SPICE N WINE

WHEN AUSTRALIAN WINE EXPERT ROY MOORFIELD was in town recently, I had the honour of arranging a nyonya dinner for him one night. It was hosted by GM of Traders Hotel Karl Karlsson. The whole point was for him to taste the food and try and pair it with wines which would best go with the sort of spicy, very aggressive tastes.

Unfortunately, it was actually on a Monday night, when most of our hard-working restaurateurs take a day off, so there were very few places about to choose from. Finally I settled on the Perut Rumah in Kelawei Road which was open that night, also because I thought would give him an idea of local architecture.

Partner Giannick and his team did quite well, especially the "Nyonya Four Seasons" we started with, which included a bit of everything: Fried Popiah (not Choon Piah), Nasi Ulam, Lor Bak and Nyonya Kerabu. He wanted taste, so I gave him taste - a lot of it was hot and spicy!

It was interesting to hear Roy talk, although he's got rather a low, rumbly voice and I wondered whether the others could hear him. As I was sat next to him it was all right for me! According to him, it's not that difficult to pair wine even with such strong-tasting foods if you treat it like a condiment - rather like a curry goes well with a side dish of pickle which has vinegar, wine can be treated the same way - it's slightly acidic.

Our table consisted of 11 people, including Chef Adam Roy from Feringgi Grill, who although American is quite well-versed with local food, as he spent several years working in Thailand and Indonesia, and has been in Penang for the past 12 months. That's him not taking a night off - serving the food up as usual!

After that we had the main meal with a representative sample of many nyonya dishes: Kiam Chai Ark (Salted Veg with Duck Soup), Fish Assam Tumis (Curry), Heyakay Bak, Tau Eu Bak etc.

The penultimate course was the Nyonya Lam Mee, after which we had what I thought was the best of the lot: the Or Chut Bee or Black Glutinous Rice, cooked with a few slices of dried orange peel - it was perfect: just the correct consistency, not too thick and not too watery; just a touch of salt to offset the creaminess of the santan, and sweet but not too sweet. Unfortunately it went so quickly I couldn't take a photo of it!

I hope it gave Roy, who was there with his lovely Hong Kong wife Selena, a good idea of the kind of food nyonya cooking is, and that he enjoyed it. Thanks Karl for hosting it.