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.

Lobster macaroni cheese and Ruinart champagne

When I flicked through the pictures I’d taken of the wines I’d drunk over Christmas and the New Year I realised there was a LOT of champagne. Partly because I’d been given or shared some rather nice bottles but equally because champagne goes with practically everything from oysters to shepherds pie (as the novelist Jeffrey Archer famously established).

This year I drank it with the turkey (Cristal, mind you*), shedloads of smoked salmon and some very good 3 year old parmesan (some 1998 Gosset Celebris which amazingly still had some fizz in it) but the best match of all was a glass (or two) of Ruinart with the lobster mac’n’cheese I ordered on room service at the Rosewood on the annual 24 hour post Christmas break I spend with my daughter (see my blog for how this new Christmas tradition came about).

I guess most of you would instinctively reach for a red with a mac'n'cheese (Saint Emilion being a favourite) but like many cheesy dishes it’s actually better with a white, chardonnay being my normal go to. But lobster, being luxurious, somehow merits going the extra mile with a bottle of bubbly, vintage for preference.

The best wine - and other drinks - to match with macaroni cheese

Wine with lobster: 5 of the best pairings

* in part payment for judging the Louis Roederer awards, in case you think I’m made of money …

Fillet of beef with 2009 Pio Cesare Barolo

Beef and red wine is a blindingly obvious match but it gets more interesting once you think about the cut and the way that it's cooked.

Last week my fellow judges on the 2016 Louis Roederer awards and I had a slap-up lunch at Chez Bruce following a lengthy but unusually amicable judging session. I say unusually as these discussions can sometimes get testy when people disagree about who should be on the shortlist but while vigorous views were expressed we didn’t (fortunately) fall out over them. (You can find the shortlist here)

The main course was a beautifully cooked rare fillet of beef with Lyonnaise fondant potato, carrots, girolles, and what were described as ‘thyme meat juices’ - basically a very light jus. From past experience of matching fillet with lighter reds like pinot noir I was expecting it to work with the 2009 Pio Cesare Barolo with which it had been paired and it totally did showing off the gorgeous fruit and silky texture of the wine to perfection.

I know many Barolo fans like to keep their wines longer than this - and it obviously would age - but it struck me as a lovely moment to drink it, particularly in high summer when you want fruit flavours rather than autumnal notes to the fore.

Oh, and in case you're wondering, yes we did have a glass (or two) of champagne to start with. 1997 Cristal in magnum which was both voluptuous and still astonishingly fresh. And some very delicious warm, crumbly cheese sablés to nibble with it. I'd happily wade through several thousand words for that. Come to think of it, we did . . .

For more wine and steak pairing tips see 5 things you need to know about matching steak with wine

And for more food matches with Barolo The best food pairings with Barolo and Barbaresco.

Wagyu beef sliders and Lanson Extra Age champagne

Steak isn’t the first ingredient you might think of pairing with champagne but if it’s ground wagyu beef, served in a bun with a quality glass of fizz in a glitzy Park Lane restaurant you might just have to force yourself.

Of course it may just have been the feelgood factor that made the marriage work. The restaurant was Wolfgang Puck’s Cut and the sliders one of his signature dishes (served as an amuse rather than a starter or main).

The champagne was also a bit out of the ordinary - an extra-rich bottling Lanson created for the restaurant trade which is blended from older vintages from grand-cru and premier cru vineyards - so in effect a vintage champagne but not from a specific year. There was definitely an umami thing going on with the beef, the cheese and the fizz.

It also went really well with a warm lobster club sandwich reinforcing my conviction which I wrote about a couple of months ago that you should drink great wines with fun food.

Although the Extra Age is mainly focussed at the trade it’s currently on offer in a gift box at Ocado for £44.99, £44.49 if you buy 2 bottles from drinksdirect.co.uk or £51.95 from champagnedirect.co.uk - not at all a bad price for a wine of this quality.

I ate (and obviously drank) at the restaurant as a guest of Lanson