Soft shell crab tempura maki and ‘Misty Mountain’ sake

I don’t that often order sake in a restaurant but when I do I wonder why I don’t drink it more often.

It was the perfect match for the modern Japanese ‘tapas’ I had at Kurobuta near Marble Arch the other day, especially with these fabulous soft shell crab tempura maki with kimchee mayo, a dish I’m already yearning to eat again.

It was also great with a really original ‘tuna sashimi pizza’ which had a crisp flatbread-ish base and with a dish of sticky miso grilled aubergine. Sake deals particularly well with sweetness in savoury dishes.

Needless to say I forgot to write the sake down, assuming they would have a drinks list on the website which they don't but the hugely helpful Aussie waitress I got on the phone told me it was ‘Misty Mountain’, a cloudy partially pasteurised Junmai sake you can also buy here. Apparently it also goes with blue cheese.

Kurobuta is a great place for a light lunch if you’re up the Marble Arch end of Oxford Street. They also have a restaurant on the King’s Road.

40 day aged fillet of Black Angus beef with Henschke’s 2010 Mount Edelstone Shiraz

This has been one of the most difficult weeks ever to pick my match of the week but this, by a whisker, was it.

It was part of a skilfully put together Henschke wine dinner at Allium brasserie in Bath where every dish complimented the wines perfectly.

Boldly the chef Chris Staines had decided to serve a cheese course instead of dessert in order to show off the 2009 Hill of Grace that was the highlight of the evening but as a pairing it was pipped by two other dishes, the salmon and the beef.

The salmon, which was was served blackened with wasabi oysters, pickled vegetables and ponzu jelly was matched with a very young, fresh crisp vintage of Julius Eden Valley riesling while the beef was accompanied by smoked onion, braised ox tongue and roast cauliflower - deeply savoury notes that lent the rich Mount Edelstone a velvety maturity.

Interestingly all the Henschke wines are now made from organically grown, biodynamically treated fruit - an eloquent rebuttal of the idea that all biodynamic wines are wild and weird.

I attended the dinner as a guest of Allium.

Crespelle with wild asparagus and fonduta and extra dry prosecco

I’ve spent the last 3 days in the Veneto at a prosecco festival called Vino in Villa (yup, alright for some, but if it’s any consolation the weather hasn’t been as good as it has in the UK)

Anyway it’s given me the chance to run the better quality proseccos of the Conegliano Valdobbiadene region (try saying that if you’ve had a few) through their paces with different foods - mainly the sort of buffet style canapés you would have at parties.

There was one hot dish though that went particularly well - a ‘moneybag’ style stuffed pancake with wild asparagus and sciopet (some kind of wild greens, a little like spinach, for which I’ve not been able to find the exact translation) and a rich fonduta cheese sauce.

You might think that would be too powerful for a light prosecco but the extra dry style which can contain up to 17g of sugar and is generally sweeter than brut coped really well. It’s a style that’s more popular in Italy than it is in the UK but I reckon a good quality brut prosecco would match well too.

More on prosecco pairings to come.

* I attended Vino in Villa as a guest of the Consorzio Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore.

Fried chicken with Kung Fu Girl Columbia Valley Riesling

It’s not that often you find a wine that’s perfectly suited to every dish you throw at it but The Lockhart’s well chosen Kung Fu Girl riesling sailed right through our lunch there last week

The Lockhart serves southern US specialities such as catfish goujons, gumbo and shrimp and grits alongside some great deep-fried chicken. There’s also their amazing cornbread and honey butter so you have a little bit of spice and quite a lot of sweetness to contend with.

Kung Fu Girl riesling is made by the talented and quirky Charles Smith - a former rock band manager who drives a large Rolls Royce round the sleepy town of Walla Walla where he's based in Washington State. It’s a pretty floral off-dry wine that turns out to be a perfect pairing with this style of food. I’d also drink it with Asian cuisine - it’s a really affordable, versatile restaurant wine.

In the UK you can buy the current 2013 vintage from slurp.co.uk for £10.95 and £11.50 from winedirect.co.uk

You can see my earlier review of The Lockhart here.