SOME GRAPE AND CHEESE? YNOT!
I’ve heard of Cookathons, and Marathons, but have never heard of Corkathon! We were invited by the Y’Not restaurant to try the Corkathon, which is a new and exciting concept introduced in the UAE.
For a person who sits on her couch eating popcorn and watching movies, the first thought that came to mind was oh, now this is an interesting one! If I can’t participate in Marathons, Singathons or any other ‘thons’, I might as well take up this challenge as this suits my taste. Come on, who would say no to enjoying a glass of classic grape with Tapas. Yes, this is what the Corkathon is about.
Located at the heart of the Marina, Y’Not is a contemporary restaurant and bar that prides itself in housing a selection of premium and classic grape brought in all the way from Europe and Asia.
Modishly designed with Pink doors and Grey brick walls creating a nostalgic feeling of the student lounges in university, the Y’Not Restaurant and Bar builds that ambience of being the perfect place for reunions and fun.
On our visit, we chose to sink into one of the sleek Windsor armchairs with a view of the marina and found it the perfect, relaxed setting for grape tasting.
Clearly, unaware of the concept of grape tasting, I had done a brief research about the restaurant and its ‘charcuterie’ and Tapas platters they offer. Curious to know what the “charcuterie” meant, I asked the attendant who very kindly explained that the word is French and means "cold cooked meats" such as mortadella.
The Corkathon concept was a pretty interesting one for us to try out, it meant interacting with the staff more and just having fun than at a usual brunch.
The attendant briefed us about the concept and why Y’Not wanted to introduce this to the region. I managed to soak in as much information I could get, although I was distracted with the great choice of grape lining the tasting table in front of us.
The idea behind introducing this concept here was to educate people about the traditional art of grape tasting in this region through an interactive manner introducing a bucket of corks to be exchanged for a grape, and crossword puzzles to test the visitor’s knowledge of the different grapes. The best game of all is blind tasting, where a visitor is given a glass of grape and if he/she guessed the grape right, they get a free bottle upon their next visit! Exciting, isn’t it?
We started off with the Corkathon game, where we were given 6 corks, and had the option to choose from either Classic or Premium grape. The concept was very simple and enlightening. The corks had to be exchanged for glasses or a bottle of grape. We had the option of choosing from the two categories of grape the bar offered: Classic and Premium. To taste the premium grape, we had to exchange two corks for one glass, and for a glass of classic grape we had to exchange one cork.
All set to give this a try and not bottle up anymore, I decided to go ahead first and choose from the selection of classic grape. Our first grape was a ‘Light-bodied’ Matua red grape from New Zealand that paired well with the charcuterie. As the sommelier poured the grape, explaining about the roots of grape making for that particular beverage, we were served 4 platters of a variety of nibbles - from cheese to sushi, followed by unlimited Tapas and dessert.
The nibbles were more than enough for the two of us, which otherwise can be shared amongst 4 people.
The first platter included three different types of cheese –Cheddar, Brie de Meaux, and Beyaz Peynir, with a mini jar of home-made ‘chutney’. The chutney, prepared by the restaurant itself, took me back to my Indian culture presenting my palate with an interesting sweet and savoury flavour of tamarind combined with tangy red peppers and a secret ingredient which I’m still trying to figure out. The chutney blended well with the different cheese and Matua red grape.
Moving on from cheese, the second platter included a Singapore-inspired appetiser, the Duck roulade that was cooked to perfection for 24 hours! Hand shredded and mixed with creamy garlic and pepper sauce, the mixture was generously spread on small round toasts and garnished with herbs and celery giving us the perfect balance of flavours of the meat and the other ingredients in the roulade. Enjoying the roulade and the sweet berry sauce that came with it, we were given a glass of Brouilly grape, which is a rare but significant produce of France’s countryside. The grape bursting flavours of ripe cherry and strawberry and just the right amount of black pepper was perfect to have with this platter and the next one which included golden fried shrimp in maki rolls with wasabi.
Three platters down, one more to go! We enjoyed how the variety of flavours took us on a culinary journey from Europe to Asia giving us the authentic taste of their respective culture.
The last unlimited platter included Tapas such as mini chicken and beef burgers as well as a plate of beef pepperoni and turkey bacon with a bowl of pickles and crispy golden fried chicken and cheese sticks on the side. I enjoyed the beef burgers over chicken, it had more of the juicy Mediterranean flavour seasoned with pepper and topped with green olives. Fast foods like burgers and chips go well with the Brouilly grape balancing the palate with a sweet and zesty taste.
To save the best for the last, and sadly to cork our day in a bottle, we were served an amazing plate of desserts that included different cakes, fudge and tarts. The cakes included a white chocolate cheesecake, which I felt was a bit too sweet. The sugar had not been well incorporated into the cheese mix and so it was a little grainy. The berry tart with red velvet cake crumbs, chocolate fudge, and moist chocolate cake were enjoyable and perfect to end my review on a sweet note.
Overall, the restaurant is a perfect one for grape connoisseurs and casual get-together. The selection of grape was brilliant, and something about the restaurant that caught my attention was the grape refrigerator. Apparently, this is the only restaurant that has an argon refrigerator that can preserve opened bottles of grape for at least two months.
The Corkathon brunch is AED 345 per person with unlimited charcuterie and tapas served to your table. The restaurant will soon be organising grape tasting sessions with well-known sommeliers.
