Wine tasting in Canberra.

Having arrived safely in Australia and spent a week in Sydney we headed to Australia's capital, Canberra, for a few nights.

As well as boasting some of Australia's best restaurants Canberra also sits on the edge of the Murrembatenman wine region, where they claim to grow cool climate wines (I say "claim" because it was about 35 degrees when we turned up) with a lot of the local vineyards having a "cellar door" which means you can go, do a tasting and buy a few cases of wine. This often gives you a chance to talk to the producer and find out a bit about the wines.

There are around 20 wineries in the region although most are not open for the whole week, usually only on Fridays and at weekends (and sometimes during the harvests, not at all). We arrived on a Friday a few days before Christmas and found quite a few we're closed.

We started with Clonakilla which is quite a prestigious vineyard having won several awards for their 2008 and 2009 Shiraz Viognier, they also have a selection of Reisling, Viognier and Semillion .
However like many in the region they have struggled with the weather in the last few years and their more recent reds are a long way from the thick, rich jammy Shiraz which the region is famed for. Having sampled the pretty watery, almost pinot noir like 2011 and 2010 Shiraz (strange that they were the ones available for tasting as these were not really ready to drink) we decided to exit without making a purchase, there is always a bit of pressure to buy at these things but if they are charging 85 AUD (around 60 quid) for a bottle that I can't imagine winning any awards anytime soon then I think a quick exit is always a good plan.

The second vineyard, Helm, was a lot better, down a gravel road about 5km from the main town in a quaint old school house from 1888. They had a much better selection of reds available from 2008 and 2009 as well as some of the more recent whites. Talking to the owner (who drove to meet us when she saw our arrival) we found that during the wet years in 2011 and 2010 they hadn't been able to make a red. The red we eventually purchased was a 25 AUD 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon, which (at the risk of sounding like a wine blogger) was smooth, full bodied with hints of cherries and was an excellent wine to accompany steak or cheese.

After a hard morning drinking we headed to Shaw vineyard estate for some food in their "Flint in the Vines" cafe where they serve a selection of food and wine.

We had 2 really nice pizza's (although we avoided the adventurous sounding blue cheese and pear topping) while sampling the 2010 premium reisling, which was a dry floral, crisp wine with a touch of green apple. After a very satisfying lunch (note: that one pizza per couple would have been plenty of food) we tasted some of the other wines they had to offer and found ourselves leaving with a few bottles of a very easy drinking sparkling white wine made from semillion called "Cielo", ideal for hot afternoons it had a light citrus taste and was available for 20AUD a bottle.

Sadly that bought an end to the tasting but I am keen to return on a weekend when more of the vineyards are open (although I have a feeling it will have a serious effect on my bank balance so I will probably need a job first). Next stop will be the Riverena region (which makes 65%
of New South Wales wines, including the yellow tail Chardonnay) followed by the Hunter valley.

Kuala Lumpur, it's all about shopping!

For my first trip to Asia we went for a gentle introduction, Kuala Lumpur formerly part of the British empire (complete with cricket pitch in the centre of the old town) is a common stopping off point on the flight to Australia.

The city is, at first glance, very modern, with the Petronas towers dominating the skyline on clear days (sometimes it can be smoggy). It also has 3 massive upmarket shopping centres which are linked by kilometres of overground walkways for pedestrians (air conditioned of course!)

Food wise there was a huge array to choose from, for tourists most hotels have 2 or 3 restaurants in them, also all of the major shopping centres have a floor of restaurants with cuisines from all around the world. Our hotel, the Royal Chulane, had an excellent Malaysian restaurant which, although more expensive (at 40 ringgit, or 8 pounds for a main) than some options served an excellent curry.

The best place to grab lunch is probably in the food courts of the shopping centres, these are usually on the ground floor and are not to be confused with the sit in restaurants which are usually on the higher floors and charge closer to 30 ringgit for a main. The food courts have a central sit in area (at busy times it can be tough to get a seat) and a Cosmopolitan feel with noodles, curry, Mexican, sushi and McDonalds all jostling for your attention. Meals here usually cost around 10 Ringgit (2 pounds) for a main dish and are usually pretty tasty (I tried a Malay chicken hot pot which was really good and a burrito which was ok).

The hotel we were staying in was a 5 star hotel, complete with pool, gym and 3 restaurants all available for a very reasonable 60 pounds a night, including an interesting "international" breakfast. If you have never seen one of these then you are missing out, food from waffles to curry, not forgetting noodles and croissants! The only thing missing was bacon.

Rather than spend all of our time in the hotel and shopping centres we also ventured out (initially via taxi but after 30 minutes in a bank holiday traffic jam where we moved 200 meters we got out and walked) to try the highly recommended Bijan restaurant which also serves traditional Malay cuisine (most of which seem to be curries and seafood dishes)

Although the food was pretty good and had a very traditional feel I think the excellent meal in the hotel (at approximately the same price) was more of a fine dining experience. If you have time I would do both!

Eating in Rome

As the first stop on our crazy round the world adventure my fiancée and I spent a few nights staying with friends in Rome before embarking on a marathon 14 hour flight to Kuala Lumpur.

The best way to experience the culture in any city is to do it with a native, avoiding all the tourist traps and pitfalls (also speaking the lingo helps smooth the way somewhat).

The first thing I noticed about Italy is that it is cheaper to eat standing up, most Romans do this for breakfast, they stand and drink espresso while eating their cornetto (Italian for croissant!) before making way for the next person to get their caffeine fix. The moment you sit down at the table then you'll pretty much end up paying double! If the coffee shop you have chosen doesn't appear to have a group of locals huddled around a bar type area near an espresso machine then leave as you are in a tourist trap and the coffee will be awful (and expensive)!

Lunch can also be got on the cheap in this way, from either one of the take away pizza shops (which usually have square trays of different pizza varieties on display and charge by toppings and weight) or somewhere that does apperitivos. These are small bites (like Spanish pixos) which are available for a small cost, you can buy a beer and get a plate and if you stand or perhaps sit on a high stool next to a shelf you can keep getting more (in most places) at no extra cost!

If you want a more sit down affair then there are loads of options, I would probably say it is best to steer clear of anything but Italian and I was pleasantly surprised by the variety even in the Italian restaurants.

I had some amazing meals in Rome, the pasta degustation at Isidor (about 500 meters east of the collesium) is a must and a bargain with 5 courses of pasta available at around 18 euros (most of these came with seafood). We also had breakfast at a crazily busy coffee shop called Parnella most days. The is a little way south of Termini station and is out of the way for most hotels but as I said before, you'll find good breakfast places near you, just make sure some Italians are eating there.

We also had a meal out in Trastevere, which is a small, bohemian area near the Vatican at a nice little bistro style restaurant called cafe la Scala, where I sampled some of the more traditional Roman fayre, this included saltimbocca (veal wrapped in Palma ham, served is a creamy, salty sauce) which I would say you should definitely try at some point if you are in Rome.

The final recommendation, of Marenega in Campo de' Fiori, comes with a bit of a caveat, one of the people we stayed with works there, but regardless of this it was my favourite meal of the holiday. I should also point out we didn't eat off the menu throughout, see the lobster surprise below, which was a surprisingly amazing calzone style pizza filled with lobster linguine, but we did for most of the meal. We had a wide selection of starters and i have to say the meat there was stunning (well cooked and tender) but everything we tried I would recommend, including pasta inside a pizza, which was one of the most surprising meals I have ever had.

Just a quick note on the wine, house wine is usually the best way to drink on a budget, in the better restaurants these are usually pretty good local types, i would suggest getting a 250ml taster on the cheap to try before you go for the full litro. Alternatively I would go for some of the regional Italian wines, my personal preference being a Montepulciano, I know some Italian wines have developed a bad reputation in the uk but I think that is because most of the good stuff stays in Italy!

All sweetness and night at The Duck and Waffle

For my final London fine dining experience for a while (I am going travelling for the next 6 months so this blog will be taking on a more international flavour) me, my partner (now fiancée) and my best friend headed to the top of heron tower in an express glass elevator which covers the 40 floors in under 30 seconds!

As the London skyline at night burst into view I thought that perhaps the journey up would be the most impressive thing of the evening, however the view from the restaurant at the top is even more impressive and the food itself manages to still be the highlight of the night.

The food on offer is a series of strange, well presented tapas, most of which has a sweet tang, which is also mirrored in the wine list with many options being off dry.

We started with pigs ears, which I would recommend to anyone who, like me, loves pork scratchings. Then between 3 of us we shared 4 of the smaller plates, the excellent rabbit rilette, a really interesting fois gras all day breakfast, the octopus and ox cheek donuts with apricot jam. All the food made a good sharing and talking point and set us up for the signature duck and waffle, which is one of their large plate options.

The duck and waffle itself was a really nice flavour combination, it is served with maple syrup (who needs gravy?) and although while eating it you occasionally find yourself thinking you are having a dessert, I would still definitely recommend it.

As you'd expect from a restaurant with such an obvious sweet tooth the desserts were also stunning, both in looks, taste and the amount of sugar they managed to get into them, we tried one each (a pear, a chocolate fondant and a chocolate raspberry one) and they were diabetes good, although my partner found hers too sweet (which was great as I got more of it!)

The only slight downside would be the cost of most of the wines, there isn't a lot of choice at the 20-40 pound price point although the bottle we plumped for in the end did go really well with the food.

Obviously, as with most fine dining experiences, you would be well advised to book a long way in advance, with tables for more than 2 people often requiring over 6 weeks notice, even on quieter week nights. Price wise expect to spend 45 per head on food and as much as you feel like on drinks.

I have to say that it was an excellent way to leave London on a high (not least from the sugar)