The events for the Taste of Australia wine promotion continue this week with the Beyond the Duck Crawl dinner hosted by Roy Moorfield on November 3. The wine writer and consultant started the event in Australia, leading guests from one restaurant to another to sample duck dishes and drink pinot noir wines. In Hong Kong, though, the ducks - and the pinot noirs - are brought to the guests instead of the other way around. The nine-course dinner at the Oasis restaurant in the Renaissance Harbour View in Wan Chai (tel: 2802 8888) includes Peking duck paired with Kooyong 2000 from the Mornington Peninsula and the Curlewis 2000 from Geelong, and deep-fried duck stuffed with mashed taro, served with Bass Philip Old Cellar 2001 from South Gippsland and the Bannockburn 2000 from Geelong. The dinner is $595; call the hotel on 2802 8888 for bookings.
The Taste of Australia wine lunch on November 2 at Yung Kee on Wellington Street will be hosted by Melbourne sommelier Lok Thornton, who is matching 12 of his favourite wines with Chinese dishes. The lunch is $600 and seating is limited; for details call 2564 7431.
Bernard Dance from Chateau de Saran in the Champagne region of France is returning to the Mandarin Grill at the Mandarin Oriental. Chateau de Saran belongs to Dom Perignon and a special selection of the famous champagnes will be available by the glass or bottle - Dom Perignon 1995, the Oenotheque 1988 and the Rose 1992. The a la carte menu includes gratin of oysters with Moet & Chandon, crab charlotte with fresh ginger, freshwater pike poached in milk with bacon, and breast of pigeon with pan-fried foie gras, spinach and wild mushroom ragout. The dishes are available for lunch or dinner (tel: 2825 4020).
Nearby at the Ritz-Carlton, the dinner on November 7 at Toscana features the famous Denominazione d'Origine Controllata e Garantita (DOCG) Barbaresco wines of Gaja in the Piemonte region of Italy. Winemaker Angelo Gaja will host the five-course dinner created by Toscana chef, Umberto Bombana. The meal includes guinea fowl with thyme on pumpkin risotto, served with three Gaja wines - Promis 2001, Magari 2000 and Ca'Marcanda 2000 - ragu of sweetbreads and veal tongue with salsify and rosemary sauce, paired with Darmagi 1999, and a main course of roe deer in light garlic sauce with oven-dried tomatoes, baby lentils and zampone, served with the renowned Barbaresco 1997. The dinner is $1,500 plus 10 per cent (tel: 2532 2062).
Nadaman restaurant at the Kowloon Shangri-La re-opened this month with a new chef and revamped interior. The 138-seat restaurant has a 12-seat sushi bar and 16-seat teppanyaki room. Chef Takaya Ishizuka has been with the Nadaman group for more than 10 years. He specialises in kaiseki, making use of the freshest seasonal ingredients, and a number of these special tasting dinners start at $680 plus 10 per cent. For bookings phone 2733 8751.
