The cook off caravan moves on, and 2nd out of the blocks was James Hill, reprising his duck breast European-style, with help from Gary Linnane.

But first, some introductory canapes in the form of a handmade olive bread and a light but flavoursome smoked salmon tartare redolent of chopped chives and dill on small sourdough rounds. The Wine Master matched their quality with a subtly sweet but crisp and refreshing Lindemans Hunter Semillon from 2011. There was also a drop of the 2010 Den Mar Hunter chardonnay from last week, and, of course, the ever present and ever welcome Lustau fino sherry (particularly good with the smoked salmon).

Superior duck breasts, smeared with a spice rub, had been seared to reduce the fat, then baked, sluiced and presented with whole chat potatoes cooked in goose fat, a lightly pickled shredded cabbage and apple mix and some thinly sliced and lightly cooked apple pieces. The duck was moist and tender, if a little overdone on most plates, and well balanced by the tart sweetness of the cabbage and apple, both in flavour and texture. In wines, we were well served by a mystery number which most picked as a pinot from France and by a 2011 Medhurst pinot from the Yarra Valley. Comparisons were obvious, the local wine showing spicy sweet fruit which did settle down and show more complexity and elegance in the glass. Unfortunately, the comparisons were skewed a little when it was revealed that the masked wine, although French, was in fact a young shiraz from the Northern Rhone (2012), showing enough soft spice and barnyard feral characters to mislead. Not bad with the duck, though.

The CheeseMaster did it again, presenting a Saint Agur, a soft, double-cream blue-vein cheese from the Auvergne region of France. Rich, buttery and with a hint of mushroom from the veining, it went beautifully with the fully ripe figs served with it; a mixed bitter leaf salad of chicory and radicchio acted to cut the sweetness and richness. As did a brace of wines: the 1998 Piramimma Stocks Hill McLaren Vale shiraz showing typical fully mature Oz-style shiraz characters, and another which varied from table to table but which on most was the2001 Burton Limestone Coast merlot, again fully mature and worth drinking for its gentle tannins and soft fruit.

The coffee came to us from the South of Brazil, a good rich aroma and taste with low acid, obviously for the US market. Not much acid, either, in the birthday port supplied by James Hill, Lyndhurst The Grate tawny from Clare, but plenty of sweet fruit and a great rancio character.