Cocktails and master classes open first day of Wine and Gourmet in Macau

By Kimberly Johans
Published in The Macau Daily Times
November 8, 2007, page 2 (690 words)

The first day of the inaugural Wine and Gourmet Asia, Macau began yesterday morning with a ribbon-cutting ceremony presided over by Mr João Manuel Costa Antunes, Director of Macau Government Tourist Office an Mr Michael Dreyer, Asia Pacific Vice President, Koelnmesse among others.
During the ceremony Mr Dreyer said of the opening reception that had occurred the previous night, “we declared the opening of the entire event, a first of its kind in Asia, where a trade exhibition is held in conjunction with a full gastronomic festival featuring top master-chefs and wineries from around the world.”
In his speech following My Dreyer’s, Mr Antunes said that the event was “the first group that we have given support to after the opening of the Macau Business centre that we created, opening a new era of Macau’s conventions and exhibitions.
“To our visitors, I wish you a good business in trade but reserve some time to visit our city, our cultural heritage and try also our Macanese food,” he added.
The the first stage of the event, an Asian “Flairtending” Cocktail Championship, took place, with 21 participants from seven countries and regions competing for a chance at wining a total of MOP10,000 cash prizes and De Kuyper Bartending kits.  The top prize was won by Hsu Po-Sheng from Bartenders Association of Taiwan, while second prize was Mel Anthony Padua from Sin Mtg Station of Philippines and third was Kenichi Oba from One Shot of Japan. As part of the championships, the De Kuyper Cocktail Seminar was presented by Master Bartender Mr Peet Warmerdam of De Kuyper Royal Distillers Holland.
One local bartender at the Westin resort, Mr Brian Pineda spoke of his extreme nervousness during the event, saying “my mind went blank and I forgot the sequence,” but added that “it was my first time in competition, it wasn’t the way I wanted to do it but it’s good practice.”
Later, the Jebsen Fine Wine Masterclass showcased The Wines of Baron Philippe de Rothschild by Anthony Gourmel, while three full-house Culinary Master-classes showcased the epicurean arts of chefs Peter Find of Wynn Macau, Justin North of Bécasse in Sydney (hosted by Crown Macau), and Ben Li of Taylor Finefoods (Asia) Ltd.
Peter Find spoke of the difficulty in choosing the menu for the master-class, saying that “you need to be very accurate as people need to follow the recipe and need ingredients that are commonly available.”
He chose a Macanese theme for his three dishes with typical ingredients like chorizo, red onions and some spices, ending his demonstration with serradura, a popular Portuguese dessert, with each of his chosen recipes available at Wynn’s Cafe Esplanada.
Peter admitted to feeling nervous prior to the event, adding that “you wonder what questions they will ask so you do feel a little bit of pressure,” yet from the concentration of the faces of his audience, he had nothing to worry about.
Peter also chose to cook a chicken and mango salad and pan seared sea bass.
Justin North’s master-class included some interesting story-telling and information by the chef along with his demonstrations. Of the two dishes he chose, he explained that “both represented food we do at Bécasse but also simple so that [they] could be done at home,” adding that they were very product-driven from Australia and both used different salts for curing and cooking the meat. Justin chose a Wagyu beef with a salad of red ad white chicory, shaved pear and verjuice reduction dish and one with Tasmanian lobster on aromatics salad of white asparagus and shaved iberico ham.
Finally, the Hospitality Trend Forum saw some of the industry’s elite discuss hotel mixed-use, integrated resorts, a case study on Shanghai, hotel sector in Asia, and the use of green hospitality in luxury hotels. The panel included Steven Hicks of The Venetian Macao-Resort-Hotel, John Northern of Marriott Business Council Shanghai, Peter Pollmeier of InterContinental Grand Stanford Hong Kong, Professor Kaye Chon PhD, CHE, of School of Hotel and Tourism Management, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Rob McKeown of Mangkut, Peter Knipp of World Gourmet Summit and Jean Luc Fourrier of Hilton Hotels.