Yan Can Cook and Jacob Creek Wine Pairing with Chinese Food at Mandarin Oriental Hotel

4 min read

Yan Can Cook and Jacob Creek Wine Pairing with Chinese Food at Mandarin Oriental Hotel

Remember Yan Can Cook from the 80s? We watched him with his signature phrase something like “Yan Can Cook so do you”. He is still around but with his name “Martin Yan” instead of “Yan can cook”.

A short video of “Yan Can Cook” we found on Youtube. Remember him now?

Last month I was invited to meet Martin Yan in person at Mandarin Oriental Hotel. This was our third time meeting him. We met him first at two years ago in a private event you can read our experience https://www.placesandfoods.com/2009/11/exclusive-international-celebrity-chef-martin-yan-live-cooking-in-malaysia-yan-can-cook.html.

Then we met him earlier this year in a cooking class, you read about his recipe https://www.placesandfoods.com/2011/03/martinyanrecipe1.html.

When a dinner is held at Mandarin Oriental Hotel or MO in short, you know it will be an extraordinary dinner. The dinner was a Chinese Food pairing with Jacob Creek Wine Pairing. There were lots of familiar faces, friends from Tourism Australia, media and blogger friends.

I had a few glasses of Jacob Creek wine before the dinner started. Although I am not a wine drinker, I had Jacob Creek wine before when I was studying in Australia and even now I bought them for special occasions.

We were ready for an amazing wine pairing dining experience with Martin Yan and Jacob Creek.

The first dish was Chilled Scallop with Jellyfish and Marinated Cherry Tomatoes (Prepared by MO KL Chef Ricky Thein).

Chef Ricky Thein is a resident Chinese chef of Mandarin Oriental Hotel Kuala Lumpur. He is also an award winning chef who was the recipient of Gold Medallist at the 5th World Golden Chef Competition for Chinese Cuisine in 2005 and was also awarded the Silver and Gold Awards for the Excellent Service Award by SPRING Singapore in 2005 and 2006 respectively.

There is only one word to describe this dish, REFRESHING. Many would grill the scallop but chilled scallop with jellyfish was refreshing and it best to eat and pair it with Jacob’s Creek Steingarten Riesling.

Oven Baked Sea Treasure Broth Served in Coconut with Puff Pastry

I had coconut cooked soup in many occasions but with puff pastry, it was my first.

Oven Baked Sea Treasure Broth Served in Coconut with Puff Pastry (Prepared by MO KL Chef Ricky Thein)

When I opened the puff pastry, it was the sea treasure. Dried scallops, sea cucumber and most notable a large size abalone in the broth and oven baked in the coconut. The broth was flavourful with fragrant of the coconut juice. This is as close as a “Buddha Jump over the Wall” broth but with the usage of coconut and without the shark fins. This remarkable creation was by no other than Chef Ricky Thein. This was one of the best broths I had for some time.

This was best paired with Jacob’s Creek Reeves Point Chardonnay

Cantonese Style Steamed Cod Fish with Superior Soya Sauce and Baby Cabbage (Prepared by MO KL Chef Ricky Thein)

Sometimes a simple dish can taste so good. This is how I would rate this fish. I always enjoyed cod fish and even at times I would buy and cook it at home. This was a simple and typical Cantonese style steamed cod fish and sank in to the light superior soya sauce. I enjoyed the freshness and actual taste of this juicy cod fish, beautiful.

This went well with Jacob’s Creek Reeves Point Chardonnay

At this time, Chef Martin Yan finally made his appearance on stage. He was then entertained us with his trademark cooking styles and jokes. He prepared and cooked two dishes for the evening.

The first was the Peking Sweet and Sour Prawns (Prepared by Chef Martin Yan). Large size prawns were deep fried and topped with Peking sweet and sour sauce.

Simple and nice and it was best paired with Jacob’s Creek Steingarten Riesling

Australian Lamb Cutlets in 3 Chili sauces with Jasmine Fried Rice (Prepared by Chef Martin Yan)

This was an Asian Western fusion dish by Chef Martin Yan featuring Australian lamb cutlets in 3 chili sauces with jasmine fried rice.

This dish is best paired with Jacob’s Creek Centenary Hill Shiraz

Sweet Temptations of Chocolate and Mango and Lychee Jelly and Raspberry Coulis (Prepared by MO KL Chef Holger Deh)