LAS Fundraising Dinner

The other night the Apia Community Group organised a fundraising dinner for the Library Association of Samoa at the APTC (Australia-Pacific Technical College) restaurant, Visions. This is a training restaurant that is staffed by the Polytech students of the tourism and hospitality courses. We have eaten there before and have been impressed by standard of the food and service delivered by the students.

This dinner was something a bit different for us – a Degustation Dinner. For those of you that don’t know (and yes, I had to look it up in the dictionary) degustation is that act of tasting or savouring.

In this case we were served 7 courses, each with a wine matched to the course. We were even given instructions on how best to enjoy the experience – thoroughly chew the food, then take a sip of wine just before you swallow. I am not sure if these instructions were followed at our table and I know that as the evening went on a few of the food-wine matchings were a bit mixed up by those that couldn’t keep pace or those that decided that they didn’t want a red with the next course and would just have another glass of the yummy Riesling!

Anyway, a good time was had by all and the food was great. Certainly a step up from our usual options for dinner out here in Apia. Once again the students did a wonderful job with preparation and service of the food and drinks.

As far as we can remember the menu was something like the list below, some of the details are a bit hazy, but For the wine buffs out there, sorry they didn’t give us any details of the wines, other than the variety and why it had been matched to that particular course.

• Aperitif – Campari, sweet vermouth, gin and soda


• Prawn mousse tarts with chilli and mango salsa


• Oysters with sesame oil and lime - Sparkling Cuvee


• Caramelised Onion Tart - Merlot


• Reef Fish on rice noodles - Riesling


• Chicken with mushrooms – Sauvignon Blanc


• Chocolate fudge cake with Cabernet Sauvignon


• Cheese platter and tawny port