Sarap’s Budgie Montoya joins us to curate our January wine case. Born in Mindanao in the Southern Philippines and raised in Sydney, Ferdinand “Budgie” Montoya first began to working food and drink in his late-20s before moving to London, where he began to pursue his career professionally. Budgie developed his experience within some of London’s finest restaurants including the Michelin-starred Restaurant Story, Dean Street Townhouse, Flat Three, Foley’s and Soho House & Co, before founding his own supper club in 2017 as a way to reconnect with his Filipino roots. Sarap (meaning delicious) aims to champion Filipino cuisine by marrying traditional recipes and reinterpreting them with a modern and local narrative. After several supper clubs, pop ups and residencies (including at Soho’s restaurant concept incubator, The Sun 13 & Cantons), he opened his first standalone site, Sarap Filipino BBQ & Lechon in Brixton at the end of January 2020, which was soon converted to a pared down quick service interpretation renamed Sarap BAon as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tasting Notes: A wine like this pairs well with my skewers and anything cooked over fire. The rich umami meat is complemented by the gentle acidity, but also it’s deep complex character that could only be born out of 50 year old vines.

Food Pairing: BBQ pork skewers, Pork head croquetes, chicken wings… meat or slow cooked veg.

Wine Preparation: Room temperature.

Tasting Notes: Orange wine is always one of my go to's when it comes to pairing wine with my cooking. You almost get some of that weight like you would from a red wine, tannins, savouriness, but alongside a freshness that you can only achieve from white grapes. This wine has big tropical energy, think lychee, mango and pineapple.

Food Pairing: Pickles, tempura oysters, poussin inasal… seafood, shellfish and white meats.

Wine Preparation: Cold.

Wei Prior is a designer and Director of ChaChaanTeng. Central to Wei’s practice is a belief in design as a tool to communicate rich stories and create communities.

Each wine case is accompanied with an A3 print.