Yokohama seems to have been getting its fair share of tapas bars in recent months. Pu and I went to this one last week Bar Alfonso - substantial but cheap wine by the glass + fantastic mussels (yes I now enjoy a much wider variety of seafood than the dark days). Shame about the football on a wall-sized screen but you can’t have it all. Barracca have also opened a tapas in Motomachi which we have also eaten, drunk and fallen over in.
Archive for the 'Food & Wine' Category
26
Feb
07
Tapas
19
Feb
07
Wine Explorers
And another reason why I haven’t written much this year is because I’ve been setting up a new wine-tasting group (and blog) for all those in the Kanto area who want to practice talking out of their arse about wine and getting pissed. Please let me know if you wish to join and haven’t already and I’ll add you to the list. This also means that all wine stuff will be on the new blog so no more lovely pictures of bottles here.
Jancis Robinson got us into this one with a little help from Enoteca – extremely easy to drink but with enough leaf and oak to make it happen. Will be exploring the Sileni range more.
30
Oct
06
Yokohama Beer Festival
Spent Saturday afternoon standing in Osanbashi hall, tasting beer from all over Japan. Unfortunately I can’t quite remember what I had, but a lot of it was a tad medicinal for my tastes. Anyway a great time was had by all:
An excited old lady came up to me and said, I quote, “had a revolution on my tongue in England.”
Tall guy, Bu and D were on TV with glasses in our hands, according to one of my students today !
Here’s a K tai photo of the event:
14
Sep
06
Marigny Neuf Pinot-Noir
Back on the red again and have just polished off this tasty noir from the Loire. Beautifully silky texture with a hint of spice. Available from Enoteca as usual.
make it this one
Vasarelli Mclaren Vale Pasquale’s selection ‘00
Beautiful balance of herbs and spices with much more complexity than I have ever tasted in a mid-price Australian wine.
28
Jun
06
Dorrien Estate Chardonnay
It’s summer. The white is uncorked and the golden buttery goodness of this particular chardonnay was enjoyed with a creamy curry. Dorrien Estate are a boutique winemaking facility and their own label is suggested to be the best of the wine they are responsible for producing – well thats what it says on the website anyway…Great wine though – have ordered a selection and if tonight’s cab/merlot mix(more later) is anything to go by I shall be on to Village cellars for more.
Off to a Dirty Three gig tomorrow and C from Munich will be chancing by at the weekend. Still awaiting Pu’s epistle – give him some encouragement why dont you!?
21
Jun
06
Bourgogne – Vosne Romane
The gaps between posts are just getting longer and longer! Have had a busy week with my Turkish tutor over from Aston and workshops galore over the weekend. And the footballs still on.
We did have time last week, however, to splash out at our favourite wine bar/restaurant, L'incense in Yokohama and quaffed a rather expensive Vosne Romanee. Classic Pinot with all the fruit you'd expect but with a touch of spice. Gotta explore those Bourgogne wines more…
Bu
ps. don't give up on this blog as we will try to put something on weekly at least (although wild horses and Pu to the post section of this blog ring recently familiar – not that I can talk).
Sultry day today so with I round for dinner, Shikoku udon in hand, we enjoyed a blissful evening where football was only mentioned for less than a minute.
Talking of which, all morning commuters can be heard commiserating with Japan’s dreadful performance and at least 10 minutes of each lesson is spent deliberating whether Zico should have sent on more substitutes for some last minute goal scoring, like Australia.
Noticed in the commentary of the match lots of 日本ピンチ！(Japan pinch) which sounds like some kind of ropeplay but is in fact when Japan is in a tight spot and goals are about to be scored if they are not careful.
Enough football, I haven’t got the first idea… back to wine soon once we’ve drunk some.
Berry Bros. have been sending me lots of their recommended 2005 wines recently, a selection of which I will share with you.
and a link to their vintage chart of which 2005 has been deemed 'outstanding'
