Anybody interested in Australian wines should start making plans for a series of events that starts next week. The annual Taste Of Australia promotion brings visiting winemakers to host dinners and tastings. All the events at the Renaissance Harbour View hotel in Wan Chai feature the wines of Victoria. At the $545 dinner at the Oasis restaurant on Thursday, the winners of the Sommeliers' Challenge and Cathay Pacific Red Wine Challenge will be announced. The $150 wine fair on Friday lets guests meet Victorian winemakers and taste more than 200 Australian vintages at the Oasis from 5pm-9pm.
The Park Lane hotel in Causeway Bay will have four Australian wine dinners. Wine judge Chris Pfeiffer will host the first on Monday. It includes seared Queensland sea scallops with leek juice and orange confit, paired with Romavilla Crouchen 2000 from Queensland and Turramurra Estate Chardonnay 2000 from Victoria, while three shirazes from different regions of Australia will be served with the cheese course.
On Wednesday, Alfred Pizzini, winemaker and the owner of Pizzini Wines in King Valley, Victoria, will lead diners through a menu - which includes Victorian lamb rack with shiraz-thyme reduction - paired with his wines. The dinner on Thursday features the wines from Pipers Brook Vineyard, served with dishes such as angel hair tossed with blue swimmer crabmeat and asparagus cream sauce and King Island beef tenderloin crusted with wild mushrooms.
The final Park Lane nosh-up is next Friday and is hosted by David Muir, owner of Punters Corner Vineyard in Coonawarra. Diners will sample a selection of his wines, including the Cabernet 1999 and Cabernet-Merlot 1998, paired with the twice-cooked Barossa Valley quail, and the award-winning Spartacus Reserve Shiraz, served with three styles of King Island brie. All Park Lane dinners are $448 plus 10 per cent; phone 2839 3327.
Hope you've already booked for Joel Robuchon's gala dinner tomorrow at Robuchon a Galera in Macau - it's sold out. Lucky diners will be feasting on 18 courses, including 15 Robuchon signature dishes. Robuchon's next gala dinner features white truffles and takes place on November 29. Early booking is advisable; call the hotel's toll-free hotline on 800 96 9130.
Lan Kwai Fong Entertainments has just replaced Korean restaurant, Mr Kim, with Joe's Yaki, which it describes as the 'little brother' to the group's other Japanese restaurants, Tokio Joe and Kyoto Joe. Joe's Yaki (below) specialises in teppanyaki and robatayaki but also serves sushi, sashimi and other Japanese favourites. Some special dishes include monkfish liver pate, grilled jumbo prawn with sea urchin, grilled lobster with seven spices and teppanyaki goose liver. Joe's Yaki is at 1/F, The Plaza, 21 D'Aguilar Street, Lan Kwai Fong, tel: 2804 6883.
