[Italy] Wine & Dine

Last week was my wife’s birthday. We went dinner at 1 Michelin Star The STEAK HOUSE winebar + grill in HK Intercontinental Hotel. This is our 2^nd time dining at this restaurant. It provides famous charcoal grilled steaks, and a wine list with 450 wines. During the meal, the waiter will thoroughly explain twelve special mustards, eight kinds of rock salt from multiple countries and ten types of peculiar steak knives for us to choose. For the steak, they provide very fine Dry Aged prime beef, Japan and Australia Wagyu beef, etc.

                                
                                         

For the first course, my wife had Lobster Bisque and I had Salads Bar. The Lobster Bisques is tasty and very rich. The Salad Bar has variety of vegetables, cold cuts (prosciutto, coppa, salami, etc), cheeses and some different appetizers, etc. The cheese platter had my favorite Comté cheese (hard cheese, not strong, little salty, inside the cheese has little crunchy crystal).   

For the main course, we shared a 16oz Rib Eye Steak (Dry Aged U.S Prime Beef) and one grilled Boston Lobster tail. I ordered the steak for medium rare, and it was perfect. The steak was tender and juicy. The Boston Lobster Tail was so fresh that the texture was completely springy. Both dishes were only flavored with little black pepper and rock salt and it’s already pretty tasty. For the steak, I also choose the mustards with garlic flavors. On the side, we had Baked Lobster macaroni, which the sauce was creamy with rich lobster flavor. Seems lobster has became the theme of this dinner!

Of course, we also have wine for this celebration. We had Vietti Nebbiolo Perbacco, Langhe Piedmont Italy 2011. This wine is quite new because the total ageing time took around 2 years. Normally, Langhe Nebbiolo should use the grapes from outside of Barolo and Barbaresco. Viette Perbacco used the grapes from different vineyards of Barolo, it is close to a Mini Barolo wine. The average age of the vines is 35 years. All vineyards are vilified and aged separately. 

My taste note: This wine shows cherry, earthy, leather and oak aromas, with vibrant acidity and medium body. The tannins is quite firm, it is nice to pair with grill steak. The after taste has sweet cherry feel and powerful tannins for finishing. I found, it has nebbiolo bold and cherry flavor, very worth to try.  

上星期是我太太生日. 我們去了香港洲際酒店獲得米芝蓮1星的The STEAK HOUSE winebar + grill. 這次已經係是我們第二次來這裡用餐. 這裡提供它們著名的炭燒牛排. 在用餐的時候服務生都會詳細地跟我們講解他們12種特式的芥末, 8種來自多國的岩鹽和10款獨特牛排刀, 給我們選擇. 牛排方面, 它們有精美的美國頂級風乾(Dry Aged)牛排, 日本和澳洲和牛, 等等.

前菜我太太要了龍蝦湯而我就選擇了Salad Bar. 龍蝦湯好好味和好濃郁. Salad Bar 有多種蔬菜, cold cuts (prosciutto, coppa, salami, etc), 芝士和有一些不同的前菜. 芝士併盤有我最鍾意的Comté cheese (硬芝士, 不是太重味, 少少咸, 芝士內部有一些脆脆的Crystal).

主菜我們分享了一塊16oz Rib Eye Steak (Dry Aged U.S Prime Beef)和一件燒波士頓龍蝦尾. 牛排我叫了medium rare. 當我食第一口的時間, 感覺這是完美的. 風乾牛排的肉質是特別嫩, 肉汁是保存在牛排內. 整體牛排是鮮嫩和肉汁 豐富. 波士頓龍蝦尾好新鮮, 口感是完全彈口!! 兩款菜式只是放少少黑胡椒和岩鹽, 已經很美味. 牛排當然可以沾小小芥末, 印象比較深刻是一款有蒜味的芥末. 配菜我們要了一個焗龍蝦通粉, 都是有濃郁的龍蝦味和creamy. 他們的通粉是比較細粒的. 整個晚餐都在食龍蝦 haha.

當然我們有叫紅酒來慶祝, 我們飲了Vietti Nebbiolo Perbacco, Langhe Piedmont Italy 2011. 這款酒應該都很新, 因為當酒釀好時會陳年大約兩年. 正常Normally, Langhe Nebbiolo 應該會用Barolo and Barbaresco 以外的葡萄(Nebbiolo )來釀製. Viette Perbacco 是用Barolo 內某幾個葡萄園的葡萄來釀製, 它有點像Mini Barolo wine. 一般的Barolo 是比Langhe Nebbiolo貴一兩成. 葡萄榭平均年齡是35歲. 釀製葡萄酒和陳年都是分開葡萄園做的.

我的品酒筆記: 這款酒有明顯的車厘子, 泥土, 皮革和木桶香味, 配有鮮明的酸和中等酒體. 單比較結實, 我覺得可以配牛排一起飲用, 感覺牛排的油讓單寧軟化. After taste 有車厘子的甜味和強勁的單寧. 整體是它有Nebbiolo 的剛勁和車厘子的甜美.