Punctuality. That is something I try to practice and something I don’t like when people don’t. Especially when it is they who asked me out. However, I’ve learnt that in my line of work, timing isn’t something I can control easily. When Ling invited me for a wine dinner at O Gourmet recently, I was 45 minutes late. Dinner started at 7pm.




After 15 minutes, I caught up to momentum and was soon enjoying myself. Sitting in front turned out to be a good thing. I got first dibs on the wine and refills. The Dancing Fish was paired with the Stanley Estate Pinot Gris. To be honest, I liked the wine on its own. It was medium-bodied with a clean finish. This to me is a kickback and relax kind of wine. The tangy asam gravy didn’t do the wine justice, and vice versa.
The Udang Sambal with Shinas Estate Innocent Viognier pairing was better, because this wine had a bolder mouthfeel and a slightly spicy finish. The fiery sambal goreng sauce gave the succulent prawns a slow but strong kick. By now, I began to realize the big difference when dining with food bloggers and dining with regular people.

For a French man, Sebastian has an appreciative palate for Asian-style duck. He really enjoyed the Bebek Goreng Bali (crispy duck), which he likened was a better version of the French duck confit. rife and I both disagreed. Anyway, the duck was paired with the Shinas Estate Guilty Shiraz.


“This wine has quite a bit of legs”, I remarked to Sebastian. See, a good friend taught me about wines…and about how the more legs a wine has, the higher the alcohol content. I liked this wine. And I liked Sebastian’s choice of dish for this. Full-bodied and peppery with a good nose, it accentuated the flavour of the duck. I didn’t care much for the belimbing (starfruit) ikan masin though.







Now…anyone wants to get me a bottle? :)
