The Mantra restaurant continues to provide some very varied special events for its diners, and the Via Maipo Wine Dinner was a good example of how to pair food and wine.
With the wines coming from the 60 year old Maipo Vineyard in Chile, and the food coming from the kitchens of Executive Chef Leonard Faust, we were treated to a remarkable wine dinner.
Maipo was represented by Anaïs Marmonier, the Regional Marketing Assistant Manager of the importers, the VCT Group of Wineries, and she spoke with authority on the wines which would be sampled that evening. These included the Reserva – Vitral Sauvignon Blanc 2011, the Bi-Varietal Syrha and Cabernet Sauvignon 2011, Reserva – Vitral Sauvignon Blanc 2011, the Reserva – Vitral Syrah 2011 and the Reserva – Vitral Cabernet Sauvignon 2011.
(L to R) Ananbodhin Wachoom, Assistant Food and Beverage Manager of Holiday Inn, Reungratt Rattanaphan, Sak Ngamsmai, Food and Beverage Operations Manager of Hard Rock Hotel Pattaya and Koonlapatporn Intalasing, On Premise Executive of Siam Winery Trading Plus Co., Ltd.
We found that all of them made for excellent drinking, and even more impressive was the fact that these were all ‘price range’ wines, being available in supermarkets for B. 399-699. At those prices they are veritable bargains for any of the wines we tasted.
(L to R) George Kenton, EAM-Rooms of Centara Grand Mirage Beach Resort Pattaya, Brendan Daly, General Manager, Richard Margo, Resident Manager of Amari Orchid Pattaya and Robert John Lohrmann, General Manager of Centara Grand Mirage Beach Resort Pattaya.
A wine dinner is, however, much more than wine tasting (or appreciation, or guzzling) but the wines and the food have to complement each other, and this is where Executive Chef Leonard really sprung some surprises on the guests that evening, starting with a curry and panna cotta with roasted marinated medallion of lamb, seared king scallop with lobster-vodka sabayon and black caviar. This he followed up with a black chicken essence with Asian herbs, foie gras and shrimp wonton and dry sherry. If that wasn’t a surprise taste, Chef Leonard then produced a snowfish saltimbocca, wrapped in Serrano ham on a squid’s ink risotto, steamed kale and soya sauce.
This was a typical Mantra wine experience – laid back, wine and dine at your own pace, and enjoy…
We look forward to the next one.
(L to R) Derrick Boivin, Piping Engineer, Colin Lawton, Fabrication Manager and Michael Scollins, E&I Installation Engineer of QGC.
(L to R) Diane Barker, Anaïs Marmonier, Regional Marketing Assistant Manager, VCT Group of Wineries Asia Pte., Ltd., and Michael Barker.
(L to R) Yaowaluck Bumrungthum, Restaurant Manager of Mantra, Pichchaya Nitikarn, Public Relations Manager of Amari Orchid Pattaya, Anaïs Marmonier, Regional Marketing Assistant Manager, VCT Group of Wineries Asia Pte., Ltd., and Juthamard Boonchiwudtikun, Public Relations Executive of Holiday Inn Pattaya.
Iain and Ann Frew.
(L to R) Yaowaluck Bumrungthum, Restaurant Manager of Mantra, Thanyarat Skunasingha, Marketing Coordinator of Siam Winery Trading Plus Co., Ltd., Brendan Daly, General Manager of Amari Orchid Pattaya, Anaïs Marmonier, Regional Marketing Assistant Manager, VCT Group of Wineries Asia Pte., Ltd., Supparatch Piyawatcharapun, Social Director of Mantra, Koonlapatporn Intalasing, On Premise Executive of Siam Winery Trading Plus Co., Ltd. and Richard Margo, Resident Manager of Amari Orchid Pattaya.
