Report: 2002 Food and Wine Festival
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Ireland

Potato and Dubliner Cheese Root Vegetable Cake - $2.00
Oddly sweet with an unidentifiable spice when tasted. Quite good otherwise and filling.

Boxty with Cornbeef Cabbage and Cider Cream Sauce - $3.50
This was great and we could easily have eaten more. The cabbage was quite similar to that of a sauerkraut without the bitterness.

Toasted Oatmeal and Whiskey Flan - $1.00
It was very smooth and good with a nice firm texture.

O’Mara’s Irish Cream - $3.00
This was very smooth and well worth trying.

Bunratty Meade Honey Wine - $3.25
If you have not had meade, you should definitely try this, for it was delicious.

Guinness Stout - $2.75/$5.00
What can one say about Guinness? It’s dark and heavy to some, but to others, it’s like life’s blood. If you enjoy a dark beer or lager, this is definitely up your alley.

Scandinavia

Lord Niekon thought it rather odd but humorous that the wines offered at this booth all came from California.

Gravlax with Aquavit Granite - $3.00
The salmon was very nice and the cucumbers were quite refreshing, however we weren’t quite sure about the “bread” it was wrapped in. It wasn’t quite a tortilla and rather unidentifiable. I found that it actually took away from the salmon and cucumber combo because it was dry in parts but mushy in others.

Smoked Trout with a Honey Dill Waffle - $3.00
The trout was drizzled with a beet paste. With the waffle, there was a slightly sweet flavor to it all. Lord Niekon however, wasn’t really into the Honey Dill Waffle though. He thought the taste was too strange for his taste but would gladly have another helping of the trout.

Delicato Chardonnay - $2.00
A nice but not too dry Californian wine that would go very well with chicken.

Other Offerings:

Dunnewood Merlot - $2.00
Buena Vista Cabernet Sauvignon - $2.75

China

Chicken Sha Cha with Peanut Sauce - $3.00
Decent serving and Lord Niekon would normally say, “chicken is chicken, no matter how you prepare it,�? but he was quite surprised with this chicken preparation. In fact he said there was a feeling in his mouth of spices kicking in that have never been tasted before and he loved it.

Cold Sesame Noodles with Vegetables - $2.00
The sauce was nice and not overpowering to the over dish. Among the vegetables were red and green bell peppers and Napa cabbage. Lord Niekon was not overly impressed by this dish but I found it refreshing to the dishes already tasted.

Hainan Mango Mousse - $2.00
Was not terribly pleased with this dish. I didn’t really taste mango, but what it tasted like to me was vanilla pudding.

Beijing Lau Bing - $2.75
This is a tasty meat paste with green onion in a tortilla-like (though no where tasting like a tortilla) covering. This was very good and Lord Niekon with his finicky food tastes really enjoyed this dish.

Akadema Plum Wine - $2.00
Very similar to its Japanese counterpart with just a kick of spice added. Quite good and would definitely get this in the future.

Other Offerings:

Tsingtao Beer - $4.00
Yanjing Beer - $4.00

Poland

Braised Stuffed Cabbage Roll - $2.75
The cabbage roll is covered with a thin tomato sauce with tomato chunks, which made Lord Niekon pass on this tasty little morsel but I certainly did not. The meat itself was rather tasteless but the combo with the cabbage wrap and the tomato sauce; it was a tasty snack on which I would eat many more of.

Smoked Polish Kielbasa with Potato and Cheese Pierogi - $3.50
This dish is prepared exactly as you would expect if you were visiting Poland. The only issue we had with Polish food is the lack of spices.

Nalewka Babuni Cherry Wine - $2.50
This wine is sweet with a pleasant tartness as if you were eating a cherry. The cherry essence is definitely brought out in the flavor.

Other Offerings:

Kurpiowski Royal Mead Honey Wine - $2.50
Okocim O.K. - $2.25/$4.00

Cape Region of South Africa

Bobotie - Curried Meat Loaf with Pickled Peach Sauce - $2.50
This was a very good dish. Lord Niekon said that the meat melted in your mouth and it really had a nice texture to it. After taking a bite, about a minute later, the spiciness hit your mouth, but it wasn’t unpleasant. The rice was a nice accompaniment.

Durban Spiced Chicken on Sugar Cane Skewer with White Corn Meal Cake - $3.50
The sauce had a nice spice kick to it and the chicken was definitely good but a bit on the dry side for my taste. The corn meal cake was good also as a step away from the spicy sauce but the top of it was hard, as though it had been sitting there for some time. Once I pushed the hard top aside, the corn meal cake got my full attention.

Iced Rooiboos with Honey - $1.75
Don’t let the name scare you, this is basically an iced tea but definitely on the sweeter side once it hits you after a moment or two. It was a refreshing drink after the Durban Spiced Chicken.

Goats du Roam Rose - $2.50
This was a dry wine with the dryness easily depicted based of the bouquet.

Other Offerings:
Cape Indaba Merlot - $2.25
Brampton Chardonnay - $2.25
Porcupine Ridge Sauvignon Blanc - $2.50