Last week

Last week was jam-packed with eating and drinking adventures. I've noticed that city life often throws exciting opportunities in front of you without even trying, especially in cuisine terms, and this week in particular was an excellent example.

WEDNESDAY-
On Wednesday I was invited to a press wine tasting at Jean Georges to sample the Vignobles Brunier's new vintage. This was arranged thanks to a food review website I write for in Shanghai called Best Food in China (not the most innovative name in the world). The vineyard owner, Daniel Brunier was coming to Shanghai to introduce the city to his wines and his wine philosophy, which was followed by an interview with him. I was so incredibly excited when I found out I was going that I wrote off Tuesday evening mostly jumping for joy, brushing up on my wine knowledge and researching the vineyard in question. Vignobles Brunier makes wine predominantly in the Châteauneuf du Pape AOC, an very highly regarded wine region known for making often very expensive and high quality wines. Admittedly I hadn't actually heard of Vignobles Brunier before, but came to realise that it was in fact a dominant wine maker in the region, giving further status to the Appellation.
The even itself was full of pretentious media types who asked all sorts of ridiculous questions to make sure we knew that they knew what they were talking about (if you know what I mean). It was all slightly pompous and over the top, with airs and graces flying left, right and centre. And then there was the spitting. I love wine tasting but I refuse to spit, thinking of it as a ludicrous concept. Even if it aids the tasting process, wine is a drink and it is meant to be drunk. So I drank and enjoyed all four samples of wine (in a very sophisticated manner of course) and drinking on an empty stomach it's safe to say I had a pretty bad headache come the evening. But I still refuse to spit.

THURSDAY-
On Thursday I reviewed an Italian restaurant for the same website. The restaurant was awful, and a very poor reflection of true Italian cuisine, which isn't actually that difficult to find in this city. Among the numerous misdemeanors the restaurant made, there were three that in my book were unforgivable. First of all they failed to enquire as to how I like my steak cooked. I like it bleu and it came well-done- bleugh. Secondly when I asked for fresh bread which I would expect to be served to me within minutes of sitting down, we were told that the chef was too busy for the moment. What cheek! We were later brought out some mediocre garlic pizza bread which was a poor consolation. Thirdly, there was no dessert menu. No panna cotta, no tiramasu, no gelato, nothing. The manager later told me that they were considering adding a menu, which would include desserts such as 'cheesecake', how very authentic. I gave them a pretty bad write up which can be viewed here.
In the evening, I cooked a Sichuan/Hunan influenced homestyle meal with a double whammy of sweet and sour dishes- both chicken and cabbage, stir fried eggs with onion and mushroom, potato slivers with vinegar and braised pak choi.

FRIDAY-
On Friday I was invited out to lunch by one of my adult students. I had a Chinese lesson arranged, lots of work to do and a terrible cold, but I never pass up on an opportunity to eat free food. It was a Japanese restaurant in Xintiandi (a pretentious yet charming dining area in Shanghai where well-heeled locals and expats sip Starbucks and eat overpriced food). My student told me he dined there at least twice a week, so I was expecting it to be good. This turned out to be somewhat of an understatement as I thought the food was amazing. In true traditional Japanese style, we were told to take off our shoes on our arrival, before being escorted to our bamboo screened booth. The ambiance was authentic Japanese with a modern twist. An attentive service first caught my eye. Within seconds our teacups were full and a little stand was brought out to hold our sake and bottle warmer. We munched on salted snow peas and dried sweet fish with mayonnaise and as the guest, I chose from the book-esque menu. I went for a standard sushi assortment of tuna, salmon and wagyu beef nigiri, various sashimi, california rolls and giant stuffed rolls.
While my fellow diner and his companion talked business I happily tucked into a feast of sushi. The sushi was all served at the perfect temperature, was wonderfully fresh and delicate, with fluffy, slightly salty rice packed tightly together holding the fish nicely in place.The tuna nigiri was the star attraction; the thick slab of the finest cut of tuna almost melted in my mouth.
Later came a dish of grilled Wagyu beef which was absolutely delectable. The Wagyu was well layered with fat, so flavoursome and tender, sprinkled with sesame seeds and brushed with a dark, salty soy based sauce. It was 'lush' as the (Welsh) valleys in me would say, lush with a capital L.

Everything was spot on, from the brilliant burst of bright orange salmon roe on the California rolls to the impeccable service and attention to detail, right down to the way the gari was arrange on our plate. I'm not sure whether I was phased by my increasingly bad cold, the Sake or the ridiculous price tag that may have clouded my judgement, but the meal was incredible.