Mango shrikhand with Floris mango beer

Last week I did another pop-up with Bristol chef Romy Gill - this time at the Butlers Arms in Sutton Coldfield which is owned by Twitter friend Chris Giles and his wife Paula.

This time I took a slightly different approach, matching a beer and a wine to each dish which worked really well, proving that lager is not the automatic go-to with a curry.

Desserts were always going to prove a bit of a challenge but I suddenly remembered that Floris made a mango beer which I thought would pair with Romy’s creamy mango dessert, a simple dish of strained yoghurt mixed with fresh mango pulp. (Beer, unlike wine, can replicate the flavours in a dish without having its own flavour stripped out because of its carbonation). Thanks to the sweetness of this particular beer it worked really well and was deliciously refreshing at the end of the rich, spicy meal. You can buy it online from beermerchants.com for £1.90 a bottle.

To be fair, the wine pairing - a Concha y Toro late harvest sauvignon blanc was excellent too - the mango brought out the tropical fruit notes in the wine.

Scallop and mango ceviche with Montes Cherub Syrah Rosé

Given Chile’s proximity to the coast, this week’s match couldn’t be anything but seafood but I’m going to pass over the more obvious pairings with sauvignon blanc in favour of this wildly brilliant combination of scallops and rosé.

It was served on the last night of our trip last week overlooking the vineyard where the syrah grapes were grown in the Colchagua valley (how cool is that?) It’s a strong (13.6%) dark rosé which gives an impression of sweetness but tastes much drier with food.

I didn’t expect it to work with the citrus in the ceviche but the fresh mango and chilli in the marinade make it a stunning match.

Other pairings Montes recommends are sushi (especially more innovative sushi such as that served by Sushi Samba, I’d venture), salmon with mushroom sauce, paella and “shrimp scampi” pasta, cannelloni and lasagne. I reckon it would also be good with barbecued chicken and pork.

(Infuriatingly having written all this I’ve discovered that the most recent vintages of Cherub Syrah are not available in the UK but a) I couldn't resist the label b) loved the pairing c) haven't got time to rewrite the post and d) it's well-distributed in the States (see wine-searcher.com) so at least some of my readers will be happy

Other strong fruity syrah rosés will obviously work too...

Dessert wine pairing: ‘Sweet Thai Green Curry’ with Lapeyre Jurancon

This wine pairing may sound difficult to get your head round - let’s face it, it is! - but it was a very clever dessert at the 3 star De Librije in Zwolle, Holland last week

Basically it was a fruit salad with Thai seasoning - mango, pineapple, sweet basil, galangal, wasabi meringues and green curry ice-cream according to my hastily scrawled notes with what tasted like a light but fiery ginger beer syrup. Served very cold on an ice pack in case you’re wondering what that is in the picture.

It paired perfectly with a light lush Jurancon from Clos Lapeyre - the 2009 ‘La Magendia’, a blend of Petit Manseng, Gros Manseng and Courbu. You can buy it in the UK from Ellis Wharton (it's currently on offer for £11.75 a half bottle), £14 from Bottle Apostle or £21.17 a full bottle from Wine Bear amongst others (see wine-searcher.com for other stockists).

Obviously this is a dish you’re not going to be easily able to replicate - unless you’re a three star chef - but it suggests that a tropical fruit salad with ginger or chilli might well work with the same type of wine.