Our Cambodian Correspondent, Darren Gall, finds himself in a North Korean Room 39  enclave and partaking  in a little ‘covert activity’ in the Penh!

For most of us, life north of the 38^th parallel is impossible to witness first hand and is only ever glimpsed through the eyes of the, (mostly western) media. Who can ever forget the award winning cover of The Economist: glorious leader, Kim Jong-Il, waving stiffly to the crowd, resplendent in trademark 50’s-jump-suit-cum-grey-safari-suit, under the heading ‘Greetings Earthlings’!

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Melbourne based food writer Rita Erlich, and Australian winemaker, Alex White, are conducting a comprehensive and fully-guided gourmet tour of Portugal. With decades of industry knowledge, expertise and travel experience, and an extraordinary itinerary of which they have gone to exhaustive detail in their brochure, this is unquestionably the best way to see Portugal if you are a gourmet and wise enough to leave all the hard work and research up to the experts – all you have to do is turn up and have a great time and experience of a lifetime.

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The Wandering Palate Cambodia correspondent, Darren Gall, puts out the fire of spice in his mouth with the requisite wines.

“The year was 1968. We were on recon in a steaming Mekong Delta. An overheated private removed his flak jacket, revealing a t-shirt with an iron-on sporting the Mad slogan “Up with miniskirts!” Well, we all had a good laugh, even though I didn’t quite understand it. But our momentary lapse of concentration allowed Charlie to get the drop on us. I spent the next 3 years in a POW camp, forced to subsist on a thin stew made of fish, vegetables, prawns, coconut milk and four kinds of rice. I came close to madness trying to find it here in the States but they just can’t get the spices right.” Seymour Skinner

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The ‘Wandering Palate’ examines the evolution of white wine consumption in Asia with an inclination towards chardonnay.

As wine consumerism trends evolve in Asia, it is interesting how some of the fashions that profoundly affected the world wine stage in the past have completely eluded the wider Asian market.

You may recall the ABC (anything but chardonnay) syndrome. Well this is practically irrelevant in the Asia market, unless you want to change it to ‘another brilliant chardonnay’, as that is exactly the state of play with the Asian palate embracing the lustre of the variety.

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Who said white wine doesn’t go with beef!

Thai beef salad using Wagyu Rump – paired with Margaret River 2008 Mount Horrocks Riesling – Clare Valley. Whilst the tail end of summer is still with us for the most part of Asia and the northern hemisphere, or forever summer in the tropical regions, one of my favourite Thai-inspired dishes is suitably appropriate, pairing perfectly with crisp, tangy whites, and reinforces throwing out the ‘old school’ rules of red wine with red meat moreover, being adventurous when it comes to pairing wine with Asian cuisines.

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And they say Singapore is boring and sterile… Well, you might revaluate this sweeping statement once you have been enmeshed and seduced by this fevered and arousing club. This comes with the caveat, do not arrive totally sober; akin to arriving at a party late when everyone else is in a state of inebriation and you’re not in the groove.

Moshi Moshi Bollywood is definitely the sort of club that you arrive at around midnight; after dinner with a few glasses of wine under the belt. And, like many nightspots, the whole ambience is people-driven furthermore, you are somewhat oblivious to the invariably kitsch décor with all the mood-lighting and in this case, the primitive, although amusing Bollywood films projected as a backdrop to the dance floor.

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A conversation centred on the rapidly evolving Asia wine market with wine writing colleagues the other day brought to light the growing divergence in preference for wine styles or grape varieties between countries and metropolis’s around the region.

All of us are resigned to the fact red bordeaux or anything with “Chateau” on the label presently rules in mainland China and to a large extent Hong Kong, the umbilical supply chain of this commodity.

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Serving up pork buns to our enthralled restaurant reviewer for pennies.

It seems an incongruous place to find a rating most chefs would strangle their sous-chefs for. But the gamy Hong Kong district of Mongkok hosts the cheapest starred restaurant in the famed culinary kingdom of the Michelin Guide. It is Tim Ho Wan, a Cantonese eatery that for instance features for just HK$12 (US$1.53) three light, crispy barbeque pork buns filled with a gentle stew of meat chunks swaddled in slightly sweet sauce. These baked buns are largely responsible for not only keeping this restaurant forever busy, but earned it a star that would be the envy of the tens of thousands of chefs in France.

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Australia’s Benchmark Chardonnay Producers

I have to admit this piece has been work-in-progress for over a year now, originally titled “Australian chardonnay on the comeback trail”. Inspired at the time by tasting in succession, the then new releases of TarraWarra Reserve Chardonnay, Grosset Piccadilly Chardonnay and Shaw & Smith M3 Chardonnay, all consummates wines that define the calibre of Australian chardonnay at the present time.

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Reuters Life! – The analogy of David and Goliath seemed fitting for this vinous account as many are familiar with the legend and the substance of message in the outcome.

Metaphorically speaking, The Valley of Elah is Singapore.

The Israelites David is represented by modest wine producers at relatively user-friendly prices (sub S$100 per bottle) facing the Philistines mighty Goliath, personified by the most exalted and expensive realms of France.

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