The dinner at the newly opened heavenly Westin Sohna Gurgaon Resort and Spa was truly a magnificent and memorable event.
We planned the dinner with oriental fusion food with wines from France, Italy and New Zealand.
The cusine would normally not be a perfect match for very powerful and tannic wines . Thereore, following affordable wines were selected.
Müller Thurgau Frizzante 2006 Santa Margarita
Pinot Grigio Valdadige DOC 2006 Santa Margarita
Chateau Tour de Mirambeau AOC Bordeaux Reserve Blanc 2007 Despagne
Castello di Farnatella IGT Toscana 2005 Félsina Berardenga
Marlborough Pinot Noir 2006 Huia
Vino Liquoroso Moscato IGT 2006 Cantina Rallo
Menu and Veñu
The Menu was very deftly designed by the Executive Chef David Watson who is a Brit from London and was earlier the Executive Chef at Hyatt Regency, Delhi. He was ably assisted by the Malaysian Chinese Master Chef Chia Kok Sing who looks after their Chinese Restaurant Xiao Chi preparing tapas type of Chinese bite foods. There was also Chef Qui Yun who is the dim sum Chef.
Westin has a bar and lounge where one can relax throughout the day. A beautiful Australian girl, Naomi Crain croons to the keyboard music played by the Goan- Bonio. What better setting than this bar for the aperitifs! And then follow up with a sit down dinner at the Xiao Chi. It might be a perfect spot for winter but it was too hot and humid to have the dinner in the open restaurant. So the venue was changed to the banquet with musicians in toe. An astounding grand Banquet style table laid for 40 people, it was!
Most of the cooking was done 'live' from one side of the table. Here was the beauty of how a perfect balance between great food and affordable wine can be enhanced by the ambience, mood and the types of glasses and serving style- all very professionally handled.
The prawn, duck, lamb and soft crab dishes were all delicious- their flavours enhanced by the presentation. But the deep fried soft shell crab, teriyaki mushrooms, hijiko risotto and miso yaki broth were the clear winners- a great fusion of Italian, Japanese and Chinese styles and a definite match with the Sangiovese. I would not go for an Italian Pinot Grigio with a smoked duck though.
Indians still do not like to have a dessert wine with dessert. But a day will come when they would not be able to resist the seductive powers of a good vin santo, icewine, late harvest or a Moscato all of which we have had at our winters, the last one being the grand finale for the dinner at this heavenly resort.
Look at it from any angle, Westin Sohna Gurgaon Resort & Spa wine dinner turned out to be a heavenly experience.
Subhash Arora
