Ricardo Cisneros admitted, is perceived as a spirit to get drunk quickly with, and which leaves a bad hangover. The tequila expert from Mexico led guests through seven tequilas, ranging from white (bottled immediately after distillation), to some that had been aged for five years in oak barrels.

 The flavours were surprisingly sweet, complex and smooth. Even the white tequilas did not have the throat-choking harshness normally associated with the drink - or perhaps it was because, for the first time, we were sipping the stuff, instead of knocking it down in shots.

 The tequila tasting was followed by lunch prepared by chef Oscar Cortes Quezada of D'Seo in Mexico City.

 Guests, sipping even more tequila, ate shrimp escabeche with nopal cactus and avocado, and soup made with huitlacoche, a jet black fungus that grows on corn. The flavour was deep, complex and surprisingly reminiscent of oysters.

 Hubert Keller, chef and owner of Fleur de Lys in San Francisco who trained under Paul Bocuse and Roger Verge, presented the most classical meal of the festival.

 The five-course dinner was paired with Robert Mondavi wines. The terrine of foie gras with 97 Johannisberg Riesling was a perfect match.

 Also delicious was the Maine lobster, avocado and asparagus salad, and the bittersweet chocolate and orange tart.

 Australian chef Luke Mangan from Salt in Sydney made an innovative and exciting dinner that included raw salmon belly with a wonderful Japanese egg custard flan, a delicate mussel ravioli, and a surprisingly subtle liquorice parfait with lime syrup.

 The most interesting meal was the 'Foods of Love' Indian dinner created by writer and consultant Jiggs Kalra, paired with Moet & Chandon champagnes.

 The subtle flavours and complexity of the spices were a revelation to those of us more used to tongue-numbing, searingly hot vindaloos and boring generic curries.

 Mr Wurzinger admitted that the people at Moet & Chandon had been surprised when he first proposed the pairing of Indian food with champagne.

 'But they're a very professional company, they said there might be possibilities.

 'They sent an oenologist to New Delhi, and we fixed him up with Jiggs Kalra. They cooked the menu and thought it was the perfect pairing [with champagne],' Mr Wurzinger said.

 For the Foods of Love dinner, Kalra - helped by his team of two chefs - incorporated some ingredients that are reputed to have aphrodisiac qualities, including powdered pearls and ambergris, thought to be the sperm of sperm whales, and mica.

 They were used in dishes with titillating names, such as Delight Supreme (chicken with a paste of raisins, almonds, poppyseeds and pistachios), served with non-vintage Brut Imperial, Burnished Braise (lamb shanks gilded with 24-carat gold leaf), paired with 93 Brut Imperial Rose, and Dew Kissed Desire (a rich wheat paste flavoured with cardamom and saffron).

 As the meal progressed, we eyed our fellow diners, wondering exactly when these Foods of Love, paired with champagne, often called the Wine of Love, would begin to take effect.

 Unfortunately, Kalra assured us, the aphrodisiac qualities would not be immediate, and we would have to consume the foods over a longer period of time for them to work.

 At the gala dinner last Saturday, chef Keller was presented with a lifetime achievement award, and there was an auction of rare wines.

 Mr Wurzinger has already started thinking about next year's New World of Food and Wine Festival. 'I really like the idea of Thai food, maybe . . . with champagne . . .' 



A ritzy food and wine festival in Singapore leaves guests roaring for more,