Gareth Evans, current chef of the year, bounced back remarkably well from Wales' defeat by the Wallabies on Saturday to present a Turkish feast, ably inspired and assisted in the kitchen by the perennial Ted Davis. Several trips were made to Auburn to source authentic ingredients, and it showed in the complexity yet freshness of the dishes on offer. Mercifully, the wines and the cheese were from other regions.

We started with a choice of two koftas, or soft pastes, one based on minced lamb and the other on lentils, but both containing burghul or cracked wheat and a bewildering array of spices including isot (a Turkish black pepper) and a hot pepper paste which was not quite that hot. Both were handmade (evidenced by the finger indentations) and served in iceberg lettuce cups. Mild and soft, they were well matched by a well-made, nutty, soft and mature2010 Philip Shaw chardonnay from Orange. Also on offer were the 2010 Den Mar chardonnay from the Hunter, good but simpler than the 1st, and the ever-reliable Lustau amontillado sherry.

A table of mixed delights summarises the main course. On the plate, a testi, or braise, made on lamb shanks and necks in a rich sauce of tomatoes with a miscellany of ME spices; a lamb mince kebab coated ditto on a piece of round Turkish bread; and a salad of tomato, parsley, red onion and pomegranate molasses. But also on the table to add were little pale local olives, a pumpkin & walnut dip and a richly flavoured esme, or Turkish salsa, with ingredients including marash pepper, pepper paste, and pomegranate molasses (again) on a base of tomatoes, red onion, parsley and mint. Pieces of flat bread were there too to mop up the dip and juices. The accompanying wines were a 2010 St Nicolas de Bourgueil cabernet franc from an area on the Loire near Tours, surprisingly good with lovely brambly fruit and acid and 12.5% alcohol, but slightly overwhelmed by the heat in the food; and a 2007 Devil's Lair cabernet/merlot from Margaret River, not the best example of what this area can do with cabernet, but big & bold with lots of tannin, still probably better with the food.

The cheese was a classy Holy Goat organic chevre from Victoria, with a surface mould just starting to move into the typically sour but creamy paste and a joy to eat with some simple sliced apple and fresh walnuts, and with a terrific 2008 Craggy Range shiraz from NZ (Hawkes Bay), a fine balance of fruit and acid/tannins, rich but elegant. The other accompaniment was a 2006 The Bishop Barossa shiraz from John Glaetzer, a great example of ripe high alcohol Barossa if you like that kind of thing.

We wound up with a good rich and long finishing coffee of unspecified origin, fittingly served with some lady fingers, sweet and syrupy, from Auburn. We're sure that after this, many members will follow Gareth and go west, young man.