Shan State Myanmar’s amazing produce
Sitting under a clear blue sky, on a cool day in the vineyard, perched between the mountains and the lake; a waft of morning mist still lazily crawling up the slopes. ‘The Estate’ restaurant at Red Mountain Winery has prepared me lunch.
It is a trial dish of Eggs Benedict; the world famous dish said to have been invented at the Waldorf hotel, when in 1894 a worse-for-wear New York stockbroker named Lemuel Benedict walked into the Hotel seeking a cure for his hangover. He ordered “buttered toast, poached eggs, crisp bacon and a hooker of hollandaise.” Maître d’hôtel Oscar Tschirky was said to have been so impressed with the dish that he put it on both the breakfast and lunch menus straight away. Today, ‘Eggs Bennies’ are a global brunch phenomenon.
The Estate kitchen’s version consisted of a decent slab of U Sharky’s sour dough bread, a perfectly sous vide egg, house cured bacon, house pickled daikon and bean shoots, estate grown greens and a perfect hollandaise sauce, topped with a generous sprinkle of coarsely ground black pepper.
At Red Mountain Estate, the eggs benedict is a magnificent dish, here is culinary art on a plate that retains a sense of place, and still has genuine rustic charm. It is flavourful, hearty, complex and also, absolutely delicious. In fact, to me it’s damned near perfect, and I love it. Get it on the Menu!
Darren Gall
