Match of the week
Indian-spiced soft-shell crab and English sparkling rosé
You might have thought English sparkling wine and in fact English wine in general was a bit delicate for Indian food but this pairing at Trishna last week was spot on.
Crab of course goes well with rosé anyway and sparkling wine is great with deep-fried food so it wasn’t a massive leap to pair the two when spices were involved especially when they were as subtle as at Trishna which has a Michelin star
The wine was one of the most elegant English rosés, Busi-Jocobsohn’s 2019 Rosé Brut which has a lowish dosage of 6.3g which counters the idea that you need wine with a touch of sweetness with spicy food.
However it is a single vineyard wine and slightly fuller and riper than the extra brut rosé of theirs I’ve tasted before which helped it stand up to the dish (and makes for more pleasurable drinking too)
You can buy it from their website busijacobsohn.com for £39 - which is good value for a sparkling rosé of that quality.
For other wine and crab pairings see The Best Wines to Pair with Crab
I ate at Trishna as a guest of Busi-Jacobsohn.
Shrimp and soft shell crab burger with vintage champagne
One of the (many) charms of champagne is how well it goes with comfort food like a shrimp burger as I discovered at London’s famous seafood restaurant J Sheekey last week
The occasion was a dinner to launch their new champagne and oyster bar and terrace which they’ve set up in partnership with Moët et Chandon. We also had oysters - obviously - dressed crab and langoustines with a dollop of gloriously glossy mayonnaise but it was the burgers which were paired with the 2013 vintage of Moët which were the standout pairing
The thing is if you have champagne this mature it can take practically anything in its stride including the slightly pokey spiced Korean mayo which was served alongside and into which I gaily dunked my chips. (This was fortunately before I went down with COVID a couple of days later when I wouldn’t have been able to taste a thing)
The burger is actually a comparatively reasonable - for the West End - £22.50 though chips would add another fiver onto that and a glass of vintage Moët no doubt another £20, assuming you could stop at one. But if you had an indulgent elderly relative who wanted to treat you - or wanted to treat your beloved to a romantic night out (it is still a wonderfully romantic restaurant) If would be perfect.
I ate at J Sheekey as a guest of the restaurant.
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.
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