Chef Michel’s Blackboard and Cocktail Mates

From Kuala Lumpur to Manila

In a rare case where a successful restaurant moved from one country to another, The Blackboard, once a favorite Asian-Mediterranean fusion restaurant in Desa Sri Hartamas Kuala Lumpur is now located at our very own The Podium Mall in Ortigas Center. The restaurateur and chef, Michel Cottabarren had taken his culinary talent to Manila in collaboration with The Cravings Group. The Blackboard by Chef Michel opened at Level 5 of The Podium just late 2013. Chef Michel Cottabaren is one of those truly international and multi-cultural chefs. While Chef Michel is 100% French by blood, he was born and raised in the U.S.. He is also well traveled and extremely versed with the Asian dining culture having worked in China, Taiwan, Thailand, Indonesia, more recently Malaysia, and now here in the Philippines. Chef Michel has brought to our country his brand of classical Mediterranean and fusion dishes coming from his opulent wealth of experience.

Recently, I was invited to The Blackboard by Chef Michel when they launched their `Sommelier Selections’ wine concept. Chef Michel Cottabarren teamed up with Yats Wine Cellars owned by one of my most admired wine experts, Mr. Danny Wang, to create a world class wine list and wine friendly menu. In the event, I was able to drink very good wines and sample very interesting canapés, including two that caught my fancy, the chicken liver parfait topped with caramelized onions (I could not have enough of it that day), and the eggplant caviar served in Chinese spoon. Aside from Danny Wang’s warm presence, young French sommelier Tristan Massaux was also around to explain the wines Yats Wine Cellars were serving to The Blackboard guests.

Glimpse of the Blackboard Wine List

The new wine list has a very respectable forty different wines. The list is very French-centric (twenty eight or 70% of the wines are French) but is surprisingly very well priced- considering that there was not a single Vin de Pay wine in the entire list. And as my friend, the always affable Danny explained: `I am more into promoting the smaller unknown chateaux that offer great value for money, then those highly commercialized ones.’ And true enough the few Bordeaux I tried during the launch event were pretty good and not that expensive too. The Chateau Vrai Caillou 2011 from Entre-Deux-Mers AOC, Bordeaux was a great dry white, exuding white petal nose, subtle citrus flavors, dry and very crisp on the finish. The Chateau Vrai Caillou 2012, the red counterpart, a Bordeaux Superieur AOC was a classic Bordeaux with red cherry, gun flint nose, racy acids, yet quaffable with a dry fruity finish. And in typical Danny Wang generosity, an older vintage wine, a trademark of Yats Wine Cellars, a 1994 (21 year old) Domaine de Petit Musset, Montagne-Saint-Emilion AOC was also served. This wine to me had very nice vibrant color despite its age and so called much maligned vintage (1994), but on the nose, the wine showed capsicum and sour cherry, still very drinkable, but the thinning tannin somehow brought out more pronounced acidity. This may suggest that the wine is slightly passed its prime. Though to me, it is still an amazing treat – as how often do we mortals get to drink 20 year old wines!

The Blackboard by Chef Michel is located at the 5th level of The Podium Mall, ADB Avenue, Ortigas Center and open daily at mall operating hours. For reservations, kindly call (02)696-9083. Also visit their website at www.theblackboardbychefmichel.com.

Mixmate Goes Full Portfolio

Mixmate International, Inc., a local manufacturing company specializing in cocktail mixers owned by Ms. Brigida `Eden’ Gonzales, has been slowly but surely expanding since its foray into the market last 2008. With the objective and vision of being the `one-stop supplier’ of cocktail mixes, Mixmate International will soon be adding tequila flavoured spirit into their portfolio. The tequila flavoured spirit under Mixmate will be called Unico. The Unico has a very distinctive clever label showing the silhouette of a Mariachi Band riding horses. Tequila is one of the most popular cocktail spirits and is the mainstay of such ubiquitous cocktails such as Margarita and Tequila Sunrise. With the new tequila range, Mixmate family of products are now thirty products strong, from the indispensable cocktail waters (Tonic, Ginger Ale, Soda), to crème liqueurs (Amaretto, Creme de Cacao, Creme de Menthe) to the aesthetic mixers (Grenadine syrup, Blue Curacao). And best of all, Mixmate International prides themselves in selling their products at the most competitive prices.

Mixmate products are being distributed nationwide by The Wines Specialist & Beyond Inc., with contact numbers at (02)831-5988 and (02)831-8291.

For comments, inquiries, wine event coverage, wine consultancy and other wine related concerns, please e-mail me at protegeinc@yahoo.com. I am a proud member of the Federation Internationale des Journalists et Ecrivains du Vin et des Spiritueux or FIJEV since 2010. You can also follow me on twitter at www.twitter.com/sherwinlao.