(L to R) Steven Snow, Maria
Elia, Chan Kam Yuen, Kai-Uwe Klens, Miss Sarantorn Srinoi, CEO of Sri Siam
Wines, and Peter Papanikitas, CEO of Stonefish.
Miss Terry Diner
The second Pattaya Gourmet Festival was held at the
Amari’s Mantra restaurant between March 17-22 and featured five
international chefs spanning Chinese, English/Greek, Australian, French and
German nationalities, resulting in a wonderfully different culinary
experience for the diners.
The Dining Out Team was fortunate to be able to be part
of the festival for two of the six nights, with the first being the
Stonefish Wines gala dinner and the second the Cha๎ne des R๔tisseurs dinner.
The Stonefish dinner began with the first course from
chef Chan Kam Yuen of a marinated chicken breast with Chinese herbs. A very
delicate dish with the accompaniment of a Stonefish Brut Cuvee NV, a wine
that was not out of place with Chinese cuisine.
Chefs on ice (L to R) Yannick
Cayrol, Kai-Uwe Klens, Chan Kam Yuen, Steven Snow, and Maria Elia.
The second course was from vivacious chef Maria Elia
(Joe’s restaurant in London) featuring pan-fried scallops on a slice of
Greek soutzouki sausage, watermelon and an oregano raisin vinaigrette.
Contrasting spicy, sharp, sour, sweet and different textures, this, on
retrospect, was the dish I enjoyed most from the two evenings at the Gourmet
Festival. The wine with this was the Stonefish Sauvignon Blanc 2011, with a
clean edge to allow the various tastes to be appreciated.
Third course came from seafood chef Steven Snow of Fins
restaurant Australia and was a very pleasant crab chowder with sashimi
scallop and prawn oil, assisted on the palate by the Stonefish Chardonnay
2010.
Steven Snow backed up for the next course with an amazing
Moroccan tagine of sea bass coated with African spices with the traditional
chemoula, sweet potatoes, dates and preserved lemon. (“Tagine” refers to the
special pot used to cook this dish.) The Stonefish Chardonnay continued for
this course.
(L to R) Drs Narin, Piya and
Pattama and Ranjith sample an early wine.
Next course was a lime and basil granite from French chef
Yannick Cayrol, from the IndoThai restaurant in Dubai (perhaps he has cooked
for a certain ex-prime minister?)
Chef Yannick continued with the sixth course of grilled
milk-fed veal ribs with butternut ravioli scented with citrus grilled smoked
belly and veal jus. The butternut ravioli was superb. The wine was the
Concerto, a Barossa Shiraz, 2008. A great wine and we savored this course.
The final, and seventh course, was from the Amari’s
executive chef Kai-Uwe Klens and featured different balled melons marinated
in anise, lemongrass and tarragon. Flavors all the way and when taken with
the Stonefish Flying Finix Botrytis represented a wonderful end to the
evening.
Our second evening at the Pattaya Gourmet Festival was
the Cha๎ne des R๔tisseurs gala event. Again the first course came from chef
Chan Kam Yuen who produced an amazing spicy jumbo shiitake mushroom salad.
These mushrooms come only from the Yangtze Delta close to Shanghai and were
hand-carried by chef Chan himself. The wine was a Leon Beyer Reisling 2006
vintage from Alsace and had enough sweetness to contrast with the sharpness
of the spices.
The second course came from Maria Elia, a crab salad with
shaved fennel and white asparagus imported from Provence. The colorful
addition of edible flowers made this a very interesting dish, and one I
enjoyed very much. The wine was a Joseph Drouhin Chablis Reserve de Vaudon
2009 and complemented the crab.
Chaîne des Rôtisseurs Bailli
Ranjith Chandrasiri presents certificates of appreciations to chefs and
staff.
The third course was another imaginative dish from Steven
Snow, an Arroz de Marisco, a Portuguese style seafood risotto with prawn,
mussels and fish. This course took three days to produce the pastes, such as
charred capsicum. The wine was a Borie Manoux, Saint Emilion 2009, which was
also used in cooking the risotto, so it teamed up perfectly.
The central point of all Cha๎ne des R๔tisseurs dinners is
the roast. This was lamb cooked by French chef Yannick Cayrol, who presented
lamb with eggplant with a citrus-cardamom sauce. It went very well with the
Rocca della Macie Vino Nobile de Montepulciano DOCG 2006 wine (matured in
oak barrels for two years).
The fifth course from Amari executive chef Kai-Uwe Klens
was an iced black forest cherry cake with chocolate ice-cream. The wine was
the very popular Valfiere Moscato d’Asti DOCG 2010. Just a few bubbles to
tickle the palate and just slightly sweet to go with the black forest cherry
cake.
Wonderfully indulgent two evenings at the Mantra, and my
personal thanks to the Amari for the opportunity to experience five chefs,
two nights, and 12 courses.
