Special thanks to Peter Kelso for preparing this lunch review.

Something a bit different this week, with Milan Thapaliya, the executive chef from Brick Lane, producing some authentic Indian/Nepalese food.  The owners of Brick Lane run the kitchen at the REC, so it was great of them and Milan to serve us.

Canapes were some freshly fried papadoms (natch), but also a crunchy-coated pakoras made on slow-cooked onion and besan (chick pea flour) with assorted spices and coriander leaves deep fried, and some wonderful “chicken tandoori” rolls, with moist chicken, onion and spices cooked in a fried filo pastry case – a sort of Indian spring roll. To wash them down, we had a choice of Seppelts sparkling shiraz from 2010, and a Jay Tulloch Semillon from the Hunter, also 2010. Both stood up to the spice and (mild) heat of the canapes, although the sparkler was probably a better match.

The main course  saw a lamb rendang-type curry of medium heat accompanied by a mild raita blend of vegetables and a finely cooked long-grain rice dressed up with sultanas and whole green cardamoms to give a burst of flavour in the mouth. Plenty of melding flavours and certainly only too hot for the wimps!

Nick Reynolds on wines had thought long and hard about the match of wine and curry, and provided us with an eclectic selection, some kindly provided by him. They were:

2017 SC Pannell Aromatica, a blend of mainly gewurtztraminer with riesling and pinot gris from the Adelaide Hills, which lived up to its name; a bit too aromatic for some, but with a soft sweetness which cut well across the complexity of the food;

2017 Helm half-dry Riesling from Canberra, made off-dry and therefore with residual sugar, but finer in palate than the first, an excellent wine in its own right;

2013 Craiglee Shiraz from Sunbury in Victoria, a cooler climate wine with a good dry but light body which matched the food well;

2004 Wynns Black Label Coonawarra Cabernet, showing typical Coonawarra nose and good fruit although starting to tire.

The four wines were all served with the food, allowing all to be drunk against the spice; although the prudent saved some of the reds for the cheese, which was preceded by a gulabjamoon, a sweet ball of milk and flour fried and served on a ceramic spoon with sugar syrup and a bit of yoghurt.

The cheese, simply served with a homemade chutney from Milan, was an Ossau Iraty, a sheep’s milk cheese from the Basque region of north-west Spain, an ancient variety showing a slightly pressed firm and oily texture with a nutty almost olive-like flavour. It was especially good with the Wynns. 

The coffee was a bean from Sumatra, with rich drying flavour in the moth and a refreshing hint of acidity.