My
brother invited me to join him and a good friend for a wine dinner at The Pigpen
Restaurant & Bar in Makati last October 18th. The wine dinner was a
collaboration event by Pig Pen and Premium Wine Exchange.
The
dinner featured selected wines from the Loire Valley region. The Loire Valley
which has a long history of wine making dating back to the 1st century is the second largest wine producer of sparkling wine in France after Champagne.
Apart from this, it also produces high quality white and red wines which
exhibit fruity, fresh and crisp flavours.
We
started the relaxing and fun evening with a glass of Domaine Huet Petillant 2012, which was fresh, light and bubbly. We
also enjoyed munching on the sinful but yummy and crispy chicken skin with
salted egg that was served and passed along the different tables. It was so
good that even our friend who is not a big fan of salted egg snacks liked it
and even requested for another serving as we exchanged funny stories.
Honestly,
we felt that our table composed of six people(four men and 2 women) was the
noisiest during the dinner. This was certainly validated when people from
nearby tables, including the co-owners of the restaurant, were telling us that
they wanted to join our table since it seems it’s so much fun given the series
of loud laughs and funny comments coming from our table. Well what do you
expect, we did have a lot of stories that are truly entertaining and funny. Our
table also had a bunch of people with wit and a wicked sense of humour. Also,
we try to burn our calories in between servings of delicious dishes and wine
drinking through continuous laughter.
Below
are the dishes we had which were all paired with well selected French wines
from the Loire Valley region:
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| The crispy chicken skin with Salted Egg was a favourite as guests liked it with the glass of bubbly served at the start of the wine dinner. |
The first dishes were paired with a glass of Alphonse Mellot La Moussiere Sancerre Blanc 2015
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| Truffle ricotta, aged parmesan , sweet pea tartlet |
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| The stuffing inside the tartlet was a good mix of flavours coming from the cheese, truffle and sweet pea |
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| White asparagus, uni, mushroom and grapefruit |
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| Foie gras, chicken liver mousse, apple and sourdougn |
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| Baby corn with a secret healthy sauce |
The next dishes were paired with a Vacheron Sancerre Rose 2016.
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| Salad of 25 vegetables and olive oil |
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| Tuna ceviche, caviar, grilled avocado and sweet potato |
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| Roasted grouper in fermented rice,cabbagem dill and cauliflower risotto |
For the meat dishes below there were two wines served to us: Alphonse Mellot Petit Moussiere Sancerre Rouge 2015 and a Vacheron Sancerre Rouge 2015.
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| Spanish pork ribs, miso, plum, piquillo pepper and fresh herbs |
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| Wagyu beef tartare, bone marrow, egg yolk, smoked mayonnaise in filo |
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| Veal cheeks, carrots, roasted in beef and butterscotch and pickled rose petals |
For the desserts below, the wine paired was a Didier Dagueneau Les Jardins de Babylone 2009.
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| White chocolate and coconut panna cotta, mango, basil, pineapple chili |
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| Crunchy praline finger and Calamansi and orange tart |
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| Each wine glass had a label for the type of wine served |
