Margaret River Gourmet Escape 2014 East Meets West Dinner

Margaret River Gourmet Escape 2014 East Meets West Dinner 

My adventure to Margaret River Gourmet Escape 2014 starts with an exclusive dinner at Voyager Estate. It is called “East Meets West Dinner” presented by Singapore airlines with Singapore celebrity chef Sam Leong joining forces with Western Australia’s finest, Chef Nigel Harvey. They will jointly present a three course meal with fusion of Chinese and Western cuisine.

This dinner is one of the two exclusive dinners at Voyager Estate during the Gourmet Escape 2014 weekend and it was priced at A$200 per person and all seats were sold out. I was invited for the dinner together with Celebrity Chef Wan, chef and media from Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore by Tourism Western Australia. Chef Wan was in Western Australia for 6D 5N Gourmet Tour with Chef Wan.

Voyager Estate is a premium winery in the wine producing region of Margaret River with more than one hundred and fifty years of history.

The estate looks stunning from the entrance with its beautiful Cape Dutch architecture and gardens. The rose gardens are such a beauty and Chef Wan is a huge admirer of roses. He spent some time at the rose garden, admiring and snapping pictures of the roses. You can find a variety of roses in the garden.

Guests and VIPs are well dressed in this cocktail themed dinner and everyone was busy mingling while enjoying wine and tapas. Due to the strict privacy law in Australia, I only photographed the interior without guests but you can tell the beauty of its interior with its European influenced décor and design.

Like I mentioned earlier, The East Meets West Dinner is a three course meal with starter and half of the main is cooked by Chef Sam Leong with Chinese cuisine while the other half of the main and dessert will be cooked by Chef Nigel Harvey with Western cuisine.

Crispy Wasabi Prawns by Sam Leong

Cripsy Wasabi Prawns with mango salsa and tomato. The starter comes with two large size crispy de-shelled prawns stir fried with wasabi sauce and compliment with sweet mango salsa and tomato. This is sort of a typical Chinese dish but the difference is the usage of wasabi sauce instead of the usual ones.

Paired with Voyager Estate 2014 Chenin Blanc

Pan Seared Scallops and Duck Confit by Sam Leong & Nigel Harvey

Pan Seared Scallops and Duck Confit is the main course of the dinner. Sam Leong decided to simplify his dish with pan seared scallops with his special sauce.

Nigel Harvey’s duck confit comes with crispy skin with tender and juicy meat inside and it compliments with spinach.

Paired with Voyager Estate 2011 Chardonnay and Voyager Estate 2011 Shiraz

Young Coconut Foam by Nigel Harvey

Young Coconut Foam with pineapple, lime and white chocolate truffle. This is the most interesting dish of the evening. The dessert comes with different types of texture of the young coconut foam, the crackers and the truffle and not forgetting also the journey of different flavours in this dessert. I heard some guests were saying this is complicated while many enjoyed this.  I think it wasn’t that sweet and I loved the balanced flavours of it.

Paired with Voyager Estate 2010 VOC Collection Cane-Cut Semillon

Overall, the three course meal wasn’t that flattering but the experience matters the most. Since I am not a wine expert so I reserved my comments on each and individual wines but in general, they are good.

If you ask me, I will definitely come back to Voyager Estate for a proper meal or wine sampling and remember to bring your camera as the place is stunning.

I was traveling with Chef Wan for 6D 5N Gourmet Tour in Western Australia with Chef Wan with his fans from Malaysia and Singapore.

This dinner was sponsored by Tourism Western Australia.

Voyager Estate Address, Telephone and Website:

1 Stevens Rd, Margaret River WA 6285, Australia

+61 8 9757 6354

Website: http://www.voyagerestate.com.au/

Wilson Ng