Dazzling Dubai

Deciding to take a sabbatical from the wearisome banking world, I was drawn to go on a personal adventure which would cover Dubai and parts of Asia. My magic carpet ride into this dazzling city was flying on a Qantas A380 in a First Class Suite.

The flight was so pleasant and devoid of any harsh turbulence that it made one feel as if one was on a grand rail journey. Maybe it was the endless flow of Pol Roger Winston Churchill that dulled the senses.

As Dubai is a city of excess this participant was more than happy to further support that notion. A Mercedes limousine quickly shuttled me to a humble corner suite at the Conrad Dubai. One quickly realizes that in a land of oil riches the only way to traverse this vast urban sprawl is via taxi or personal driver.

One of the primary reasons for coming to Dubai was to scale the permissible heights of the world’s tallest building, the iconic Burj Khalifa. 

Level 148 at 555 meters is the highest outdoor observatory in the world.

For such an oil rich state the obsession with water is very apparent. Why else with all this available land would one dredge the ocean to build the Palms (Jumeriah and Jebel Ali) along with The World islands and then conceive some of the most astounding aquariums.

Apart from its size the luxurious Dubai Mall is known as an enthralling watch and jewelry mecca with most major brands sporting their largest flagship boutiques globally.

It always makes one feel good when you visit a boutique before it has been officially opened with this instance being the Hublot boutique which none other than JCB would open the following week.

My watch collecting highlight was when the A. Lange & Sohnne team at the Dubai Mall boutique invited me to an exclusive cocktail party that was showcasing the 2015 novelties.

The star of the show was the platinum Zeitwerk Minute Repeater in Platinum.

Here is a watch fit for a Prince, a Lange 31 in platinum with baguette diamonds. It is a unique piece that comes in a set of three.

I also got to try the 1815 200^th Anniversary in platinum.

Literally next door to the Lange boutique was Ulysse Nardin and naturally there were a few spectacular pieces on display.

At the Ulysse Nardin boutique I met a pair of Strangers.

Arabian tales are always filled with exotic mystery and wonder, my first journey to Dubai was a definite confirmation

Melbourne Getaway Part 2

Our second day in Melbourne found us wandering the streets looking around and window shopping before we went to The Flower Drum for lunch.

Over the years we have seen The Flower Drum mentioned many times in foodie magazines. It was finally time to try it. Set in a laneway between Little Bourke and Bourke Streets an elegant foyer/reception area

Red carpet anchors the room with cream walls decorated with paintings depicting the Chinese dance “Flower Drum” and also hung with beautiful wood carvings. Dark woods are in abundance with the dining room divided in half by a mini “pavilion”.

After a look through the extensive wine list we ordered a half bottle of Rockford Basket Press Shiraz.

I have to say service was a standout. While we are used to the excellent service in Chinese restaurants in Sydney and Hong Kong, the service at Flower Drum really kicked it up a notch or three. A lot of tour dishes were bought to a service table placed next to our table and served to us from there.

For entrees, I ordered the Peking duck rolls while Vikki went with the Quail sang choi bao. Both were fantastic. While we have had duck, chicken and pork in sang choi bao before Vikki thought the use of quail was amazing. 

For main course I ordered the simply prepared but tasty wok fried barramundi with seasoned soy.

Vikki ordered the crispy skin chicken with lemon and spicy salt. Our meals were accompanied by wok tossed greens and special fried rice.

Desserts were fantastic and not too heavy. I ordered the Banana Fritters w/Ice Cream (lightly battered banana pieces) with maple syrup and Rickett’s Point organic vanilla ice-cream).

Vikki ordered the Peking Toffee Apple (lightly battered apple covered in molten toffee) served with Rickett’s Point organic cinnamon ice-cream). Each piece of battered apple was dipped and coated in the toffee and then plunged in to a bowl of iced water to harden the toffee and then plated. The waiters then “pulled” the remaining toffee in to threads for garnish.

After a fantastic lunch it was time to go back to the hotel and relax. Again lunch was so filling we skipped dinner and had a glass of wine and snacks in the lounge of the hotel.

Melbourne Getaway Part 1

Early March saw us with an interesting proposition. I needed to go to Melbourne to pick up a watch and Vikki had days off that made it possible for her to come down and join me. For Vikki it had been over 30 years between visits to Melbourne. 

We stayed at The Hilton South Wharf, not right in the city but the walk along the Yarra River is very nice, even with a chill breeze blowing. We had a great view of the city and river from our suite, which was quite magical in the evening as we were lucky to have a full moon.

After checking in, it was time to show Vikki around the South Bank area. We headed over to Crown Casino and walked past Nobu, No. 8 by John Lawson, Spice Temple, Rockpool Bar and Grill and many more restaurants . As I never went to Guillaume at Bennelong before it closed, we decided to head in to Guillaume Brahimi’s Melbourne restaurant, Bistro Guillaume.

A very bright lime green door marks the entrance to a room that is the epitome of a classic French bistro. Marble, brass, bentwood chairs and lightshades that reminded Vikki of the puffy skirts she used to wear in the 1980’s.

As it was a lovely day, we sat out on the verandah which has views of the river and city. While we decided on what to eat we ordered a glass of Perrier Jouet Champagne. A nice mini loaf of Pain d’Epi, (a variant of a baguette, shaped like a head of wheat) was also bought out for us. Lovely chewy crust and soft inside.

Bistro Guillaume has several options for lunch from a la carte to two set price options. We chose the 3 courses for $65, which covered most of the items on the a la carte menu, with the exemption being the chateau briand. 

We also ordered a bottle of Domaines Manoncourt Chateau La Fleur Pourret 2005, from Saint Emilion. A very nice drop considering we don’t often enjoy merlot or merlot dominant blends.

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For entrée I had one of my favourites, steak tartare which was served with pommes gaufrettes and a petite salad.

Vikki had the chicken liver pate with pear relish and cornichons. 

On our visit the fish of the day was one of my favourites, John Dory. This was simply pan fried and finished with a beurre noisette, capers and lemon, simple but full of flavour.

Vikki ordered the Berkshire pork belly served with pickled cabbage and apple salad,  A small mound of pommes puree was topped with the pickled cabbage, then the pork belly which was topped with the apple salad. 

Of course pommes frites were also ordered and came nicely presented in a copper bucket. 

As we chose the three course option Vikki ordered the profiteroles filled with fresh vanilla ice cream and smothered in chocolate sauce. Three profiteroles seemed to be too much for Vikki as she tried to palm one off to me. I ordered the cheese selection which was brought out on a BIG wooden board and then served on to a smaller service board which had the bread and garnishes on it.

We were well and truly full but really happy to have chosen Bistro Guillaume for our lunch. We were so full in fact that all thought of going to Nobu for dinner got pushed out the window and we had some snacks in the executive lounge and watching the sun set over Melbourne.

Stay tuned for Part 2: lunch at The Flower Drum….

Milton Park Summer Getaway

In January we headed back to Milton Park for Vikki's birthday weekend. Leaving a hot sticky Sydney morning behind we were surprised at how much cooler it was in Bowral. After a good drive from Sydney, we checked in to our room, this time a garden view room complete with fireplace (which came in handy later in the day).

 After settling in and freshening up, we headed down to The Orangery for lunch.

The Orangery was quite busy on this occasion with several groups indulging in champagne afternoon teas. We ordered the Testut Petit Chablis that we had on our last visit and settled down to peruse the menu. 

We decided to just have mains so we could save some room of ra three course dinner. I had the Cape Grim Angus eye fillet of beef, spinach, fondant potato, café de Paris butter and jus.

Vikki chose the the chicken stuffed with couscous, wrapped in jamon and served with one of her favourite salads, roquette, pear and parmesan. Very delicious all round!

After lunch we took a stroll through the beautiful gardens. There are many species of trees bought in from Europe and some are not even found in local botanical gardens. It was a nice change to see the garden with its full summer greenery. Made a nice change from the bareness of winter on our last visit.

After our stroll we returned to our room for a quick nap before we headed back down to Hordern’s for dinner. We pre ordered our wine earlier and were able to have our bottle of Petaluma 1998 Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon, decanted and ready for us at the table when we arrived. We did however start with a glass of champagne. An amuse bouche of brandade was bought out to us while we decided on what we would like for dinner.

For entree I had seared scallops, pea puree black pudding and red wine reduction I enjoyed very much.

Vikki is a sucker for any kind of twice cooked soufflé that involves cheese. The soufflé on this visit was made with goat cheese and gruyere two of her favourite cheeses.

For my main course, I chose the Victorian venison, parsnip puree and cassis jus. While I prefer my meats medium, in this instance I enjoyed it being slightly rarer. And of course a bowl of chunky pommes frites went well with it too.

Confit duck is something Vikki will choose 90% of the time she sees it on a menu,especially when truffles and puy lentils are involved. Her main was confit duck, Puy lentils with some spinach and truffle oil tossed through and a jus made from reduced duck stock.

For dessert I chose the cheese platter which had 3 cheeses, local honey, dried and fresh fruits and house made lavosh.

Vikki said she has gone off chocolate a little, but the four textures of chocolate sounded interesting to her so she decided to have it as her birthday cake.

After another delicious meal we headed back to our room for a nightcap of Saltram No. 1, 2005 vintage which we enjoyed by the fire.