Food review by James Hill and wine review by Stephen O'Halloran

Food

We’re lucky to have such talent in our kitchen brigade at the Royal Exchange.

Today Madan was cooking Nepalese food for us assisted by Amosh.

Canapés

A Nepalese spice base of ginger, garlic and garam masala was featured in all the dishes today.

Strict portion control today!

First up, goat and lentil soup served in a cup. Madan had soaked red lentils overnight.

I’m always wary of goat but no bones today. The goat was cooked in a large pot of bite-size pieces with stock and fenugreek. Big herb flavour with lentils adding texture and some earthiness to the soup some heat lingering on the palate from black pepper.

Then, chicken sekuwa, skewered chicken BBQ marinated in a blend of Himalayan herbs and spices and then cooked on the hibachi.

The chicken was moist and cooked to the perfect degree of “doneness”

Finally, aloo chop, “aloo" means potato, and the word "chop" means small cutlet fritters or croquette. Coriander and potato coated in chickpea flour.…almost a potato mash that held together. A good mouthfeel and spice flavour.

Main

Jhool momo pork dumplings made overnight consisting of pork and spice base and onion. They sat in a sauce of pork stock made with tomato, ginger and garlic spice blend, again some heat from black pepper. The pork dumplings were juicy and flavourful, with the accompanying sauce adding a delicious tanginess to each bite.

Great presentation and balanced flavours and texture very favourably commented on and appreciated by members today.

It was a great effort with a lot of preparation and thought going into today's meal and much appreciated by all for the authentic and interesting Nepalese food.

No one left hungry today, thanks Madan.

Cheese

It was Chef’s selection today and it was Comte a hard cheese from France made with unpasteurised cow’s milk. This cheese was matured in the damp underground cellars of Marcel Petite at Fort Saint Antoine high in the mountains that border France and Switzerland in the Franche-Comte. It’s specially selected for Will to wear the prestigious red ‘crown’ of quality on the basis of its rich concentrated nutty texture, elegant caramel sweetness, and lingering kaleidoscope of flavours rather than on how long it was aged.

The cheese was accompanied by some small dried figs warmed in a brown sugar syrup with star anise and cinnamon stick. Much praise for this dish what a great match to the Comte.

We asked about a good Nepalese restaurant they would recommend and they suggested ‘Muglan’.

Wine 

The theme for today’s lunch was Nepalese based,  expertly prepared by our resident team at REX, Madan and Amosh.  See the Food report for details.

In light of the spicy nature of the food, serious wine assessment was a challenge, at least for me.

The first wine before any pass-arounds was a Framingham Old Vine Riesling 2016 from Marlborough NZ.  Now 8 yo but tasting very fresh, clean acid, good fruit balance and finish. At a masked tasting, I would have picked it as a German Riesling, Kabinett probably.  An enjoyable wine.

The second wine was a Domane Wachau Steinriegl Riesling 2022 12.5%. By the time I sampled this wine I had had some of the delicious pass arounds and my palate was becoming affected. To my taste the wine was very dry, but with some fruit noticeable leading to a sweetish finish. I much preferred the first wine.

Moving onto the third wine, the S C Pannell 2020 Old McDonald Grenache 14% from McLaren Vale, home of our finest Grenache. I only had a small sample, but what I had suggested was a light red wine with abundant fruit and a sweet finish.

I would like to have had more to get a fuller appreciation, but with the spicy tucker that would probably would not have been possible. I am a great fan of our homegrown Grenache, it is pleasing to see it appear more often in our wine lists.

The fourth wine was a terrific 2016 Dolcetto from Massolino 14%. An excellent wine from the Piedmont region. A great food wine for a lunch, but the spicy tastes in my mouth did not really do justice to this excellent food wine. This is by no means a criticism of the food, which was delicious, but more a general comment on how hard it is to match spicy food with wine.

Wine 5 was the ever-reliable Society favourite Seppelt St Peters Grampians Shiraz 2007 13.5%.  I have reviewed this wine on many occasions over the last few months and those who read this literary word of art over time will be aware of how highly I rate this wine. Even now at 17 years old, it is still a magical Australian Shiraz. Fruit/oak/tannin/acid are all perfectly in place for a superb old Shiraz. The legendary Colin Preece chief winemaker at Seppelt from circa 1930 to 1963, created his style of Great Western Shiraz, this wine, was rebadged in later years to St Peters. Many Australian popular wines owe their existence to him, Moyston Claret, Chalambar Burgundy, Arawatta Riesling and Great Western “Champagne”. Many folks in the wine industry say Colin Preece and Maurice O’Shea are our greatest winemakers.

Now that the history lesson has concluded, I will now focus on our last wine, the Armenian Zorah 2021, 14%. I have never to my best memory drank an Armenian wine. Many years ago I worked with a girl from that country, but our relationship never progressed beyond professional, damm! She was pretty cute!! Anyhow back to the wine, the grape for this wine is the Areni possibly the oldest recognised grape variety in the world, dating back thousands of years ago. Virtually matured in the cradle of civilisation. Bringing us back however to the present, I was initially about to give this wine a dose of the merciless savagery I show to what I consider to be a poor wine. In this case far too sweet, flabby ie lacking in acid and fat ie too full-bodied.  Then within 5 minutes or so the wine changed composition and became dare I say, quite appealing, possibly repressed memories of my ex-work mate? Whatever it was, I came away with the taste of a pleasant wine, rich and flavoursome.

Very enjoyable. Many thanks to our Winemaster for introducing us to this historic wine. One of our Charters is to educate our members on things pertaining to wine and food.