TOAST TO A GOLDEN FEAST
Johnnie Walker Gold Label Reserve partners with Auntie Sim Kitchen for a special Chinese New Year menu.
PAIRING food with whisky can be tricky, but half the battle is won when you’ve got the right whisky in the first place, especially when it is as versatile as the Johnnie Walker Gold Label Reserve.
The Gold Label Reserve is a blended Scotch whisky that has a rich, creamy, honey-sweet flavour with a slight spiciness at the back of the throat, and a hint of smokiness that comes in slowly in the finish.
It is an easy-drinking Scotch, for sure, but also one that goes pretty well with food, whether it is a simple steak or a Chinese eight-course dinner.
In conjunction with the upcoming Chinese New Year festive season, Johnnie Walker has collaborated with two restaurants – Golden Dragonboat Restaurant and Auntie Sim Kitchen – to create specially selected Chinese New Year menus featuring dishes that pair well with the Gold Label Reserve.
Star2 was given the chance to try one of these pairings, namely, the one at Auntie Sim, which is a restaurant in Damansara Uptown, Petaling Jaya, that specialises in fusion Canton Teochew dishes.
All the five dishes featured on the set are actually existing signature dishes on Auntie Sim’s menu, but were specifically chosen because of how well they go with the whisky.
“When you’re drinking whisky, it’s good to have food that is richer in flavour, because of how strong whisky can be. The Gold Label is also less smoky and lighter, and goes well with these five dishes,” said restaurant owner Elaine Goh, who founded the restaurant with her husband, Simon Sim.
Priced at RM1,288 (excluding GST),The Johnnie Walker Gold Label Reserve Chinese New Year set menu at Auntie Sim Kitchen serves six people, and comes with a bottle of the whisky as well.
Braised dried abalone with mushroom and broccoli
Featuring dried abalone imported from the Middle East, on its own, the dish was quite tasty already, but the Gold Label Reserve actually made it even better. The honeyed sweetness of the whisky balanced out the salty elements of the abalone and sauce perfectly, and the abalone, in turn, enhanced the lighter peated notes of the whisky.
Delicious double treasure
The “Double Treasure” here refers to pieces of braised pork belly and pork tendon, which are then stir-fried and served with a thick, garlicky sauce.
The difference in texture between the two makes for quite an interesting contrast, and is much more satisfying together than just one on its own.
Personally, I found the meat dishes in the set menu fare the best with the whisky, as the lighter and sweeter notes of the Gold Label enabled it to shine amidst the richer, full flavours of the meat.
Stir-fried Angus beef with black pepper
This was one of the standout dishes of the set – the beef is cooked to perfection, with just the right amount of tenderness and chewiness, and a savoury black pepper sauce that wasn’t too peppery, unlike many black pepper sauces out there.
With this dish, the Gold Label seemed to highlight each individual ingredient even more – the spirit cut through the fat of the beef, while the sweet honey notes gave the dish a certain clarity that shone throughout the rich, savoury notes in both the meat and sauce, like a clear golden beacon in a sea of rich flavours.
Note: If you don’t take beef, this dish can be replaced by a Hong Kong-style braised red garoupa.
Wolfberry bamboo fungus with spinach
After the high of the Angus beef dish, this felt like a bit of a come- down, to be honest. But taken on its own merit, this is an interesting dish that just so happens to go pretty well with the Gold Label too.
Unlike the previous dishes, where the richness of the flavours contrasted with the sweet clarity of the whisky, this one was the opposite. The slightly sweeter flavours of the wolfberries, the plain, tangy textures of the bamboo fungus, and the grassy vegetable freshness of the spinach ... it was a simple yet more subtle combination of flavours that were transformed when taken together with a mere sip of the whisky.
Suddenly, the wolfberries gave out more savoury notes, the bamboo fungus seemed a little richer, and the freshness of the spinach shone even more.
For me, this is a good example of how simpler, more subtle flavours can also go with a lighter, sweeter whisky like Gold Label Reserve, as opposed to just pairing it with richer dishes.
Dry-fried Hong Kong yee meen with freshwater prawns
This version of the popular “sang har yee meen” dish for me, was the highlight of the whole set. One of Auntie Sim’s most popular signature dishes, this was quite unlike many of the usual sang har yee meen in other restaurants.
“We import the yee meen from Hong Kong, and we dry-fry our noodles together with the insides of the prawn heads, so the noodles are actually full of prawn flavour,” said Sim.
Indeed, unlike many sang har yee meen where the giant prawns are usually the main attraction, the noodles were the best part of Auntie Sim’s version. Deliciously rich with savoury prawn stock goodness and fried together with mushrooms for an added layer of texture, the prawns were almost flavourless next to the noodles, to tell the truth.
Paired with the whisky, however, you got a more balanced flavour, and the saltiness in the noodles also helped to highlight the sweeter notes of the whisky. It was a pairing that truly set the gold standard.
For reservations of the set menu, you need to pre-order at least two days in advance. Auntie Sim Kitchen Restaurant is located at 24G, Jln SS 21/58, Damansara Uptown, Petaling Jaya, Selangor (Tel: 03-7731 0926). The restaurant will be open for business throughout the Chinese New Year festive period.