Wyndham Estate Wine Pairing Dinner At Sage

Every now and again, you get an invitation which you know warrants cancelling all other events, and when Marian Eu invited me to Sage, I knew this was one occasion when regular Wednesday dinner with the in-laws had to be conveniently "postponed".

We are pleased to say that we are no stranger to Sage. In my humble opinion, it is one of the better fine dining restaurants in town. Food is consistent, service is excellent, largely due to the fantastic manager, Affendie, ambience is pleasing, (except my group, whoever they may be, always seem to be the loudest).

Tonight's event was a wine pairing with Wyndham Estate, again, no stranger to our shores. I believe this is one of the more popular wine makers to have hit our markets, mainly because of its affordable and drinkable wines. To the wine pleb (as opposed to Wine Snob) like me, if it's priced right, and doesn't taste like kerosene, I'm good to go.

We actually started off in the holding room, with platters of tempura seafood, and a lovely crisp George Wyndham Savignon Blanc, which actually, was my favourite, but alas, was no more to be seen after the horse divorces. (hors d'oeuvres).



The International Travel and Food Blogger and the queen of the DSLR....actually, Aly of Red FM was there too, but she was right opposite me, and the fixed lens doesn't allow such close up shots...pity though, we all know how photogenic she is.


Don't you just love seeing these food assembly lines. Actually ever since I started food blogging, and ventured to industrial kitchens, I have a profound respect for the Chefs and their minions. It is darn hard work.




2. The lineup of wines for the night. The 2006 bin 222 Chardonnay, one of the most popular Chardonnays here, the 2003 George Wyndham Cabernet Merlot, the 2005 George Wyndham Shiraz.


Breaking into Mulan Song (Reflection):
Who is that girl I see
Staring straight
Back at me?
Why is my reflection someone
I don't know?



The Wyndham Estate chappie (I forget his name) explaining to us about W.E. and its popularity in Malaysia, and the different wines we were having that night.


Tranche of Hamachi with Avruga Caviar and Japanese Herb, paired with the bin 222 chardonnay. I told my fellow diners the history of the 222...which was inspired when the owner saw three swans swimming in the pond as he was harvesting the chardonnay grapes, and they BELIEVED me. Muwahahahah.

The Hamachi was PERFECT, and so very fresh... the caviar popped in the mouth like little bubble wrapped bits of sheer ecstasy.


Bin 222 - A rather light chardonnay, which complemented the Hamachi, though I personally would have preferred the Sav Blanc.


Next up, Royale of Abalone with Sea Scallop and Yuzu Citrus. A delightful broth, clear and oozing with flavour, and the sweet succulent scallop, that is actually flavourful even on its own. The sliver of abalone added dimension to the texture, but was too thin a sliver to have any impact on the taste. Maybe it was meant to be subtle.


Is there a more delightful scene, apart from the Iguazu falls, when liquid falls into another receptacle, as when wine is poured into a large goblet?


Smoked Venison With Veloute of Mushroom, Foie Gras. What can I say? Foie Gras? And usually foie gras at sage is always done well. I was a happy camper. The venison was tender, and the foie gras complemented it the way Sandy goes with Danny in Grease. Paired with the 2003 GW Cabernet Merlot, a strong full bodied red. Together with the venison and foie gras, it seemed very "manly". Very primal. A man's dish. Like a feast for the hunter back from the hunt. You know what I mean?




Palate Washer, Mango Sorbet. Creamy and smooth, it was more like ice cream than sorbet. They must have one helluva blender to puree the stuff that fine.


Wagyu Beef With Truffle Mash, Natural Jus...With the 2005 GW Shiraz. A totally elegant dish. There were two cuts of wagyu, I think one was a ribeye, which was tender and fatty, and the other larger slab, must have been a sirloin, leaner and tougher, but of course, when I say tougher, I meant tougher compared to the ribeye. It wasn't tough. It was delicious. And that fat asparagus spear!!! I love fat asparagus. Truffle mash. Heaven! The Shiraz seemed lighter than the Cab Merlot, and paired well with the wagyu.






For dessert, Roasted Fig Tartlet With Vanilla Ice Cream. The tartlet was a lovely almondy pastry, crispy, and soft at the same time. What the Fig! What a pity figs are so figging expensive here! I love figs. Such complexity... no wonder its referred to Biblically quite often. Alas, not everyone shares my love for this unique fruit. Ciki pushed hers away declaring she hates figs. One man's fig is another man's poison I guess.

A fabulous meal, KUDOS to the Sage Kitchens, and to the Wyndham Estate guys for whipping up such a feast. The only bummer was, Marian, the one who invited us, was away in Shanghai for the World Expo. Thanks so much anyway, Marian for the invite.

Highly recommended, when Sage has one of these Wine pairing thingies.

Sage, Redux Redux....

Some Sagely advice from FBB, to all you young dating/courting couples out there. Especially to the men. Do Not Do during courting what you don't intend to do the rest of your married life. For example, giving flowers, opening car door, (that's what remotes are for), love letters (shudder), buying jewellery, because it WILL come back to haunt you....10 years down the line, nag nag nag... aiya, why last time dating you buy me flowers, why this why that.

I am proud to say, Mrs FBB has never asked me those questions, because, well, she can't (cos in my wisdom, I never did any of those things).

I digress as always. The word Sage always evokes so many different thoughts in my mind. This would be my third time in a span of 1 year and a bit that I've been to Sage, at the Gardens. Feeling uncharacteristically un-frugal, I decided, yes, I shall treat myself to a nice lunch with good friends. (no, I wasn't treating them, it's the Netherlands method we used)....

It always pays to know people who know people. In this case, our pal, Paranoid Android, who dines here the way ordinary mortals dine at kopitiams. On a regular basis, so that everyone here knows his name. If you do go, just name drop, "I'm Paranoid's friend", and look around in a paranoid way for gangsters who might mug you. (I'll bet you are, they'll think).

Don't you just LOVE IT, LOVE IT, when you sit down, and don't have to think, and there's a menu planned out for you? And I don't mean those that start with "The Wedding Dinner of Mr So and So" and the rest is in chinese.




A virgin like mojito like drink. Refreshing and cleans up the palate in anticipation of the goodies that are about to be served.


Isnt she the epitome of elegance?


Monkey Boy with his new toy. He's a genius with it. Added to his comical flair, it's best to get his autograph now while you can, before he's famous and looks at you and asks, "who are you?". Even name dropping Paranoid's name would be futile.


Their signature bread and dipping sauce, something like a pesto in olive oil. Basil is definitely one of the featured ingredients. The pleb in me still screams out for butter... but on this occasion, I refrained.


Aren't they a gorgeous bunch. Paranoid refuses to be photographed. Hence ....


Smoked Salmon Starter.... With Akame herb. Simply sublime. Not too salty, like the commercial smoked salmon, a thick sashimi sized slice, if not bigger, with a layer of crispy skin. Fabulous contrast in texture and tastes. The freshness was superb, makes you wonder if Mr Salmon Rushdee was swimming in the sea hours before that.


More carbs to fill us up. Nothing to shout about. Cheese on toast, basically.



Mmm, my favourite. Angel Hair pasta (capellini) with seafood. I could eat a main portion of this easily. The pasta was perfect, and had soaked in the flavours of the seafood and sauce, and oooh, shudder in esctasy, oh so good. The seafood was delightfully fresh, and scallop sweet and succulent.







I opted for the Wagyu, which reminded all of us a bit of charsiu. The wagyu was a bit overdone, as I asked for medium. The overdone-ness was more apparent in the leaner cut of the wagyu whereas the piece with the fatty layers was more forgiving. But still, very tender, and was still a treat to the palate.


The Mulloway Sea Bass, (is that from Mullholland Drive?) which the others had. I think it was good. I sampled a morsel, which was not enough to give me a real taste. It's like that teeny spoon of sampling ice cream at a baskin robbins, that gets lost on the way to my tongue. But I think the sea bass was good. Afterall, it's Mulloway wor. What's Mulloway? Err...no idea.

Then, just as we thought the best was over, Paranoid Android brings out his cherries!

These were no ordinary cherries. They were humongous. Of the Bing variety, (read about its history from Ciki's blog), and look at how huge they are....two cherries cover the entire phone screen.


Delectable Su couldnt refrain from fondling Paranoid's lovely jewels, looked like an esctatic schoolgirl in a candy store. They were seriously seriously DELICIOUS!!! Succulent, firm, sweet, moist, ....at RM220 per kg, they better blardy well be.











The kids playing with Paranoid's cherries.


Dessert, the red cherries flambe with nougat glace. Coincidentally, more cherries. Yum. But Sage's cherries, compared with Paranoid's, almost seemed shrivelled...had we NOT had paranoid's cherries, the Sage's cherries would have been fine, if not perfect. A lovely dessert though, to cap off a lovely afternoon of fun and good food.


If life were a cherry, that'll be about right, I am half way through. ARGHHH, sob sob sob.

The set lunch is priced at RM80 net, a damn steal if you ask me, for that quality of food.

Lunch At The Sage With The Thamby

I've defined sage before in an earlier post.
Sage [noun] - SAYJ - Skinny Indian Guru in loincloth that sits on mountain top dispensing advise to the needy.

Anyway, when I heard that we were throwing the Queen of the DSLR a surprise lunch at Sage, immediately I clutched at my heart, thinking of the severe damage to the wallet. However, I was assuaged by the fact that the set lunch is RM100 net, and it was unlikely that this particular lunch crowd would imbibe bottles of Chateaux Margaux during lunchtime, so with my discount card, press press calculator, I decided, yeah, I can probably afford it, even in these dark and troubled times. Have discount card will travel! In fact, my discount card kinda paid for my share and wife's share the last time the food bloggers ate there and conveniently decided to celebrate my birthday as well, last year. Not that I wasnt grateful.

So yeah, with a recent spate of broken leaky pots, and a certain lady with a penchant of letting more pussies out of the bag than the city hall stray cat pound, we plotted and planned. I even bought The Queen a decoy lunch (last year we ALSO had to do the same thing), at Rice Cafe, the day before the surprise. The day of the surprise lunch dawned, and everything seemed to be going without a hitch, when suddenly on MSN, she asks, "Why are people wishing me Happy Birthday?" (the lunch was a week before the real day). IMMEDIATELY, I thought of the Queen of Leaky Pots....but she had been warned that it was a surprise. However, she had mentioned to her daughter that she was going for the Queen DSLR's birthday lunch, and her daughter took the liberty of wishing QDSLR, "Happy Birthday Auntie Thamby".

Nevertheless, though suspicious, I think she probably didnt expect the scale of the celebration. I mean, these are all post blogging era friends...relatively new, all with the exception of one, made after food blogging changed her life.


The Calm Before the Storm


Very Fancy..... even the menu is in Gold Letters


You know fancy places when they serve breads with ladida things, like pesto etc, and not your usual run of the mill butter. I am a pleb. Give me butter, SALTED please.


The lady from that classy cake shop below comes bearing her gift for the birthday girl.


Shucks, MORE presents from generous friends. Me, I must have been Penang born in a previous life. Stingy to the bone. I reckon, if I am paying to BUY you a birthday lunch, I don't need to buy you a present. Chis. No one else shares my philosophy. I don't particularly enjoy receiving presents, nor giving them. Who started this gift giving thing anyway? Half the time, people buy what THEY like. Flowers for example. What the heck would one do with flowers? Make honey? It's fine if you are a Bee.


In a menu where too many things end with - OISE, but is not pronounced that way, is too taxing for my peasant brain. DAUPHINOISE.... (huh? not dolphin noise meh?) Choices choices.


We are in fine company. Perfectly manicured nails.


I opted for the foie gras, only coz I didnt know what the other thing meant. Allo, one foi grass please with the muscle salad. Hah? Mesclun? What that? Ohhh masculine salad. Yes yes. The fwah gras was divine. So was the accompanying quail. Whacked in two mouthsful.


The Vichyssoise, a lovely cold soup with a plump Hokkaido scallop. Creamy but not too jelak. So I was told. I managed to get a teaspoon full off a generous soul.

I opted for the foie gras, only coz I didnt know what the other thing meant. Allo, one foi grass please with the muscle salad. Hah? Mesclun? What that? Ohhh masculine salad. Yes yes. The fwah gras was divine. So was the accompanying quail. Whacked in two mouthsful.


Wagyu Beef Cheeks. Actually, it's quite a large portion, for lunch. I was kinda glad I didn't order that. It was rather good though, and not overly gelatinous as some beef cheeks can be. Someone apparently (not at the lunch) just found out that wagyu beef cheeks are actually from the cheeks of the face, not the butt.


Being ever the health conscious freak, I opted for the Seabass and Prawn. Actually it was very good, as was the gravy accompanying the dish. I shamelessly licked it down to the last drop. The fish was cooked perfectly, not over or under, and the prawn was sweet, not like some places where the prawns look good but taste plastic.


Earl Grey something something.... lovely wobbly texture it was. From the oohs and ahs, I assume it was lovely.


Cheese platter. Not much of a platter la. More like a mousetrap portion. But it was not bad. I love that fruitty thingie in the foreground.



Ironically, when we were talking about birthdays, Thamby was saying, "the least you could've done is brought me a pavlova to Rice Cafe for my birthday lunch". Well, she got her wish, unknowingly. A pav, made from the leftover meringue from an order from Monkey.



And the masterpiece, the gorgeous cupcakes by Su of Delectables. I finally got to sample those beautiful cupcakes that are just too pretty to eat.



Well, Happy Birthday (belated now) and wishing you many more.

Summary: My 2nd experience at the Sage was far more satisfying than the first one. At RM100 net, I thought it was very good value for money. The food was excellent, and really, no complaints at all.