Pork and chicken pie and English sparkling rosé

You might think of pork pie as pub food, best accompanied by a pint of beer or cider and it’s true that both make excellent pairings.

But at Fortnum & Mason’s English wine tasting last week I tried a glass of their own label English sparkling rosé with their excellent pork and chicken pie and it also worked brilliantly.

The wine, which is made by top English producer Gusbourne, is quite ldelicate so actually benefited from having a bit of fatty, slightly salty pork to accentuate its fruit. (When I say fatty I don’t mean unpleasantly so, obviously, just that a pork pie by definition includes some pork fat. As does a sausage.)

Anyway I thought it would be a perfect combination to take along to a grand summer picnic like Glyndebourne - or even a not-so-grand one. 

(The Co-op does a rather good English sparkling rosé called Eight Acres in their ‘Irresistible’ range if you can’t run to the Fortnums one. Or to pink champagne which would be the other, more costly, alternative.)

Lobster loaded fries and champagne

You may have noticed there was a slight hiatus last month when match of the week went missing. (May is peak wine tasting season and always crazy busy)

So I forgot to flag up this rather brilliant pairing with a splendidly indulgent dish I had at Burger and Lobster - their lobster loaded fries which consists of a couple of lobsters, a mountain of fries, melted cheese and - oooofff - a lemon and garlic butter sauce. 

Craftily they put it on the radar of ‘influencers’ before they actually put it on the menu so that we (I say ‘we’ but don’t really regard myself as an influencer) all got madly excited about it but it is on the menu now.

At £75 it’s not cheap but as you can see it’s definitely designed more as a main than a side and a sharing one at that. Even with two of us we couldn’t finish it!

What do you drink with it? Well normally I go for a rich chardonnay with lobster but with the fries it struck me that a glass of champagne would be a better bet - and so it proved.

In fact if you’re going for an extra I’d go for a glass of champagne rather than caviar which gets rather lost amidst all the fries and gooey cheese. (Their house champagne is Taittinger.)

Maybe it’s a bit over the top in these straitened times but it would make a great dish for a date night.

For other pairings with lobster see Wine with Lobster: six of the best pairings

I ate at Burger & Lobster as a guest of the restaurant.

Chips with caviar dip and champagne

Caviar and champagne is a classic pairing but it doesn’t actually work with every champagne, especially fruitier rosé champagnes and cuvées with a relatively high ‘dosage’ (added sugar solution)*

At Bébé Bob (the newer offshoot of the better known Bob Bob Ricard) the other day we had caviar with both a Moët rosé and Taittinger (yes, I know, I know. Ridiculously indulgent) and it was much better with the drier, lighter Taittinger.

Adding chips to the equation which go brilliantly with champagne made the match even more successful and I loved their idea of serving them with a crème fraîche dip topped with caviar. Something you could easily do at home with a caviar substitute - or caviar if you were feeling particularly flush. 

*I’d also avoid vintage champagne which can be too rich and toasty for a delicate ingredient like caviar.

For other suggestions see 10 excuses to drink champagne this Christmas and New Year holiday

I ate at bébé bob as a guest of the restaurant.

Lobster roll and Franciacorta

When it comes to pairing wine with a lobster roll I reckon it’s as important to think about the roll as the lobster. I.e. that despite including a luxury ingredient it’s basically a sandwich, a snack, a fun meal.

One you might even have a beer with if you were somewhere where lobsters are cheap which is certainly not the case in London or at Jeremy King’s new restaurant The Park on Queensway but as you can see it is a perfect specimen.

As I was having my leaving party* the same day I decided to stick to just the one glass of wine but rather than the white burgundy you might have expected I chose a glass of light, elegant Franciacorta Corteaura. Sparkling wine often hits the same spot as a beer - or at least lager - with food, oddly. 

You can buy it from a merchant called Outpour for £20.95 or £22.50 or £20.50 for 6 from Lea & Sandeman which indicates The Park, which is charging £15.95 a glass, is making a more than generous margin. Still someone has to pay for all that expensive blonde wood and the flatteringly lit loos. (Spend time down there. It's better than therapy.)

Don't get me wrong. I adored the restaurant which is wonderfully luxurious in a low key way. No-one does understated glamour quite like Jeremy King. It has one of those menus where there’s something for everyone. And the ice creams are divine. Just choose what you order carefully if you don't want to break the bank. Lobster roll compulsory.

For other lobster pairings see here

*In case you missed it I’ve left the Guardian after 14 years to leave more time for travelling and other projects including my website and Substack!

I paid for my meal in case you were wondering ...