Eat & Drink
Originally published on Tuesday, 27th October 2009
Wine Chap: The Modern Pantry
Modern Pantry’s Kiwi-inspired menu is interesting and rather well executed.Often accused of not devoting enough time to the southern hemisphere and the other side of the pond, the Wine Chap is out to address the balance.
Fusion food has been dead since the Antipodean Fish and Fruit fetish of the late ‘90s was pilloried. Yet WineChap has always had a soft spot for ‘agro-dolce’ cuisine, and The Modern Pantry’s Kiwi-inspired menu is interesting and rather well executed. The Feta, Gooseberry and Mint Fritters had sufficiently intense flavour to cover a fairly neutral Argentinian Torrontes, and a chilled Friesa d’Asti was a vivifying lunchtime glugger
alongside Crispy Ham Hock (with mango and green chilli and spiced peanuts).
The Modern Pantry
Vintellect
The Antipodean wines were particularly strong, but also impressively diverse selections from Old and New World and very reasonably priced. Some stunners at the high end – most notably, treat yourself to Borgogno Barolo ’61 before WineChap drinks all the remaining stock.
The Moscato d’Asti is the best dessert wine to ACTUALLY drink with dessert. Here taking the edge off the rich sweetness of Chocolate and Lavendar Mousse it also paired well with the Hokey Pokey Ice-cream. Rare to see by the glass so lap it up.
The Modern Pantry is hosting a very attractively-priced five-course wine dinner on November 10th. Hosted by the delightful Sir John Hegarty, Philippa Crane and Anna Hansen, make sure you don’t miss this one. See the WineChap website for more details.
