Fried sprats and grower champagne

A reminder this week of just what a perfect match champagne and fried fish is - with a twist. The fish was one of the cheapest of catches, the humble sprat.

It made no difference at The Scallop Shell in Bath, a restaurant I’d been hearing great things about and finally got to last Thursday. This was one of two starters we ordered - perfect, crisply fried, spankingly fresh little fish served with some excellent tarragon and chive mayo. The other was the plump, garlicky mussels you see in the photo. And of course we had to roadtest their fish and chips, which again was exemplary - a huuuge portion of haddock in a crisp, lacy batter.

We wouldn’t have normally ordered champagne but we were *researching* (honest!) a ‘Fish & Fizz’ event on which I’m collaborating with the restaurant on Sunday October 9th, the last day of the Great Bath Feast. Details to follow on social media on the restaurant’s own Twitter account @thescallopshell and mine, @winematcher, but it will basically be a fabulous 3 course lunch with a selection of different sparkling wines.

The champagne was a cracker from grower Chartogne-Taillot, a rich, creamy but perfectly balanced non-vintage cuvée called Sainte Anne. It’s supplied by Fine Wines Direct UK which sells it online for an incredibly reasonable £27.99. Unsurprisingly it’s out of stock at the moment but if and when it comes back in I’m tempted to buy some myself.

You might also enjoy reading 6 of the best matches with fish & chips.

Gazpacho, oak-smoked tomatoes and smoked vodka

I love it when a restaurant lays on an imaginative drink pairing and this was a terrific one from Ben Cooke at Little Gloster just outside Cowes on the Isle of Wight.

He had entered the dish - a yellow gazpacho made with Isle of Wight tomatoes, horseradish and crème fraîche topped with a crostino with mozzarella and oak-smoked tomato into a competition run by Chase Vodka - the Chase Smoky Mary - and won it.

The dish was strongly flavoured enough to carry the powerful flavour of the smoked vodka which was served as a frozen shot. It paired particularly well - as you might expect - with the smoked tomato.

It was only because it was such a good pairing that it pushed aside the other combination I might have made my match of the week - also at Little Gloster: a Ciu Ciu Le Merlettaie pecorino* with a starter of skordalia, grilled aubergines and courgettes. Garlicky dips are great with crisp fresh zesty whites. A Greek assyrtiko would have worked too.

*You can buy the 2014 vintage from The Good Wine Shop at £11.50 at the time of writing.

I ate at Little Gloster as a guest of the restaurant.

Chicken vol-au-vents and La Crema chardonnay

I don’t know why a group of us got swept up by a bout of nostalgia for vol-au-vents on Twitter last week but it became so irresistible my friend Kate and her lodger Mike felt compelled to rustle up a batch to accompany an informal wine tasting the other night.

They would have bought them but there were none to be had, NOT EVEN at Waitrose. So Mike made his own, and topped them with the classic creamy chicken filling (with, intriguingly, a hint of carrot ... )

The best pairing was with a rather delicious 2014 La Crema Sonoma Coast Chardonnay which was fresher and creamier than the typical Californian chard and mirrored the creamy sauce perfectly. A light, fruity 2013 Moobuzz pinot also matched pretty well.

You can buy the La Crema, should you be so minded, for £15.99 from Roberts and Speight (or £14.99 if you buy six) and up to £18.45 elsewhere but to be honest there are less expensive chardonnays from South Africa, Chile and even burgundy that will do the job perfectly well.

If you’re bewildered by the appeal of vol-au-vents - or even wondering what they are - just think of them as mini chicken - or seafood - pies. What’s not to love about a pastry case and a creamy filling?

Grilled ox tongue with radishes and Mr Thirsty vin de soif

As soon as I heard Will Lander of The Quality Chop House and Portland had opened a new restaurant, Clipstone, I couldn’t wait to check it out - and I wasn’t disappointed.

Mind you it should be good. Will is the son of restaurant critic Nick Lander and wine writer Jancis Robinson and with a pedigree like that if he can’t get the food and drink right, who can?

Mr Thirsty Vin de Soif

Two of the dishes I had were top notch including this plate of grilled ox tongue with radishes and crème fraiche which was fantastic with one of the wines we had on tap, the appropriately named Mr Thirsty vin de soif which they were selling for a very reasonable £5 a glass.

It comes from Fabien Jouves of Mas del Périé in Cahors, a man who obviously likes to stir things up. (He also has a wine called You Fuck my Wine!) This one is a blend of malbec and merlot with a little tannat and cabernet franc. It’s made without sulphur and unfined and unfiltered - so it is a proper card-carrying natural wine but deliciously vibrant and juicy.

I also tried the fresh, citrussy Bernardo Farina Verdejo 2015 from Castilla y Leon which sells for an even more reasonable £3.50 and went brilliantly with a ‘crudo’ of char, peach and ‘cultured cream which, judging from Instagram, looks like becoming Clipstone’s signature dish, this summer at least. (Char is a fish for those of you who haven't come across it before).

I wasn’t quite so keen on the scallop flatbread with walnut pesto and lemon zest - the base was a bit dense and the scallop got lost among such punchy flavourings - but early days. Two runaway winners out of three isn’t half bad and it’s a really cool little place. Go!

Clipstone is at 5, Clipstone Street London W1W 6BB. 0207 637 0871. The wines come from O W Loeb.