The first rule of Duck Club.....

Well it all started with a blog entry on Peking Duck that lead to one of the member of  "The Sydney Tarts" (TM pending) suggesting that Peking Duck matches well with pinot noir. That lead to another member taking the initiative and organising the final Tarts GTG, called "Duck Club 2009".

By 730pm, most of DCers had arrived at the Golden Century in Chinatown. Our resident sommelier, Dr DY, picked out a selection of wines for the occasion (the Cyder taking the place of another bottle which had decided to sneak into a corner and hide).

(left to right) Agrapart et Fils Champagne,

2002 Duck Creek Estate Springflat Shiraz,

2008 Shaw and Smith M3 Chardonnay, 2004 Bindi Original Block Pinot Noir,

2009 Norfolk Still Cyder, 1999 Louis Latour 1st Cru Burgundy  

We started the celebration with an Agrapart et Fils Champagne.

While we waited and before we got too umm "happy", the obligatory wrist and table shots of the timepieces for the night were in order.

Table shot of the watches

JLC Master Geographic, Vacheron Constantin Jump Hour, Panerai Radiomir "Black Seal"

IWC Ingenieur (foreground) IWC Porsche Design Ocean 2000 BUND (background)

IWC Porsche Design Ocean 2000 BUND

Vacheron Constantin Jump Hour

Display backs of the Vacheron (left) and Panerai (right)

The beautiful movement in the Vacheron Jump Hour

(VC cal1120 based on JLC cal 920)

The addition of Panerai "Cali" PAM249

The lone IWC 7day Portuguese, ref 5001.

The owner was late for the table shot...

First up was the complimentary house soup.

Our Peking Duck (Part 1) was the first ordered item to arrive :

To match it, we opened our first pinot, a Louis Latour Aloxe-Corton Les Chaillots 1999 pinot noir from Cote d'Or.

Peking Duck, pinot and JLC Master Geographic

The duck skin was thin and crispy, the pancake slightly warmed, and the serving enough for two each.

After this first course came the 2009 Norfolk Still Cyder as a palate cleanser.

Hot on its heels, the other dishes arrived.

Sang Choy Bow with the duck (2004 Bindi Original Block Pinot Noir)

These contained generous amounts of filling with lots of duck meat.

Duck fried rice, using the Peking Duck meat (2004 Bindi Original Block Pinot Noir)

There is also an option of a noodle dish with the duck meat. As you can see, again there was a lot of meat in this third duck dish. Definitely a fried rice dish to have more than one serving of!

Cold plate Selection

Oysters (2008 Shaw and Smith M3 Chardonnay)

Very large, plump and juicy, and perfectly matched with the M3, in retrospect it was a shame that we only ordered one oyster each.

Abalone Mushroom and Mustard Greens 

Abalone mushrooms are called as such because their appearance is reminiscent of that highly prized mollusck. Delicate in flavour and with a smooth seductive texture, they are best eaten simply, and allowed to absorb the taste of the accompanying sauce.

Morwong (2008 Shaw and Smith M3 Chardonnay)

Pei pa tofu

Salt and Pepper Squid (supersized!)

Salt and pepper squid is a perennial favourite of everyone's. This exemplar was a solid performer. We took up their suggestion of a supersized (by 50%) one given the size of our group, and it was so large that I suspect a regular sized dish would have been ample.

The complimentary desserts (sweet red bean dessert soup photo missing) :

The rest of the wrist shots :

IWC Porsche Design Ocean 2000 BUND 

Panerai PAM183 "Black Seal"

IWC Ingenieur

Last but not least, congratulations to one of our members who recently got engaged!

A fantastic and somewhat raucous night was had by all in attendance, and those unable to make it on the night will hopefully be able to make it to the next Duck Club.

[JH and AP]