(L to R) Ananbodhin Wachoom,
Assistant Food and Beverage Manager of Holiday Inn, Reungratt Rattanaphan, Sak
Ngamsmai, Food and Beverage Operations Manager of Hard Rock Hotel Pattaya and
Koonlapatporn Intalasing, On Premise Executive of Siam Winery Trading Plus Co.,
Ltd.
Dr. Iain Corness
The Mantra restaurant continues to provide some very varied special
events for its diners, and the Via Maipo Wine Dinner was a good example of how
to pair food and wine.
With the wines coming from the 60 year old Maipo Vineyard in Chile, and the food
coming from the kitchens of Executive Chef Leonard Faust, we were treated to a
remarkable wine dinner.
Maipo was represented by Anaïs Marmonier, the Regional Marketing Assistant
Manager of the importers, the VCT Group of Wineries, and she spoke with
authority on the wines which would be sampled that evening. These included the
Reserva - Vitral Sauvignon Blanc 2011, the Bi-Varietal Syrha and Cabernet
Sauvignon 2011, Reserva - Vitral Sauvignon Blanc 2011, the Reserva - Vitral
Syrah 2011 and the Reserva - Vitral Cabernet Sauvignon 2011.
We found that all of them made for excellent drinking, and even more impressive
was the fact that these were all ‘price range’ wines, being available in
supermarkets for B. 399-699. At those prices they are veritable bargains for any
of the wines we tasted.
A wine dinner is, however, much more than wine tasting (or appreciation, or
guzzling) but the wines and the food have to complement each other, and this is
where Executive Chef Leonard really sprung some surprises on the guests that
evening, starting with a curry and panna cotta with roasted marinated medallion
of lamb, seared king scallop with lobster-vodka sabayon and black caviar. This
he followed up with a black chicken essence with Asian herbs, foie gras and
shrimp wonton and dry sherry. If that wasn’t a surprise taste, Chef Leonard then
produced a snowfish saltimbocca, wrapped in Serrano ham on a squid’s ink
risotto, steamed kale and soya sauce.
This was a typical Mantra wine experience - laid back, wine and dine at your own
pace, and enjoy…
We look forward to the next one.
(L to R) George Kenton, EAM-Rooms of
Centara Grand Mirage Beach Resort Pattaya, Brendan Daly, General Manager,
Richard Margo, Resident Manager of Amari Orchid Pattaya and Robert John
Lohrmann, General Manager of Centara Grand Mirage Beach Resort Pattaya.
(L to R) Derrick Boivin, Piping
Engineer, Colin Lawton, Fabrication Manager and Michael Scollins, E&I
Installation Engineer of QGC.
(L to R) Yaowaluck Bumrungthum,
Restaurant Manager of Mantra, Pichchaya Nitikarn, Public Relations Manager of
Amari Orchid Pattaya, Anaïs Marmonier, Regional Marketing Assistant Manager, VCT
Group of Wineries Asia Pte., Ltd., and Juthamard Boonchiwudtikun, Public
Relations Executive of Holiday Inn Pattaya.
(L to R) Diane Barker, Anaïs
Marmonier, Regional Marketing Assistant Manager, VCT Group of Wineries Asia
Pte., Ltd., and Michael Barker.
Iain and Ann Frew.
(L to R) Yaowaluck Bumrungthum,
Restaurant Manager of Mantra, Thanyarat Skunasingha, Marketing Coordinator of
Siam Winery Trading Plus Co., Ltd., Brendan Daly, General Manager of Amari
Orchid Pattaya, Anaïs Marmonier, Regional Marketing Assistant Manager, VCT Group
of Wineries Asia Pte., Ltd., Supparatch Piyawatcharapun, Social Director of
Mantra, Koonlapatporn Intalasing, On Premise Executive of Siam Winery Trading
Plus Co., Ltd. and Richard Margo, Resident Manager of Amari Orchid Pattaya.
