Cold roast pork with apple and Chardonnay

I had a reminder last week of just how good Chardonnay can be with meat given the right accompaniments.

It was at a new South-African owned London restaurant called High Timber and was rather an elaborate starter of pulled shoulder of Middle White pork, served cold with balls of poached apple, apple and vanilla purée and a crisp wafer of crackling.

The restaurant owner Neleen Strauss suggested a glass of full bodied 2008 Jordan Chardonnay (Jordan are co-owners of the restaurant) which was an excellent pairing, matching the pork weight for weight and picking up on the apple and vanilla. An old vine Chenin Blanc would have been worked too - and you could of course serve those ingredients rather more simply.

I also found the Jordan Merlot a pretty good match for the cheese selection I picked out which included a Tomme Brule, a Pecorino and a Brillat Truffe (a Brie-like cheese layered with truffles) though it struggled a bit with a Fourme de Maury, a blue cheese spiked with Maury wine just as a Stilton can be spiked with port. Maury would in fact have been better.

For a full review of the restaurant click here

Crisp duck salad with Fielding Estate Riesling

I came across so many great wine pairings in Toronto last week it's hard to pick out one but this dish just shaves it as my match of the week.

It was at one of the most exciting restaurants I went to, Nota Bene, whose young chef David Lee weaves Asian and French influences into his menu to create food that epitomises what this exciting food city now has to offer.

The salad was simply sensational - crispy duck (from Quebec) given a twist with a dusting of sumac and served with cashews, noodles and a green papaya slaw in which I also detected chilli, mint and Thai basil. It was singingly fresh - just perfect with an intense citrussy 2007 Riesling from Fielding Estate in Niagara which won a gold medal in the Canadian wine awards last year (2008).

You probably wouldn't automatically think of pairing duck and Riesling but this was a really sensational match.

Citrus fizz and Mexican food

If you’re not drinking for whatever reason - because you’re driving, pregnant or just taking a break - it’s sometimes difficult to find something that makes a good match for what you’re eating. Soft drinks can be sweet and sugary. Water sometimes too plain.

I found just the answer in a Mexican restaurant called Wahaca in the amazing new Westfield shopping centre (which is HUGE) in West London the other day. Described as a Citrus Fizz it was a bit like a rum-less Mojito. Muddled mint, lime juice and a dash of sugar syrup over ice, topped up with sparkling water and garnished with a slice of lime.

Deliciously refreshing and perfect with zingy Mexican ingredients like salsa fresca and tomatillo sauce, it would be good with seafood too.

Oyster rarebit and Guinness

This is one of those rare weeks where I’ve come across four brilliant pairings that could have made the ‘match of the week’ slot but as it’s St Patrick’s Day tomorrow and I haven’t done a beer for a while I’ll go for the topical one.

I came across the dish in Wright’s Oyster and Porter House at Borough Market in London - a great hangout for any oyster enthusiast. I wouldn’t have thought you could improve on plain oysters and Guinness but adding toasted cheese to the equation gave it an extra dimension. It would be simple enough to do at home too.

The rarebit had quite a kick so I would guess was made with a quality mature cheddar and English mustard. It was cut into three strips, each with an oyster on top (possibly poached, I would guess).

The sharpness of the cheese and the brininess of the oysters both took the edge off the bitterness of the Guinness, leaving it seductively dark, soft and velvety. Other stouts should work equally well too.

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