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Review - Paella Night
Review taken from the Bayon Pearnik Magazine, Issue 103, March, 2005. bayonpearnik.com
Event Of The Month - Shanghai Launch Paella Night.
After the 24 hr drinks fest last month thiss issue i considered it would appropriate to look for something a little more cultured, and what more does a man like than to dine upon fine food, washed down with a carefully selected wine in the company of friends and some beautiful women. It was Shanghai Bar that promised this at the start of the month with their Paella Night and it just so happens that Paella is one of my favourite dishes so how could i refuse.
I arrived a little early, just as the enormous wok that our food would be prepared in was being heated. I ordered a beer and soon some fine aromas were drifting in the cool night air stirring my anticipation for the food just as rows of empty wine glasses were doing for my thirst. A few friends joined me at the table and it wasn't long until all the seating outside was taken. This signaled the commencement of the wine tasting as Rob the manager, and for this evening chef and wine aficionado, greeted his guests and introduced the first of ten wines that we would be tasting during the evening, Vino Maipo Sauvignon Chardonnay. It was described as dry, crisp and boney, a greatr accompaniment to seafood. It was crisp and refreshing, i have to say i was very impressed, and i'm normally a red wine drinker. It was followed by another four in quick succession with the Broken Fishplate, another dry white with a mouth of gooseberry and green apple, proving to be my personal favourite.
All of this certainly got my pallet watering so i jumped up quick when dinner was served. The Paella contained all the ingredients you would exoect, even being topped off with muscles in their shells as the tradition of the dish dictates. The seafood was succulent, the chicken tender and the wine i was washing it down with just seemed to be getting better. Since the wine was exactly the same as previosly tasted this probably explains why the pros use a spit glass. Still that's something a professional drinker could never contemplate and by the time it came to tasting the reds after dinner my judgement was probably a little impaired. Still the Lindeman's Cawarra Cabernet Shiraz really grabbed my attention with it's rich plum taste and chocolate nose. Suffice to say by the end of the reds and then some heavy re-sampling of my preferred choices my head was swimming amongst the grape vines by the time i got up to leave, very satisfied with my cultured and refining evening.
The 10 wines of that evening are now available on the Wine List at Shanghai Bar. When is the next Paella Night? Click Here for details
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