Smoked eel and potato soup with dry Moscatel

I could have picked any number of pairings from the really inspiring wine dinner hosted by Bodegas Bentomiz at Gambas tapas bar in Bristol last week but this marginally inched it.

It was a dish called Gazpachuelo which comes from Malaga - the same region as the wine - and is a traditional fisherman’s soup made with mayonnaise. (You can see it being made here)

This version was served at room temperature with smoked eel potato and scallop roe and was unctuously creamy, and slightly smokey from the eel.

With it the restaurant paired a dry, almost sherry like 2019 moscatel called Ariyanas or Ariyanas Seco Sobre Lias Finos to give it its full name that handled all the flavours perfectly. The glass was topped by a tortita di camarones, a crisp wafer with tiny shrimps which again is one of the specialities of the region - and of the restaurant.

Another terrific pairing was a final course of avocado sorbet, yoghurt and olive oil with the bodega’s best known wine, Ariyanas Naturalmente Dulce, a sweet moscatel that tasted of gloriously ripe apricots with the almost savoury dessert.

You don’t often come across such carefully thought out and imaginative pairings which included dishes that are not normally on offer at the restaurant but it really pays dividends, presenting a satisfying challenge for the kitchen and a new experience for restaurant regulars as well as showing off the wines to best effect.

Gambas is at Unit 12 in Cargo 2, Wapping Wharf, Bristol. You can buy the wines from them direct if you live in Bristol or via Indigo Wines if you're in the UK wine trade. The Ariyanas Seco is £31.90 and the Naturalmente Dulce £5.90 a glass.

I attended the dinner as a guest of Gambas and Bodegas Bentomiz

Smoked eel with crab remoulade and Slovakian Müller-Thurgau

A good obscure pairing to kick off the week from the newly opened Vinoteca wine bar at Seymour Place.

We went on the second day of opening but the kitchen was obviously well into its stride turning out the sort of simple well-priced bistro food that’s a bit thin on the ground in that part of London (just north of Marble Arch). They also pair each dish with a matching wine from their excellent wine list, about 20 of which are available by the glass.

Perversely I actually enjoyed the wine owner Brett Woonton gave us as an aperitif - a really delicious Jagnet Müller-Thurgau from Slovakia - with my first course of smoked eel and crab more than the suggested 2007 Arbois Traminer from Stephane Tissot - though that was delicious too. It (the Jagnet) was fresh and crisp with a slight peppery note that was reminiscent of Grüner Veltliner. It sells at the very good price of £4.20 a 125ml glass and £5.90 a slightly larger one or you can buy it for £10.50 to take away. (There’s also a wine shop on site.)

I also loved my main course pairing of mutton and oyster pie with mash and spinach with a suave elegant Le Pupille 2008 Morellino di Scansano from Tuscany (£6.10 for 125ml, £8.50 for 175ml) whose dark hedgerow fruits perfectly offset the richness of the dish.

Vinoteca is also bottling a couple of their own wines from wines that they buy in bag-in-box and which they sell in returnable bottles. Apparently they last 3 days so are designed for regulars who want to come in for a top up. I tasted the Touraine Sauvignon which was fine but they have such tempting other wines to drink I’d take the opportunity to try something you haven’t tasted before.

I ate at Vinoteca as a guest of the restaurant.

Smoked eel, beetroot and Malbec

This pretty dish was served the other night at what is still our favourite Bristol restaurant, Culinaria, even if we now live over the other side of town. It provided everything you want from a starter - light, appealing, appetite-stimulating.

It was constructed on a base of a warm blini, topped with beetroot, horseradish cream (made with fresh horseradish) eel, and a few lightly dressed leaves.

Normally I’d reach for a glass or a bottle of German Riesling with eel but we’d ordered the Malbec on the list - an Altos las Hormigas 2005 - to go with our main courses (boeuf bourguignon and roast loin of venison) and they have a limited by the glass selection. But the rich earthiness of the beetroot - always a good bridge to a red wine - and the spicy kick of the horseradish made the pairing a surprising success. Other fruity, and not overly oaky red wines would have worked equally well.