if your plans for your next trip to new zealand do not include a one-night stop in moeraki, "a sleepy fishing village on the coast of otago", you must scrap those plans and start all over. 

moeraki is the home of fleurs place, an amazing and funky restaurant run by fleur sullivan who is so in tune with fresh food that she obtained her own fishing quota so that she could serve local fish and seafood that are literally "fresh off the boat".

at fleurs, the food is prepared in the slowest tradition of the slow food movement.  in fact, she claims that she was embracing the slow food attitude even before slow food started a while ago in italy.

all ingredients are fresh and sourced locally and their passion for authentic food and natural flavours can be tasted at every single spoonful.

take the seafood chowder we had on the night of our stay.  simply stunning.  the broth was so tick that my bread crumbs did not even sink in it.  the taste so intense and complex that even as i write this, 3 weeks after that fateful dinner, i can still taste it on my palate.  unlike anything i have had before...

another speciality, the blue cod wrapped in bacon was incredible.  juicy, tasty, sweet, smoky, fishy in a very delicate and savoury way.  every bite was better than the previous one and in fact, maria told me to slow down a few times so fast i was eating my dish...

a memorable dinner, probably one of my best ever and i will be forever indebted to jenny hawker of pisa range estate in central otago who suggested we go there.

you should book well ahead and make plans to stay the night in a very acceptable, if a little simple, little motel called the moeraki beach motels.  there is much nature to see in moeraki in particular the beach boulders and a colony of rare yellow eye and blue penguins.

fleurs place: at the old jetty, moeraki, otago, new zealand, tel: +64 3 439 4480

Published by jc on March 4, 2010

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as freaky as it may sound, last saturday after noon in hong kong, i started a class on chilean wines at exactly the very same moment the earthquake rocked and rattled beautiful chile (3h30 in chile, 14h30 in hong kong).  it gives me goosebumps...and so, in solidarity with the people

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Published by jc on March 3, 2010

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some news from hong kong's very own master of wine debra meiburg.she has just launched an online video series called "meet the winemaker", offering a charming "all-access" look at the wine industry and revealing the personal side of it's movers & shakers.via an interview format, the series offers an intimate

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Published by jc on February 5, 2010

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Come and join us for a guided tasting designed to increase the pleasure we get from Argentinean wines!We will explore its regions, taste excellent examples and learn about the characteristics that makes each wines so different and so special.  Saturday, 23 January 2010 @ 14h00We will taste:White: 08 Callia Alta Chardonnay

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Published by jc on January 20, 2010

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Come and join us for a series of guided tastings designed to increase the pleasure we get from italian wines.In each, we will explore a different region, taste its best examples and learn about its geography, climate, key grape varieties and the characteristics that makes each wines so different and

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Published by jc on January 13, 2010

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Come and join us for a guided tasting designed to increase the pleasure we get from Rhône Valley wines!We will explore its regions, taste excellent examples and learn about the characteristics that makes each wines so different and so special.Saturday, 09 January 2010 @ 14h00We Will taste:White: - 2006 Cave

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Published by jc on January 7, 2010

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how many times have we checked-in wine bottles inside luggages and prayed all the way to our final destination wishing to all gods they would not break and ruin our clothes and other valuables?this is the thought i had when i spoke with an enoteca owner in venice a few months after the

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Published by jc on December 16, 2009

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there are some restaurants i return to, over and over again, simply to eat the same dish.  in fact, the dish is the reason i go back and when i make the reservation, it is exactly with the dish in mind that i make it.  i should not admit it,

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Published by jc on December 1, 2009

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at every single tasting i have attended, someone has invariably asked "how long will this wine age?".  considering that 90 percent of all wines will be drunk within 1 year of bottling, why even asked?  it is an important question mind you but the answer is not all that simple.  first,

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Published by jc on November 24, 2009

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"vous connaissez notre formule?" asked the person at the other end of the line, rather brusquely, "we only have one menu and it's 'prix-fixe'", he added before quickly hanging up.  and so, the tone was set for was to be, surprisingly, a fantastic dinning experience at le chateaubriand...in fact, this "neo-bistro" is

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Published by jc on November 22, 2009

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Come and join us for a series of classes designed to increase the pleasure we get from wine.In each, we will explore a different wine region, taste various of its best examples and learn about its geography, climate, key grape varieties and the various characteristics that makes each wines so

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Published by jc on November 20, 2009

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with the risk of being accused of simplism by wine snobs and the like, i have concluded, after much reading, tastings and late night reflections on the matter, that wine quality is derived from 3 simple concepts: fruit, terroir, and passion.  fruit: as i have written here before, let's not forget that wine

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Published by jc on November 15, 2009

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dining at broeding on my first night to munich was so good that i ended up returning on the last evening before flying back to hong kong - a big break to our rule of never dining twice at the same restaurant during the same trip. each time i am about

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Published by jc on November 12, 2009

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i think that apart from beer, whisky, cognac, port, perhaps some other spirits and tea in this part of the world, i have rarely come across another drink than wine that generates as much passion in people.  certainly, i have never heard people waxing lyrical about orange juice or coca

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Published by jc on November 9, 2009

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last month in las vegas, i met a dear friend, an athlete like most of us can only dream of dreaming to become and when the topic of wine came up, he told me that it gives him a headache and surely, he said, it must be from all those sulfites...on

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Published by jc on October 31, 2009

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