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  • Macau’s evolving dining scene
  • By Jeannie Cho Lee MW
  • on 03 Feb 2012 in Food

  • The first time I visited Macau in 1994, my parents begged me not to go. They were worried that as a South Korean I could potentially be kidnapped by North Koreans that operate in Macau. While these fears seem ludicrous now, Macau in the 1990s was a very different place. Alarming news stories supported my parents’ fears: Gun fights, bombings and murders linked with the triads were regularly reported and many large international corporations warned their employees about the dangers of visiting Macau. read more

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  • Wine's spirituality
  • By Jeannie Cho Lee MW
  • on 25 Feb 2011 in Travel

  • We drive along Highway 1, the scenery changing from a bustling cosmopolitan city to a scene from a medieval painting. We are driving from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Eli Ben-Zaken, owner of Domaine du Castel, is speaking in his soft, slightly hoarse voice, “I used to think the art of survival was one stage of existence while the art of living was the next stage. read more

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  • Red, red, red
  • By Jeannie Cho Lee MW
  • on 18 Feb 2011 in

  • Our fascination with red Bordeaux appears from the outside to be at odds with the various Chinese regional cuisines we eat regularly, especially with the delicate flavours of Cantonese food. However, looking at the circumstances in which wine became popular and given our dining culture, the popularity of red Bordeaux with various Chinese cuisines, even Cantonese cuisine, makes sense. One of the key factors that popularised wine in the mid 1990s was the connection between red wine and health. read more

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  • For the love of Pinot
  • By Jeannie Cho Lee MW
  • on 11 Feb 2011 in Travel

  • I was recently invited as a special guest of the Central Otago Pinot Noir Celebration from 27-29 January 2011 and was asked to give a speech during the gala dinner about my thoughts on the event and Pinot Noir. There was much to say about this biannual celebration which puts Pinot Noir on a pedestal and analyses it from as many perspectives as three days will allow. We had verticals of Pinot Noir from some of the oldest wineries in Central Otago – Mt Difficulty, Felton Road and Quartz Reef. read more

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