Chef Guillaume Galliot on pairing wine with cuisine at the Wine Pinnacle Awards

Four Seasons Hotel Hong Kong

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For a series of wine dinners, Galliot will be collaborating with fellow Frenchman Bellin, who also runs two Michelin-starred L'Auberge des Glazicks in Brittany, France. Galliot will also present his signature Alaskan king crab crustacean jelly and Osciètre Prestige caviar at the Wine Pinnacle Awards Gala Dinner and Ceremony on 1st Nov.

Speaking to The Peak via Zoom, the Hong Kong-based Galliot says: “I'm a big fan of wine. I drink wine most of every day, do a lot of tastings with my sommelier and wine director.  During the pandemic, some of my Singaporean guests could not come to Caprice, so this is a good opportunity to present my signature dishes and a few new dishes.”

Another dish Galliot is presenting is a smoked beef dish, which is inspired by his time in Beijing. The meat, which is wrapped in lotus leaf, is smoked with Japanese wood. The smoked beef will be paired with a  Cabernet Sauvignon from Chateau Haut-Brion, which brings out the light flavours of the beef and white truffles. 

We chat with Galliot on his four-hands dinners at the upcoming Wine Pinnacle Awards.

Ocean Restaurant’s chef-patron Olivier Bellin (Photo: Resorts World Sentosa)

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What do you think of your four-hands partner?

I first met Chef Olivier at a food festival in Seoul around three years ago — we did two collaborative dinners with other chefs and forged a good relationship. I told him that he has to come to Hong Kong to do a four-hands dinner in Caprice, but the pandemic happened. Chef Olivier is known as “the seafood king”  — he is from Brittany and his approach of using every part of the fish and seafood is very interesting for me. It is not something totally new for me but I am curious to learn more.

What’s your approach to creating dishes to pair with wines?

Most of the time, I try the wine first to understand its aroma and taste profile. I start with nosing the wine first to understand its aroma before tasting it. Every step in wine-tasting for me is important and very enjoyable. This helps me decide on which produce to use in the dish. 

Chateau Haut-Brion

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Share with us a dish and wine pairing that you will be presenting in the four-hands dinners at the Wine Pinnacle Awards. 

For the Grand Crus of Burgundy four-hands wine dinner, I will be presenting one of my autumn dishes. The lobster is slow-poached in lobster butter, which is made with the lobster head, and served with eggplant caviar, a reduction of raspberry and vinegar, beetroot juice and shrimp consomme. The fruitiness of the pinot noir from Burgundy complements the raspberry and juices from the lobster head very well. All the elements that I put into the sauce is to bring out the flavours of the lobster and the wine.

What is your favourite wine and ingredient pairing?

I love pairing wines with autumn and winter ingredients such as pumpkin, mushrooms, white truffles and chestnuts, as this is my favourite part of the year. One autumn dish is Cep mushroom and corn ravioli, which pairs nicely with a white burgundy wine that has minerality and tasting notes of popcorn and salted caramel.

Members of the Wine Pinnacle Awards' Technical Committee in 2019. (Photo: Resorts World Sentosa)

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You’ve done many four-hands dining collaborations, what do you enjoy most from these collaborations? 

I like to discover the cooking styles of other chefs whom I partner with as each chef has a different way of preparing dishes and cooking.

 

Share with us a tip for people to best enjoy the upcoming wine-pairing dinners.

Come and enjoy the amazing lineup of wines that has been put together for the events. The selection comprises the top vintages from top wineries. If I were a guest, I would come with a happy heart, sit down with wine and food. It is all about learning and discovering.