Cooksister | Food, Travel, Photography

Food, photos & faraway places

  • HOME
  • ABOUT
    • About me
    • Contact me
    • Work with me
    • Legal
      • Copyright notice & Disclaimer
      • Disclosure
      • Cookies and Privacy Policy
    • Press and media
    • Cooksister FAQs
  • RECIPES
    • Recipe Index – by course
    • Baking (savoury)
    • Braai/Barbecue
    • Breakfast & brunch
    • Christmas
    • Dessert
    • Drinks
    • Eggs
    • Fish
    • Gluten-free
    • Leftovers
    • Pasta & rice
    • Poultry
    • Pulses
    • Salads
    • Soup
    • South African
    • Starters & light meals
    • Vegan
    • Vegetables
    • Vegetarian
  • RESTAURANTS
    • British Isles restaurants
    • Dubai restaurants
    • France restaurants
    • London restaurants
    • Montenegro restaurants
    • New York restaurants
    • Pop-ups and supperclubs
    • Serbia restaurants
    • Singapore restaurants
    • South Africa restaurants
    • Sweden restaurants
    • Switzerland restaurants
    • USA restaurants
  • TRAVEL
    • All my travel posts
      • Austria
      • Belgium
      • Canada
      • Dubai
      • Cruise ships
      • France
      • Germany
      • Greece
      • Grenada
      • Hong Kong
      • Hotel reviews
      • Italy
      • Israel
      • Jersey
      • Mexico
      • Netherlands
      • Norway
      • Portugal
      • Singapore
      • Ski & snow
      • South Africa
      • Spain
      • Sweden
      • Switzerland
      • UK
      • USA
      • Wales
  • PORTFOLIO
    • Freelance writing portfolio
    • Speaking and teaching
    • Photography portfolio
    • Buy my photos
You are here: Home / Shows, launches and events / Japanese food and Bordeaux wines @ The London Foodie supper club

Japanese food and Bordeaux wines @ The London Foodie supper club

by Jeanne Horak on October 8, 2012 6 Comments in Shows, launches and events, Wine & beer

Bordeaux Glass © J Horak-Druiff 2012

Bordeaux is a wine producing region, centred on the the city of Bordeaux on the Gironde river, in south-west France.  Its total vineyard area is over 120,000 hectares, making it the largest wine growing area in France. The approximately 700 million bottles of wine produced there each harvest range from table wine to some of the most expensive and prestigious wines in the world, including such iconic appellations as Chateau Lafite-Rothschild, Chateau Margaux, Chateau Latour, Chateau Mouton Rothschild, and Chateau d’Yqem. Bordeaux is also one of those names in the world of wine that has become synonymous with a number of things:  red wine, excellence, scarcity… and inflated prices.  It’s a byword for quality wine, but it’s also a word that encourages annoyingly wine-snobby comments like “oh, yes I can pick up the hint of mint and a flutter of cassis on the nose, it must be from the left bank”.  But as I discovered at a recent dinner held in London, Bordeaux Wines are keen to let people know that there is more to Bordeaux than stratospherically priced bottles of red wine.  The event chosen to showcase this was a Japanese dinner at the house of my good friend Luiz (a.k.a. The Lodon Foodie).  The idea was to pair a Bordeaux wine with each course of a Japanese-inspired meal cooked by Luiz; and to serve only wines with a retail value of £20 or less to illustrate what is available in Bordeaux at under two tenners, and maybe to uncover some surprising food and wine matches along the way. On the appointed evening, 20 food and wine bloggers and writers (including me, Andrew,Rosana, Neil and Giulia) turned up at Luiz’s gorgeous home hungry and keen to see how Japanese food and Bordeaux wines would match. Upon arrival, we mingled in the lounge, nibbling on pan-fried leek gyoza dumplings and spectacular sichimi (Japanese 7-spice) popcorn (so delicious, Luiz should have sold it in bags at the door!)  These were paired with Reserve de Sours NV sparkling rosé (50% Merlot, 50%Cab – £19.99 from M&S) and a Les Amants de Mont-Perat Bordeaux Blanc (50% sauvignon blanc, 50% Muscadelle – £9.25 from The Wine Society).  The sparkling  rosé had a very pretty deep pink colour with a lush palate full of ripe red fruits and some fine aciditiy for balance.  Sadly, though, I did not think it matched particularly well with either of the canapés, as the spices particularly in the popcorn emphasised the acid and overwhelmed the fruit. But I thought the white was good with the spicy popcorn as the spice brought out flavours of green pepper and guava in the wine.

Leek Gyoza © J Horak-Druiff 2012

 

From there we decamped to the dining room downstairs for the Franco-Japanese feast.  Bordeaux wines and the concept of food and wine matching was introduced by the very engaging wine educator Christina Pickard, followed by the evening’s floorshow which consisted of Rosana accidentally setting alight her menu and then blowing the burning cinders onto Andrew’s trousers. Talk about a hot date…! Moving rapidly along (as Andrew did when the cinders alighed on his lap!).  The first course consisted of salmon sashimi “the South American way” (samon sashimi with avocado and sour cream, caramelised onions and soy sauce).  I loved this – not only for the yielding, fatty salmon slices, but also for the contrast between the creamy avocado mix and the tart, salty onion and soy dressing. It was paired with the Chateau de Bernet Bellvue 2011 Graves (50% Semillon, 40% Sauvignon Blanc, 10% Muscadelle – £9.99 from Sainsbury’s).  On its own, the wine was a pleasant fruit salad of flavours like apples and passion fruit, but once again I thought the match was not great.  Drunk only with the salmon, the wine was lovely, but I thought that the richness of the avocado cream overwhelmed the wine’s delicate flavours.

 

Salmon Sashimi © J Horak-Druiff 2012

Bordeaux Graves © J Horak-Druiff 2012

 

The next course was listed as Ankimo which turned out to be a traditional Japanese dish ofballotine of monkfish liver cooked sous vide and served with spicy shredded daikon and ponzu dressing.  I was a bit nervous of my first forkful as the texture had been described as “interesting” and “slightly challenging” by fellow-diners, but it turned out to be lovely – like a fishy version of foie gras.  The clean flavour and crunch of the daikon radish balanced out the richness and the dish was lifted by the citrus tang of the ponzu dressing.  This was paired with Chateau Maume 2011 Bordeaux Rosé (50% Merlot, 50% Cabernet Franc – £7.49 from Majestic).  The wine was like a glass of ripe strawberries with slight hints of smokiness – delicious on its own amd good with the creamy liver, but I felt once again that the flavours of the daikon and the ponzu dressing overwhelmed it, masking its more attractive flavours and bringing to the fore the less attractive, strident notes.

 

Ankimo © J Horak-Druiff 2012

Bordeaux Rosé © J Horak-Druiff 2012

Ankimo Rosé © J Hroak-Druiff 2012

 

The next course was probably my favourite of the whole meal and was described as deconstructed sushi:  grilled scallops with nori seaweed, tobiko eggs and creamy spicy sauce on sushi rice.  The slices of pale, creamy scallop flesh were barely cooked and retained a deliciously yielding texture, and the spicy creamy sauce lifted the entire dish to a level of dangerous decadence.  This was paired with my favourite wine of the night: the Roquefortissime 2010 Chateau Roquefort Bordeaux Blanc (90% Sauvignon Blanc, 10% Semillon, 10 months in new French oak barrels – £12.99 from Waitrose). This most surprising wine had a nose like overripe citrus fruit and a lovely full, rounded mouthfeel with notes of white peaches and vanilla.  If I did not know better, I might have pegged it as a Chardonnay in a blind tasting which is quite extraordinary for a Sauvignon – truly lovely.  But once again, I was not convinced of its match with the food as the creamy spicy sauce brought out the wine’s sharp edges of acid and alcohol.  But taken separately, probably my favourite wine and my favourite dish of the night.   Scallops © J Horak-Druiff 2012

Roquefortissime © J Horak-Druiff 2012

 

The meat course consisted of teppinyaki of ribeye steak marinated for 48 hours in miso, sake & mirin served with broccoli and fine green beans in a black esame dressing. Side dishes included peach and daikon salad in a Japanese mayo vinaigrette; sea bream rice cooked in a clay pot with ginger and spring onions; andmiso soup with fried aubergines, spring onions and sweet eggs.  The ribeye was nothing short of spectacular – umami-rich, flavourful, properly seared and gloriously red in the middle. Side dishes were also a hit, particularly the fantastic sea bream dish which was served with the fish fillets op top of the rice and then mixed with ginger and spring onions and pulled apart with forks tableside by Luiz himself.  The meat was paired with Chateau Fonguillon 2009, Montagne Saint-Emilion (70% Merlot, 12% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Cabernet Franc, 3% Malbec – £7.99 from Tesco). The wine was a delicious mix of dark blackberry flavours, vanilla and chocolate and it was probably the best food match of the night, pairing beautifully with the steak.  Looking back at all my tasting notes, I think this might well be because this was the least spicy dish of the night.

 

Steak © J Horak-Druiff 2012

 

Steak sides © J Horak-Druiff 2012

 

Sea bass © J Horak-Druiff 2012

 

And from there, we moved on to dessert: a decadent flourless chocolate cake with whisky prunes served with a quenelle of green tea ice-cream.  Seriously, what’s not to like about flourless chocolate cake?  This was everything it should be – rich, heavy and decadent, with the added bonus of little surprise studs of boozy prunes scattered throughout.  And it was saved from being overly-rich by the slightly bitter undertones of the matcha ice-cream – a delicious combination.  This was paired with a Ginestet 2009 Sauternes 2009 (80% Semillon, 10% Suv, 10% Muscadelle – £10 from ASDA).  The nose was lovely – heavy with the promise of sunshine and apricots, but for me the palate failed to live up to expectations, being rather like watered-down honey and not as complex as the best dessert wines I have tried.  It had a nice clean finish but I felt it was totally overwhelmed by the rich dessert.

 

Bordeaux dinner Dessert © J Horak-Druiff 2012

Sauternes © J Horak-Druiff 2012

 

It was a really intriguing evening, making me think not only about value for money in wine and the power of a wine’s name, but also about food and the context of how it developed, alongside which beverages.  For example, although I loved all of Luiz’s dishes and enjoyed many of the wines, I did not think that anybody left the dinner thinking Japanese food and Bordeaux wines are easy bedfellows.  The fact is that the flavours of Japanese cooking developed alongside other beverages such as sake or beer and maybe for this reason, they simply pair better with those flavours.  That said, I think it is tremendously useful to experiment as we did on this occasion, seeing whether foods and beverages that developed on opposite sides of the globe might usefully be matched to create a new and delicious combination – you don’t know till you try.  The other points that the dinner illustrated for me were that there is good value and quality wine to be found in Bordeaux if you are willing to broaden your horizons beyond the few “big name” first growth estates.  Also beware any Bordeaux with a name almost like a first-growth – it is probably trading on its name ane is unlikely to offer any sort of value for money!  And lastly, my belief was also reaffirmed that sometimes it does pay to spend a bit of cash – a point illustrated by the lacklustre but cheap Sauterne.  I’m not saying you have to buy Chateau d’Yqem, but I think spending another 5-10 pounds might have yielded a truly spectacular wine rather than a very pedestrian one.   Thanks very much to Bordeaux Wines UK for organising this interesting and enjoyable evening and to Luiz for his charming hosting, his amazing cooking abilities, and his awesome attention to detail.  Click here for more details of his supper club. For a few more bonus pictures, see my Flickr set of the evening. For other accounts of the evening, see:

  • The Bordeaux Wines blog
  • Mondomulia
  • Wine and the City
  • Oh Crumbs

DISCLOSURE:  I attended this evening as a guest of Bordeaux Wines UK but did not receive remuneration to write this post and all opinions are my own.  

More deliciousness for you!

  • Jackie Lee’s catering at a Docklands housewarmingJackie Lee’s catering at a Docklands housewarming
  • Uni restaurant – a Nikkei experienceUni restaurant – a Nikkei experience
  • London food bloggers salt tastingLondon food bloggers salt tasting
  • Individual smoked mackerel pate parcels [GF]Individual smoked mackerel pate parcels [GF]

Never miss a Cooksister post

If you enjoyed this post, enter your e-mail address here to receive a FREE e-mail update when a new post appears on Cooksister

I love comments almost as much as I love cheese - so if you can't leave me any cheese, please leave me a comment instead!

« Saturday Snapshots #215
Kaiserschmarr’n (Emperor’s pancakes) »

Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

  1. mondomulia says

    November 26, 2012 at 6:12 pm

    It was a lovely event, the food was incredibly good and so the wine pairing!
    Congratulations on your fantastic photos! What lens did you use? The light in Luiz’ house was really hard to shoot in…I used a 50mm f/1.4 and had to bump the ISO really high too!

    Reply
  2. Krista says

    November 26, 2012 at 6:13 pm

    Everything sounds absolutely amazing!! I especially like that you were served popcorn at the door. Fantastic. 🙂

    Reply
  3. Firefly says

    November 26, 2012 at 6:14 pm

    I’m not always one for these fancy meals in all their small portions (perhaps the Afrikaner in me), but this one looks very delicious. And again I’m going to bemoan the fact that this kind of thing inviting bloggers just doesn’t happen in PE.

    Reply
  4. Rosana @ Hot&Chilli says

    November 26, 2012 at 6:14 pm

    Another fun and delicious dinning experience. I am trying very hard not to set fire to things lately! lol see you soon. Rx

    Reply
  5. Rosa says

    November 26, 2012 at 6:15 pm

    Wonderful food and interesting pairings!

    Cheers,

    Rosa

    Reply
  6. Simone says

    November 26, 2012 at 6:16 pm

    Well I would certainly not have automatically paired Japanese flavors with wine. Funny how that works right? I am always amazed at the difference a wine can make to a meal and I am in no way someone who knows about wines (I know when I like it or when I don’t… does that count?) but this does sound like an interesting experiment. O well, since I still pick wines because they have funky names… I might never learn! 😉

    Reply
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Never miss a Cooksister post!

Get my latest recipes delivered by e-mail!

Search over 500 recipes

Recently on Cooksister

  • Perfect broccoli and Stilton soup [keto, low carb, GF]
  • Masalchi by Atul Kochhar – Indian street food in Wembley
  • Barbecued salmon with blood oranges and capers
  • Roasted Brussels sprouts with feta, pomegranate and pine nuts [GF, V]
  • Love Yourself healthy meal delivery [Review]
  • Antillean
  • Festive roast lamb with pomegranate glaze
  • Rustic blood orange and pistachio galettes

Archives by month

Archives by category

Popular posts

Peppermint Crisp fridge tart - a South African treat
Nigella's Bakewell slices & the Big Bakewell Taste-off
Oxtail and red wine potjie
Roosterkoek - a South African braai essential
My big, fat South African potato bake
Gem squash 101: how to find them, how to grow them, how to eat them!

Featured on

Also available on

The wonderful Museum of the Moon installation - a The wonderful Museum of the Moon installation - a 7 metre diameter scale model of the moon suspended in the Painted Hall at the  @oldroyalnavalcollege in Greenwich this week, by @lukejerramartist. A surreal and fabulous sight!
Do you enjoy free art installations? Then you need Do you enjoy free art installations? Then you need to get down to @canarywharflondon between now and Saturday 28 Jan to catch the free Winter Lights 2023 event, back for the seventh year.

My favourites include @lukejerramartist ‘s Floating Earth; Tom Lambert’s Out of the Dark; Fluorescent Firs; Toroid by This is Loop; and the surreal and mesmerising Anima by MEATS - a tunnel filled with hundreds of thin optical fibre lights that change colour and move in the breeze 😍 

Have you been to Winter Lights? What was your favourite?
“When we look down at the Earth from space, we s “When we look down at the Earth from space, we see this amazing, indescribably beautiful planet. It looks like a living, breathing organism. But it also, at the same time, looks extremely fragile.” - International Space Station astronaut Ron Garamond

To experience the “overview effect” (a phenomenon experienced by astronauts viewing the earth from space), head down to Canary Wharf in the London docklands this week where you can see @lukejerramartist ‘s beautiful Floating Earth installation as part of the Winter Lights event. 

This giant 10m diameter installation is created using high resolution NASA images to create a floating scale model of the Earth, lit from within so that it glows from its current home on the Middle Dock, surrounded by the headquarters of international banking and finance corporations.

The artist hopes that viewed in this context, the installation will make visitors and the bankers working in surrounding buildings question how their money in savings and pensions is invested, and whether investments can be greener.

Aside from being a thought provoking piece, it is also mesmerising and surreally beautiful, so make sure you visit the free Winter Lights event before ends on Saturday 28 Jan.
Happy lunar new year! [Invited] To celebrate the Happy lunar new year! 

[Invited] To celebrate the arrival of the Year of the Rabbit, why not head over to @mamachensdumplings currently doing a residence at the @thegantrylondon in #stratford where you can feast on prawn & chive dumplings; pork, Chinese cabbage and shiitake mushroom dumplings; pork & prawn wontons with Mama Chen’s chilli oil; vegetable dumplings; smacked cucumber salad; and spicy noodles coated in garlic and Szechuan pepper oil.

And afterwards, make sure you head up to the @unionsocialoc bar for a cocktail - I loved the Moreish Fashion with bourbon, PX sherry, chestnuts and mandarin orange bitters!
Got leftover Stilton (or any blue cheese) from Chr Got leftover Stilton (or any blue cheese) from Christmas? Turn it into this super simple and super indulgent broccoli and Stilton soup! So easy to make and soooo delicious to eat - and it is low carb and GF. What more could you want?! Click the link in my bio for the full recipe. What’s your favourite soup?
CELEBRATE. So the fireworks are over, the champag CELEBRATE.

So the fireworks are over, the champagne is finished and the leftovers are all eaten. We are one week into 2023 and I have had some time to think about what my intent is for the year. 

In 2022 my brother had a life saving kidney transplant. Since the operation, he has had a Peanuts cartoon as his WhatsApp profile pic, where Charlie Brown and Snoopy are sitting on a pier talking. Charlie says “Some day, we all die Snoopy.” And Snoopy replies: “Yes - but every other day, we will live.”

Waking up in the morning is a gift, every day, and it is so easy to forget this. The last few years have been difficult for so many people and the coming year promises its own challenges. But every day that we don’t die is a day to live, to celebrate life in some small way.

So my intention in 2023 is to celebrate. Celebrate our achievements however small. Celebrate our friends and family. Celebrate small things. Celebrate life.

Did you make any resolutions or goals for 2023? I would love to hear them in the comments! Wishing you all the very best for 2023 🥂
Happy new year, everyone! Here are some scenes fro Happy new year, everyone! Here are some scenes from last night with friends in Deptford. My deconstructed avocado ritz; @twinkleparkstephen ‘s bobitie; Giles’ Ottolenghi tomato salad; and Jean’s clementine trifle - and the London night sky ablaze with fireworks!  How did you spend your evening? 🥂🎇🎆
Merry Christmas to all those celebrating - I hope Merry Christmas to all those celebrating - I hope your day was merry and bright, filled with family, friends and love 🎄🥂. Mine was spent alone at home - my choice and the result of a combination of Covid (not mine!) and rail strikes 🤦‍♀️ but very relaxing and indulgent!
Looking for a stylish and easy Christmas starter y Looking for a stylish and easy Christmas starter you can make ahead? Look no further than my individual smoked salmon terrine! Hot smoked salmon, cream cheese and chives wrapped in cold smoked salmon in a ramekin. Still one of the most popular Christmas recipes in my blog, it looks cheffy but is soooo simple to make - and will save you time and effort on the day! Get the recipe by clicking on the link in my bio.

How is your Christmas meal prep going? Are you entertaining at home or going to friends or family? 🎄🥂🎄🥂🎄
Load More... Follow me on Instagram

Follow Jeanne Horak-Druiff's board Recipes by Cooksister on Pinterest.

Cooksister

The South African Food and Wine Blog Directory

The South African Food and Wine Blog Directory

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Jeanne Horak is a freelance food and travel writer; recipe developer and photographer. South African by birth and Londoner by choice, Jeanne has been writing about food and travel on Cooksister since 2004. She is a popular speaker on food photography and writing has also contributed articles, recipes and photos to a number of online and print publications. Jeanne has also worked with a number of destination marketers to promote their city or region. Please get in touch to work with her Read More…

Latest Recipes

Bowls of broccoli and Stilton soup
Salmon with blood oranges dill and capers
Brussels sprouts with feta and pomegranate
Roast lamb with pomegranate glaze
Blood orange & pistachio galettes
Cauliflower topped steak with melted cheese
Plate of potted smoked salmon with slaw and a glass of champagne
bowls of pistachio pomegranate bircher muesli

SITEMAP

Home

Contact

About me

Recipe Index

Restaurant Index

Copyright & Disclaimer

Cookies & privacy policy




blog counter

© 2004 - 2023 · Jeanne Horak unless otherwise stated - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. You may not reproduce any text, excerpts or images without my prior permission. Site by RTW Labs

Copyright © 2023 · Cooksister on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Cooksister cookie consent
We use cookies to ensure you receive the best experience on our site. If you continue to use this site, you are agreeing to our terms and conditions. Accept
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT