Guest Blog: Philippe Orrico

Cheese-lovers, this is for you: For three days only from June 3-5, Master of Cheese Philippe Marchand, will be in Hullett House for the first cheese festival in Hong Kong!

Also present will be Dominique Bouchet, who was recently honoured with a prestigious craftsman award in France, giving him the unique title of Meilleur Ouvrier De France, or MOF for short. Congratulations to Dominique. MOFs like him wear on the collar of their jackets a white, blue and red band, the three bands of the French flag as an honour. I know several very talented craftsmen including bakers, chefs, and sommeliers who try to win this award, and I can tell you that it is a lot of years of work, a huge technical skill and a lot of effort to reach the level of MOF. Chefs Joël Robuchon and Paul Bocuse are two that are also MOFs.

I am happy to participate in this Cheese Festival. Dominique Bouchet will present to us the trail of cheese which won him the contest and he will be accompanied by Philippe Marchand , a cheese Master, who will introduce to us the cheese platter that was served in the last NATO meeting to President Obama (!) and he will host a workshop on how to make a cheese. In addition to the workshop, he will be available for each of the three days to answer your questions and introduce us to all his latest creations including his infamous Wasabisabic or The Spiral, a spiral of 24 cheeses and some long-forgotten cheeses, like the Napoleon or the Josephine. All this cheeses will be on degustation and be on sale on June 4 and 5, from noon to 5pm. Don't miss out as quantities are limited and sold on a first-come, first-serve basis.

The cheeses will be also be served at our famous Sunday brunch in Parlour. Yes, our Sunday brunch is famous in the world! I’m kidding. Philippe Marchand and Loic Serot, a food designer, have collaborated to create two exclusives dinners around cheese and art. I’m cooking both dinners and the concept of the first dinner will be around the process of making a cheese, from its liquid state to the solid end product. The second dinner will be based around the concept of pairing cheese with different tannins, so the cheese will be paired with tea, beer, wines, etc. Hope to see you around Hullett House for the Cheese Festival: bread, cheese and wine….yummy! A la prochaine.