Min Ron Nee – A Culinary Journey In Pictures
2 Jan
Nothing better to start the new Year with than champagne – right ?
Well, plenty of it in my first post of 2013 …
This picture gallery starts and ends with my former work horse, the B-747-400, that took me very comfortably to Hong Kong.
As always, when enjoying the Business class on long haul flights, I see that I start the journey with my long time favourite drink, Jack Daniels and Ginger Ale. Call it a ritual, I tend to enjoy the refreshing taste before settling into the flight.
From there the beverages depend on the menu and this time, as always for Christmas on LH, it was goose, red cabbage, Knödel and red wine.
The return trip was entirely seafood for me and, except for the cheese selection and a glass of red, it was Sauvignon Blanc for the tuna and the salmon.
Might explain why I slept more than half of the flight time on each long sector …
Hong Kong was a whole different chapter in gastronomic delicacies and the list of champagnes drunk with my host, himself a devoted gourmet and top notch connoisseur and collector of the best vintage champagnes.
As can be seen ( and not all the bottles we drank were photographed, among them the Salon Blanc des blancs of which we blind-tasted the 1995/1996 if I remember correctly) the 1996 vintage, both in Champagne and Bordeaux is a current favourite of my host.
Other than Champagne, my favourite beverage in Asia will be beer, specially the Tsingtao brand, which in my humble opinion will compliment the local food perfectly.
All the food was delicious, plentiful and enjoyed in the best “slow food” tradition, mostly taking over 4 hours for dinner.
Even the last lunch, taken at the members only Kowloon Cricket Club and consisting of Fish & Chips was a leisurely 3 hr affair and involved a vintage Fonseca Cosacos and a Punch ER Asia-Pacific Super Robusto before heading to Chep La Kok airport and the flight home.
Most memorable among all the excellent food were the Abalone, the Scottish oysters, the duck, the chicken, the smoked pork knuckle…. – but then, the experience itself of these long lunches and dinners followed by vintage cigars was in itself memorable.
Here are some images of my journey.
Nino
Wow, great follow-up to your latest posting in December. That’s part of the good life, right, these culinary treasures. The Dunhills, did you taste them, and how were they? Still looking forward to smoke my vintage Dunhill when I get a chance….
Take care, Erik
Thanks Erik,
yes, living well is the best revenge, right ??
Indeed, I tasted the Dunhill MC’s, we smoked a good part of one box while there as you might see in the pictures – extremely tasty. Wish to add that my host MRN would use the “put them under water” method to wet the wrapper and that would make a fine difference as well.
Tot ziens / Nino
Nino, your holiday in Hong Kong with your wonderful host, MRN must be one of the best ever recorded on a film camera! I`m sitting here at work getting incredibly thirsty for one of those outstanding champagnes you two had, not to forget the other great wines and great food!
It is a pleasure to read and look at the pictures in your post, the pictures of you in front ofthe Lady in the green dress is beautiful! Thank you for posting Nino.
That was a luxury holiday if I ever saw one Nino! Your host, Min Ron Nee was very generous serving the most fantastic champagnes, wines and food. A wonderful journey through your holiday with your excellent pictures. I love the pictures of you in front of the beautiful Lady in the green dress!
Hope you are safe back home!
Thank you Arild !
Good to hear from you, as always. My best regards to you and Ada !!
Nino
Nino,
As always thanks so much for sharing your stories and life adventures. I too am a believer in “fate” as you described in your Christmas stories with Jason, good stuff! The way I met my wife can only be explained by fate. 🙂
Very interesting that you say MRN uses the “water” method with the vintage Monte that you smoked. I’ve heard about this method but have never done so myself. Does MRN do this to all his cigars, or just certain vintage ones? What criteria does he use to use the water method? Do you know of many other collectors/smokers that use this method regularly?
Cheers and Happy New Years Nino!
Ryan,
my pleasure – it was great to meet you in Havana and spend time with you, you’re a good man !
Hope I could explain a bit on the “water method” for you on FoH.
Best regards – Stay well / Nino