Pairings | World food

The best food pairings for dry (or off-dry) riesling

The best food pairings for dry (or off-dry) riesling

It’s sometimes hard to predict what type of food will pair well with riesling because they’re all so different - some being bone dry, some ultra sweet, some positively floral, others zingy and citrussy.

What wine to pair with curry - my top 5 picks

What wine to pair with curry - my top 5 picks

If you’re wondering which wine to pair with curry, you’re not alone. There are probably more opinions about the matter than there are types of curry from “wine is never a good idea* to *any wine you like*.

Which drinks pair best with Thai food?

Which drinks pair best with Thai food?

The predominant flavours of Thai cuisine are sweet, sour, hot and salty - slightly different from the warm spicing of many Indian curries or the more fragrant, herbal notes of Vietnamese. So which which drinks pair best with a Thai meal?

The best food pairings for assyrtiko

The best food pairings for assyrtiko

There are few grapes that bring Greece to mind like Assyrtiko, the saline wonder of the Cyclades. But what do you pair with it? As often, the answer depends on the winemaking style and terroir, because there is not one Assyrtiko (I should know, I recently tried 80 of them.)

What are the best pairings for Provence rosé?

What are the best pairings for Provence rosé?

Provence rosé has a distinct character that sets it apart from other rosés on the market. It’s known for being crisp, dry, and refreshing—qualities that align it more closely with white wines than traditional rosés. This unique profile can be attributed to the region’s winemaking techniques and climate, which yield wines that are both light and structured. Within this style, however, there are variations. On one hand, you have the lighter, easy-drinking wines, known as “vins de soif,” which are perfect for casual sipping. On the other hand, you have more complex and robust rosés, referred to as “vins de gastronomie,” which are designed to pair with a wider variety of foods.

Some unusual food pairings for tea

Some unusual food pairings for tea

Most people wouldn’t think in terms of combining tea and food beyond the classic pairings of Indian teas with a traditional afternoon scone or sponge, or jasmine tea with Chinese food but there are many other possibilities to explore, says Signe Johansen in this post from our archives.

 Some great food pairings for tequila

Some great food pairings for tequila

Despite the recent increase in interest in Mexican street food like tacos consumers in the UK still have to take to tequila (maybe because they’re too busy drinking gin) but in fact it’s an attractive and versatile spirit to pair with food

What Food, What Wine? Indian: which type of wine pairs best with a curry

What Food, What Wine? Indian: which type of wine pairs best with a curry

A lot of people still think that wine isn’t a good match with spicy food but our final session of What Food, What Wine? judging this week suggested that there’s no reason for winelovers to throw in the towel. The success (or otherwise) of the pairings did however depend on the heat of the curries and how ‘wet’ or dry they were.

The best pairings for fino and manzanilla sherry

The best pairings for fino and manzanilla sherry

Manzanilla, as you probably know, is a fino sherry made in the port of Sanlucar de Barrameda rather than in the cities of Jerez or Puerto de Santa Maria which gives it its characteristic salty tang.

Top food pairings with Clare Valley and Eden Valley riesling

Top food pairings with Clare Valley and Eden Valley riesling

One of the most distinctive styles of white wine, dry rieslings from the Clare and Eden Valley in south Australia have a distinctive limey twist that makes them a particularly good match for Asian and Asian-inspired food.

What type of wine pairs best with Vietnamese food?

What type of wine pairs best with Vietnamese food?

Sunday marked not only the start of the Chinese New Year but the Vietnamese New Year celebrations too - known as Tet. As in China there are certain foods which are traditional to the occasion such as pickled vegetables and candied fruits, none of which are particularly wine-friendly but in general I find Vietnamese food, with its milder heat and fragrant herbal flavours easier to match than Thai (although I haven’t had such extensive experience of doing so).

Top pairings for dry and off-dry Alsace whites

Top pairings for dry and off-dry Alsace whites

On a recent visit to Alsace, I had the pleasure of rediscovering the region’s diverse wine offerings, from crisp Rieslings to  Gewürztraminer and Pinot Gris. What struck me during this trip was how integral sweetness is to perfecting a food and wine pairing—a nuance that can vary greatly between a youthful bottle and a more aged vintage.

Wine and Indonesian food: which wine pairs best with Rijsttafel?

Wine and Indonesian food: which wine pairs best with Rijsttafel?

I posted this last year after trying Rijsttafel - the Indonesian speciality that’s widely available in Amsterdam. Translated literally as ‘rice table’, it’s an elaborate array of curries, salads and pickles which present a tough challenge for any wine.

6 versatile wine pairings for a Chinese New Year feast

6 versatile wine pairings for a Chinese New Year feast

Asking which wine is the best match for Chinese food is a bit like looking for the best match for European food - it in no way reflects the diversity of Chinese cuisine.

The best food pairings for Lambrusco

The best food pairings for Lambrusco

If you’re wondering why I’m devoting a post to Lambrusco you obviously haven’t tasted the real thing and today, Lambrusco Day, is your ideal opportunity to try it.

Sake and food pairing: Chilean seabass hobayaki with warm daiginjo sake

Sake and food pairing: Chilean seabass hobayaki with warm daiginjo sake

I was always taught the best sakes were served chilled but the other evening at London's Sake no Hana I got to taste a super-premium daiginjo sake at room temperature with a dish of grilled Chilean seabass and it matched perfectly.

6 of the best drinks to pair with tacos

6 of the best drinks to pair with tacos

Tacos are the ultimate crowd-pleaser—easy to love, endlessly adaptable, and downright delicious. But when it comes to finding the perfect drink to go with your favourite taco, things can get a bit trickier. Should you reach for a cold beer with tacos? If so, should it be a lager, a pale or something else? Do margaritas work with tacos, or they better left as a pre-taco tipple? Can wine work with tacos? If so, red or white? 

What to pair with Beaujolais Nouveau

What to pair with Beaujolais Nouveau

With southern hemisphere wines from the 2016 vintage having been on the shelves for a few months now the annual release of Beaujolais Nouveau has become less significant but you may still want to crack open a bottle today.

5 great pairings for an IPA

5 great pairings for an IPA

Of course it depends what type of IPA or India pale ale you're talking about. A relatively light style will lead you in a different direction from a huge, hoppy double IPA, but these I think would be my top five . . .

Portuguese wine paired with the experimental cuisine at Viajante

Portuguese wine paired with the experimental cuisine at Viajante

Our roving gastronome Lucy Bridgers puts Portuguese wine through its paces with a succession of small plates from the inventive Nuno Mendes.

The best wine pairings for a Chinese stir-fry

The best wine pairings for a Chinese stir-fry

A stir-fry is a great option for a quick midweek supper but what kind of wine should you drink with it?

Which wine to pair with a Moroccan tagine?

Which wine to pair with a Moroccan tagine?

While summer isn’t a time one feels drawn to hearty stews Moroccan tagines are a different matter. Exotic and aromatic, they somehow suit the heat and not being particularly spicy are relatively simple to match with wine. The best wine pairing for tagine depends of course on the type of tagine you're eating. 

What wine to pair with hummus

What wine to pair with hummus

If you’re wondering what wine to pair with hummus or houmous you need to take account of the fact that it’s rarely served on its own.

Eight great drink pairings for sushi

Eight great drink pairings for sushi

You might think sushi would be tricky to pair with wine but surprisingly that’s not the case. And there are other drinks that work too.

Dessert wine pairing: ‘Sweet Thai Green Curry’ with Lapeyre Jurancon

Dessert wine pairing: ‘Sweet Thai Green Curry’ with Lapeyre Jurancon

This wine pairing may sound difficult to get your head round - let’s face it, it is! - but it was a very clever dessert at the 3 star De Librije in Zwolle, Holland last week

The Cookbook Dilemma: The Food of Spain or The Food of Morocco?

The Cookbook Dilemma: The Food of Spain or The Food of Morocco?

Two ‘grandes dames’ of the food writing world, Claudia Roden and Paula Wolfert, have new books out - The Food of Spain (Roden’s first book for five years) and The Food of Morocco. So which should you buy?

Matching Korean food with wine

Matching Korean food with wine

A post from the archives, but an excellent one: food and wine writer Marc Millon, author of Flavours of Korea suggests what to pair with your favourite Korean dishes.

6 vegan recipes that meat eaters will love

6 vegan recipes that meat eaters will love

Is it possible to eat vegan food that’s as satisfying, sumptuous, and comforting as their meat-based counterparts? The growing popularity of vegan cuisine – particularly amongst non-vegans – has made the concept of “plant-based eating” enormously trendy, but not always easy. Monica Shaw has picked out six great vegan recipes that even carnivores will love.

3 inspirational Indian food books

3 inspirational Indian food books

The British love affair with Indian food is longstanding but these three very personal books take our knowledge to another level. Ishita DasGupta takes a look at them.

What to drink with Middle Eastern food?

What to drink with Middle Eastern food?

With middle-eastern food still very much on-trend Dubai-based blogger Sally Prosser of mycustardpie.com tells us which drinks she thinks makes the best pairings

What makes Korean food distinctive

What makes Korean food distinctive

The first thing everyone asked me when I got back from Korea was what does the food taste like? Unless you live in London, or New Malden in Surrey, which, rather randomly, boasts the UK’s biggest concentration of Korean restaurants, then you probably won’t be familiar with Korean food.

The 10 best wines for spring and early summer drinking

The 10 best wines for spring and early summer drinking

The last two days have been quite, quite beautiful, starting mistily, basking midday in an unseasonally warm sun and finishing with an extended dusk that announces that spring is finally here. I immediately want to eat lighter meals: the new season’s vegetables are not quite in yet but I can at least plan for summer and that means a spring clean of the cellar, pushing the full bodied reds to the back and assessing what whites, lighter reds and rosés I still have lurking in the racks.

Can you match wine and chillies?

Can you match wine and chillies?

Who better to turn to than the Aussies for advice on pairing wines with a wide range of spicy Asian food? Here's another preview of the food and wine matching sessions at the Melbourne Food Festival - Solving the Eternal Chilli Dilemma. Answers from Neil Prentice of Moondarra Wines and chef Benjamin Cooper of Chin Chin.

Pairing whisky with Indian food

Pairing whisky with Indian food

Among the many invitations I get to food and drink matching events a recent one to attend a dinner at the Bombay Brasserie in London where each course was paired with whisky sounded the most intriguing. But pairing a high strength spirit with spicy food was surely a recipe for disaster?

Matching wine with Chinese food - time for a rethink?

Matching wine with Chinese food - time for a rethink?

A recent trip to Beijing and Shanghai opened my eyes anew to the possibilities involved in drinking wine with Chinese food. Many of the conclusions we have painstakingly arrived at in the west turn out to be less obvious when tried out in situ.

Matching sweet wine and Sichuanese food

Matching sweet wine and Sichuanese food

Can Tokaji – the great dessert wine of Hungary, and one of the sweetest wines in the world – go with Chinese food, asks Margaret Rand? And if it can, would you want it to?

Why Pinot Gris hits the spot with spicy food

Why Pinot Gris hits the spot with spicy food

You may think tasting wine sounds arduous but a major wine and food tasting, I assure you, is a much greater assault on the system as I was reminded the other day when Victoria Moore of The Guardian and I ran 14 Pinot Gris through their paces with foods that ranged from smoked eel to chicken tikka masala. Neither of us was able to eat much for several days.

Fine Wine and Fast Food

Fine Wine and Fast Food

The news that Greggs, the mass market bakery was opening a champagne bar in Fenwick in Newcastle created a predictable storm of publicity this week (good on them!) but the idea of matching fine wine with fast food is nothing new. 

Why the Chinese prefer to drink red wine with food

Why the Chinese prefer to drink red wine with food

To most westerners the idea of drinking young red Bordeaux with Chinese food seems bizarre. Especially with delicate Cantonese dishes, the most widely available of the Chinese cuisines in the west . Clearly though the Chinese who are paying stratospheric prices for first and second growths - and presumably drinking them - think differently. They don’t turn to riesling and other aromatic and off-dry whites for a reason.

Asian food isn’t the only way into German riesling

Asian food isn’t the only way into German riesling

Having spent five days in Germany this week I’ve been thinking a lot about riesling and food. And my conclusion is that the heavy focus on Chinese, Thai and Indian food may be doing German wine a disservice

Is Koshu the best match for Japanese food?

Is Koshu the best match for Japanese food?

I suspect you’ll be hearing a lot about Koshu this year. No, it’s not some unfamiliar aspect of Japanese cuisine but a white wine made from a grape of the same name. A campaign to promote it in the UK was launched at a lunch in London yesterday by a VIP line-up of Japanese goverment officials from the Yamanashi prefecture where most of the winemakers are based.

 Thai food and orange wine

Thai food and orange wine

Orange wine wouldn’t have been the first pairing I’d have turned to with Thai food but what I love about this business is that there are always opportunities to revise your opinion

Pairing Indian food with the biodynamic wines of Bonny Doon

I have to confess I found it pretty hard to concentrate on the finer nuances of the food and wine combinations at the recent Cinnamon Club dinner. But when the speaker is the discursive Randall Grahm of Bonny Doon and you're sitting next to him that's no great surprise. Before the meal had even started we were into Kierkegaard and a vigorous discussion of terroir in the bar below over our glasses of Vin Gris de Cigare (a typically unorthodox full-bodied rosé based on Grenache, Cinsault and Roussanne).

Mature Marlborough chardonnay with modern Japanese food

Mature Marlborough chardonnay with modern Japanese food

I don’t often go to wine lunches or dinners, preferring to experiment with a range of wines from more than one country and producer with the food I’m eating but I couldn’t resist the temptation of trying New Zealand producer Astrolabe’s wine with the food at Sake No Hana in London's St James's.

Is this wine the perfect match for Thai food?

Is this wine the perfect match for Thai food?

Thai food is particularly difficult to match with wine. Not only do you have the heat to contend with but the tricky sweet-sour flavours and - as with many Asian cuisines - several dishes on the go at a time.

 Indian veggie food and sauvignon blanc

Indian veggie food and sauvignon blanc

After a lively discussion about what to drink with curry on my #weekendwinematching slot it was good to discover a new angle on pairing wine with Indian food.

Asian tastes differ when it comes to matching Chinese food

The results of a unique competition in Hong Kong suggest that Asia-based judges may have a different take to Europeans on matching wine to Chinese food. The judging panel at the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong International Wine and Spirit Competition awarded several medals to full-bodied reds in preference to the more common aromatic white wine styles such as Riesling and Gewürztraminer

The best food matches with New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc

The best food matches with New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc

The flavours of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc - and this is why it is so popular - are powerful and aromatic: citrus, gooseberry and passionfruit in spades. So you if you're looking for a food match need big flavours on your plate to stand up to it.

Thai food and off-dry German riesling

Thai food and off-dry German riesling

This is not the first time, I know, that I’ve suggested Thai food with riesling but it was such a standout pairing at Kolae last week I felt I should remind you of it.

Singaporean food and cocktails

Singaporean food and cocktails

Last week’s standout pairings were all about cocktails - first at a dinner at Avenue to celebrate the World’s 50 Best awards taking place in Singapore next year and then a meal at the newly launched Kym’s the latest restaurant from the much-fêted Andrew Wong about which more in due course.

Korean meatballs with mango, lime and ginger gin

Korean meatballs with mango, lime and ginger gin

Oooofff, Korean food is spicy! Even when I toned down the gochujang chilli paste in the meatballs I made on Saturday night they were a challenge for most of the wines I tried with them (a characterful Babylonstoren rosé powered through). But the best match by far was a gin and tonic made from Romy's Edition Mango, Ginger and Lime gin, a collaboration between Bristol-based Six O’Clock Gin and Indian food writer Romy Gill.

Matching Lebanese food and wine

Many of us are familiar with Lebanon's rich culinary heritage, courtesy of the Lebanese diaspora and food writers such as Claudia Roden and Anissa Helou. Yet the prevalence of popular Lebanese dishes such as tabbouleh and hummous in our supermarkets is not yet matched by Lebanese wines despite a long history of grape cultivation dating back to the Phoenicians.

What to drink with Turkish food

Turkish food is not traditionally accompanied by wine. And although the Turks do have a wine industry not much of it makes its way over here. But here are some thoughts on possible pairings for Mark Hix's Turkish inspired recipes in the Independent this weekend"

The extraordinary food and wine of Georgia

The extraordinary food and wine of Georgia

There's no tradition of wine & food pairing in Georgia because, "we're permanently in the process of eating and drinking, so everyone is continuously matching for themselves," firmly declared Georgia's 'wine queen', Tina Kezeli, my host for a week's tour of eastern Georgia's Kakheti wine region. Georgian meals are lavish affairs with tables laden with dishes appearing in regular sequence but without regard for timing or harmonious wine pairing. Some guidance is needed.

Little Beauty Marlborough riesling and Indian or Pakistani food

Little Beauty Marlborough riesling and Indian or Pakistani food

I’ve always thought of riesling as a better match for the fresh flavours of south-east Asian-inspired food than curry but a visit to the Lahore Kebab House proved otherwise this week.

Pairing wine and Indian seafood

It’s less common to come across Indian-spiced seafood dishes than it is fish and vegetable-based ones so what sort of wine works? Yesterday I had a chance to find out

Wine and spice

Wine and spice

To mark National Curry Week here's an article I wrote for Decanter a while back about Indian food and wine matching at the Cinnamon Club which still contains some useful advice about wine and spice pairing:

HKK - where the drinks are as fab as the food

HKK - where the drinks are as fab as the food

Maybe Chinese restaurants are like buses. You don’t get any new openings for a while then several come along at once. So after Bo London the other day, it’s HKK, the latest project from the Hakkasan group.

Indian seafood and Sollasa Mumbai

Indian seafood and Sollasa Mumbai

Deciding what to drink in an Indian restaurant if you don’t go for beer is always a bit of a challenge but now there’s a new option in the form of Sollasa, a delicious aperitif-type drink that has been created to go with Indian food.

Citrus fizz and Mexican food

Citrus fizz and Mexican food

If you’re not drinking for whatever reason - because you’re driving, pregnant or just taking a break - it’s sometimes difficult to find something that makes a good match for what you’re eating. Soft drinks can be sweet and sugary. Water sometimes too plain.

Chablis at Nobu

Sometimes you go to a wine dinner with some trepidation wondering if the wine will stand up to the food but I was pretty optimistic that Domaine Long-Depaquit’s Chablis would survive at Nobu (the original Metropolitan hotel restaurant in London, not LA, sadly!)

Peckham Bazaar - well worth the detour

Peckham Bazaar - well worth the detour

The thing about neighbourhood restaurants is that they’re a pain to get to if you’re not a local. In general that’s not a problem. They’re nice for those who live nearby, you tell yourself, but you don’t envy them unduly. But Peckham Bazaar is another matter ...

A beginner's guide to sake

A beginner's guide to sake

A newbie's guide to sake from wine writer Natasha Hughes.

 Jikoni: modern Indian home cooking in the heart of Marylebone

Jikoni: modern Indian home cooking in the heart of Marylebone

What makes you want to go back to a restaurant? It may be because it’s convenient for where you live or work. The food certainly has to be good but I think the most important factor is the warmth of the welcome - whether you feel at home there.

Scallop Ceviche

Scallop Ceviche

If you're looking for an impressive dish for Valentine's Day try this delicious scallop ceviche from Rick and Katie Toogood's Prawn on the Lawn: Fish and Seafood to Share. (It feeds 4 but I'm sure you can manage it between you!)

Kimchi fried rice

Kimchi fried rice

If you're a bit of a kimchi addict you'll love this recipe for kimchi fried rice which comes from chef Judy Joo's book Korean Food Made Simple. I think would be brilliant for a weekend brunch.

Chinese New Year is a celebration of feasts and family

Chinese New Year is a celebration of feasts and family

In this post from the archives food, drink and travel writer Qin Xie explains what the Chinese drink with the most important feast of the year and what goes down well in her own family.

 Thai green curry and English rosé

Thai green curry and English rosé

Those of you who follow the site closely might have noticed the Match of the Week slot had disappeared. Because I was no longer travelling and eating out I thought what I was drinking with what would be of little interest and that you probably wouldn’t be able to get hold of the bottles I was writing about anyway

Pairing wine with Szechuan (or Sichuan) cuisine

Pairing wine with Szechuan (or Sichuan) cuisine

Just as you think you might have got to grips with matching wine with Chinese food along comes a regional cuisine like Szechuan which is twice as challenging, as I discovered at a wine dinner at Flinty Red in Bristol. Flinty Red has closed since I originally wrote this post in 2012, but the wine pairing lessons remain.

Berber breakfast eggs

Berber breakfast eggs

It's easy to get into a rut with egg recipes so why not try this delicious Moroccan egg dish from Nargisse Benkabbou's Casablanca: my Moroccan Food which gives a modern twist to traditional Moroccan cuisine.

Pairing Indian wine with Indian cheese

Pairing Indian wine with Indian cheese

Chef Shaun Kenworthy reports on what he believes to be a unique tasting of Indian wine and Indian cheese.

How Greeks celebrate Easter: the feasting after the fast

How Greeks celebrate Easter: the feasting after the fast

No-one who hasn’t experienced a Greek Easter can imagine the scale of the feasting. Wine writer Ted Lelekas tells all about "the most lavish and important meal of the year".

Guacamole and dry riesling

Guacamole and dry riesling

Alsace riesling isn’t the first drink I’d have reached for with guacamole but it makes perfect sense. 

Balthazar, London: beautiful but curiously dated

Balthazar, London: beautiful but curiously dated

There’s no doubt about it Balthazar is drop-dead gorgeous. You only have to see the golden lights winking through the windows to be drawn through the door like a moth to a candle. But how does the food stack up?

Moqueca baiana (Bahia-style fish stew)

Moqueca baiana (Bahia-style fish stew)

If you're inspired to cook Brazilian with the Olympics kicking off this weekend try this classic fish stew from Thiago Castanho and Luciana Bianchi's Brazilian Food.

Matching wine and tapas

Matching wine and tapas

Lucy Bridgers selflessly devotes herself to finding the perfect pairing for tapas on a tapas crawl through some of London's leading tapas bars

Vegetable Thali and Flying Dog Tire Bite Golden Ale

Vegetable Thali and Flying Dog Tire Bite Golden Ale

Where I live in Bristol we’re lucky to have an unusually good Indian restaurant called Thali Café, that sells sophisticated street food which you can take away in your own tiffin box. I’m addicted to the vegetable-based ‘Dairy Free Tiffin’ which is light, fresh and aromatic and was wondering what to drink with it when I picked up a bottle of Tire Bite Golden Ale from the excellent Flying Dog brewery.

Smoking Goat ‘fish sauce wings’ and Peter Lauer 'Fass 16' Saar riesling

Smoking Goat ‘fish sauce wings’ and Peter Lauer 'Fass 16' Saar riesling

It’s well established that riesling is a good match for spicy food but you don’t often get as good a pairing as the new Soho bar Smoking Goat’s already fabled ‘fish sauce wings’ and Peter Lauer’s 2013 ‘Fass 16’ Saar riesling..

Margaritas, tacos and tostadas

Margaritas, tacos and tostadas

There are few instances where a national drink goes so well with a national cuisine as tequila and Mexican as I was reminded at the weekend when I tried out London’s latest opening Wahaca. (A deliberately easy-to-pronounce play on Mexico’s foodie mecca Oaxaca)

Lotus root stir-fry and chrysanthemum tea

Lotus root stir-fry and chrysanthemum tea

It seems invidious to pick out just one wine pairing from my visit to the Okanagan valley last week (of which more in due course) so I’m going for the first drink I had on my arrival: chrysanthemum tea at a brilliant Chinese restaurant called Chef Tony in Richmond, the town just next door to Vancouver.

Lamb biryani and grand cru gewurztraminer

Lamb biryani and grand cru gewurztraminer

Sometimes it’s worth revisiting your prejudices. I’ve never been a huge fan of gewürztraminer with Indian food although it’s an established pairing. It always seems to me slightly jarring, especially with tomato-based curry sauces. But this week I changed my mind.

Dim sum and Champagne

Dim sum and Champagne

A very Western approach to Chinese food, admittedly, but if you're celebrating Chinese New Year today with a dim sum lunch you'll find that Champagne - or other sparkling wine - makes a perfect pairing.

 Raan and Grover Chêne

Raan and Grover Chêne

I’ve been thinking a fair bit about red wine and Indian food lately - of which more in due course - but wanted to flag up one pairing from my trip to India last week which definitely worked.

Lima, London: a splash of colour in Fitzrovia

Lima, London: a splash of colour in Fitzrovia

It’s unusual these days to come across a menu that’s totally unfamiliar. You can almost predict it. Pork belly? Check. Steak? Check. Sticky toffee pudding? Check. But the recently opened Lima, which specialises in modern Peruvian food, is so startlingly original that it feels like taking a two hour trip to Peru.

Frying pan Turkish flatbreads

Frying pan Turkish flatbreads

Today marks the start of Organic September and what better way to kick it off than this great recipe from much-acclaimed vegetarian cookery writer Anna Jones, author of A Modern Way to Cook

Clams Stir-fried with Roasted Chilli Paste

Clams Stir-fried with Roasted Chilli Paste

Though I long to recreate its singing flavours I've always been slightly daunted by Thai food. The recipes always seem so long and complex and contain so many ingredients.

Andhra Curry-leaf Chicken

Andhra Curry-leaf Chicken

When I met Christine Manfield a while ago I gave her the impossible task of picking one recipe out of her stunning book Tasting India. This was the one she chose.

Pairing rosé champagne and dim sum

Pairing rosé champagne and dim sum

Is rosé champagne a good match with dim sum? Our roving correspondent Lucy Bridgers retains admirable control of her critical faculties while being plied with successive vintages of Bollinger's Grande Année . . .

Vietnamese fish sauce chicken wings and tamarind whiskey sour

Vietnamese fish sauce chicken wings and tamarind whiskey sour

It might seem perverse to pick out a cocktail match during a week of drinking stellar wines in Oregon wine country but I’m saving my new thoughts on wine pairing with Pinot Noir for a more wide-ranging piece. And this is a great cocktail pairing

Stir-fried pork with Thai basil and Australian riesling

Stir-fried pork with Thai basil and Australian riesling

This week’s match of the week doesn’t come as a big surprise but it’s sometimes good to be reminded of tried and tested pairings rather than ones that come totally out of the blue.

Sparkling wine and spicy snacks

Sparkling wine and spicy snacks

The idea of drinking sparkling wine with Indian street food might seem crazy but it’s a really good pairing as I was reminded last night when I dined at Masala Zone just off Carnaby Street with Warren Edwardes, the CEO of a company called Wine for Spice.

Lamb mechoui and 2007 Chateau Musar

Lamb mechoui and 2007 Chateau Musar

This, I think, was the standout pairing from our Honey & Co wine club on Sunday and a great illustration of the difference a dish can make to the way a wine tastes.

Goat biryani and natural wine

Goat biryani and natural wine

I subjected myself to a somewhat daunting experience last Thursday trying to persuade a largely sceptical audience of journalists and bloggers of the virtues of natural wine. I think/hope I made some modest headway, helped by the fantastic feast laid on by chef Stevie Parle and his team at Dock Kitchen.

Fish curry and Gruner Veltliner

Fish curry and Gruner Veltliner

Last week I hosted a tasting for Bristol-based spice company The Spicery in which we explored a number of different wine pairings for different styles of curry - including an Indian Shiraz!

Chicken korma and viognier

Chicken korma and viognier

I spent last week on the road in Ireland with wine importer Febvre hosting food and wine matching events for some of their restaurant customers. We covered a lot of ground from Enniskillen to Cork taking in Belfast, Galway and Dublin on the way and enjoyed a lot of amazing food matches.

A Viognier-dominated Languedoc white and a Chinese/Thai takeaway

A Viognier-dominated Languedoc white and a Chinese/Thai takeaway

The first thing we do when we get back from France is to eat some kind of spicy food. It’s not impossible to eat ethnic down in the Languedoc (there are a couple of Vietnamese restaurants locally) but it’s not good.

The Barbary, Covent Garden

The Barbary, Covent Garden

There are two good reasons for eating at The Barbary. One is the Jerusalem bagel, a wondrous piece of baking. Served warm from the oven, encrusted in spicy sesame seeds it must be the best bread roll in town.

Thomasina Miers' Mole Amarillo

Thomasina Miers' Mole Amarillo

To celebrate Day of the Dead - or maybe even Bonfire Night - here's a fabulous warming spicy Mexican stew for 10 from Thomasina Miers' Wahaca: Mexican food at Home.

Spinach & agushi curry

Spinach & agushi curry

I recently chaired a panel on women in food at the Abergavenny Food Festival which included the wonderful Zoe Adjonyoh. I hadn't seen her book Zoe's Ghana Kitchen before but discovered it was full of the most delicious recipes, many of them vegan.

Romy Gill's lamb harissa

Romy Gill's lamb harissa

One of the most beautiful and original books that has been published recently is Romy Gill's On the Himalayan Trail which focusses on the food of Kashmir and Ladakh. Here's her recipe for lamb harissa which - surely a bonus for meateaters - is commonly garnished with a sheekh kebab. I also like the idea it's a brunch dish!

Fish in coconut milk (Macher Malaikari)

Fish in coconut milk (Macher Malaikari)

I don't always think of using fish in a curry but it takes such a short time to cook it makes a brilliantly quick meal.

Baingan Bharta - roasted smoky aubergine

Baingan Bharta - roasted smoky aubergine

I've been lucky enough to eat my friend Romy Gill's food on many occasions - she's an inspired home cook - so it's great to finally see her recipes in print.

 Harak Osbao (lentils and pasta with tamarind, sumac and pomegranate)

Harak Osbao (lentils and pasta with tamarind, sumac and pomegranate)

This is one of Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi's contributions to Cook for Syria a brilliant fund-raising book of middle-eastern inspired recipes from top food writers which was conceived and curated last year by instagrammer Clerkenwell Boy*.

Here's to Clean Monday!

Here's to Clean Monday!

The start of Lent is cause for gloom for many people faced with the prospect of giving up something pleasurable like wine or chocolate Not for the Greeks however who kick off their fasting with a splendid celebration called Kathara Defter or ‘Clean Monday’.

What to drink with dal

What to drink with dal

Generally of course dal wouldn’t be eaten on its own but with a curry or a biryani but given it makes a pretty good midweek dish on its own or with rice you might fancy a glass with it. Here are some options

Tuna Tataki and Grenache Blanc

Tuna Tataki and Grenache Blanc

Perfectly prepared Japanese food is not what you expect to find in the gastronomic desert of the Languedoc but this superb dish of rare tuna was a brilliant match for the richly textured white wine I drank at Côté Mas the other day.

Tongdak (rice-stuffed chicken) and orange wine

Tongdak (rice-stuffed chicken) and orange wine

Continuing in the spicy food vein of last week, this time I was eating at a Korean restaurant called Bokman in Bristol.

Tandoori salmon and fino sherry

Tandoori salmon and fino sherry

One of the more successful pairings from the otherwise rather challenging sherry lunch I attended at the Cinnamon Club last week was a dish of tandoori salmon with a Valdespino Innocente fino. I tend to overlook fino in favour of manzanilla but I’m not sure it’s not a more flexible match with food.

Tandoori grouse and an Indian ‘SuperTuscan’

Tandoori grouse and an Indian ‘SuperTuscan’

If you’d asked me a week ago whether I thought it was a good idea to cook grouse in a tandoor oven and then to serve it with a full-bodied red I’d have said no, and no. Which shows how you can continually be surprised by this food and wine pairing lark.

Tacos and tamarind agua fresca

Tacos and tamarind agua fresca

It’s always good to come across a soft drink that pairs as well with food as an alcoholic one and the Mexicans have a particularly refreshing one in agua fresca.

Sukiyaki Wagyu and red burgundy

Sukiyaki Wagyu and red burgundy

I’d have been hard pushed to explain exactly what sukiyaki was before I had it this week at Jason Atherton’s swish new restaurant Sosharu in Clerkenwell.

Spicy prawns and Chilean riesling

Spicy prawns and Chilean riesling

Last week I hosted a fabulous wine dinner at my local Indian restaurant Nutmeg in Bristol. We’d had the opportunity to have a run through beforehand and I was really happy with all the wines which were chosen in conjunction with their supplier Talking Wines.

Spicy paneer pancakes and a ginger-turmeric soda

Spicy paneer pancakes and a ginger-turmeric soda

Although I’m not doing Dry January I am trying to take a break from booze on at least a couple of days a week so when I went to Romy Gill’s pop-up at Carousel last week I opted for the alcohol free options.

Moqueca and Caiprinhas

Moqueca and Caiprinhas

Last week our local tapas bar, Ocean, held a Brazilian evening with a talented local Bristol singer Frances Butt who is really into Latin music. (So much so that she has issued an album called The Girl from Wolverhampton - where she grew up though obviously not where her soul lies . . .)

Mezze and pomegranate juice

Mezze and pomegranate juice

If you find yourself in an Iranian restaurant (or a Persian one as they often still describe themselves) you’ll be lucky to find much in the way of wine options and in many ways the food is better suited to the cordials or sharbats they would generally drink.

Mezze and apple, mint and ginger lemonade

Mezze and apple, mint and ginger lemonade

It must be the unseasonally hot weather but I've been drinking a lot of soft drinks lately. There seems to be much more choice on the market, especially more sophisticated drinks that are full of flavour but not too sweet. And which go well with food.

Kibbeh and Domaine des Tourelles red

Kibbeh and Domaine des Tourelles red

I agonised over whether this should be the standout pairing from this marvellous Lebanese meal at Arabica last week but it won by just a whisker.

Courgette, seed and curry leaf cake and dry German riesling

Courgette, seed and curry leaf cake and dry German riesling

The more I taste authentic Indian food the less I think it causes problems for wine. A group of us cooked up a whole load of recipes on Saturday night including this savoury cake called handvo from Anjum Anand’s I love India.

Cold sesame noodles and weissbier

Cold sesame noodles and weissbier

Thanks to my friend Signe Johansen of Scandilicious I finally got to Koya in Frith Street the other day - London’s food bloggers most popular noodle haunt and the winner of last year’s Observer Food Monthly’s Best Cheap Eats award.

Chicken with pomegranate molasses and orange iced tea

Chicken with pomegranate molasses and orange iced tea

One of the areas of food and drink pairing I’m always trying to crack is soft drinks - so it’s good to find an inspired match that really hits the spot - not too sweet as most soft drinks are for me.

Chicken, lemon and olive tagine with Rioja reserva

Chicken, lemon and olive tagine with Rioja reserva

Friends came round the other night and I cooked one of my favourite new recipes - a chicken, lemon and olive tagine (which appears in my forthcoming book Food, Wine and Friends, she adds, unable to resist a cheap plug!). One of the reasons it’s slightly different from the authentic Moroccan version is that I remove the chicken skin which makes the dish a lot lighter.

Albarino with arroz negro (rice with squid ink)

Albarino with arroz negro (rice with squid ink)

If you’re an albarino fan I’m sure you know it pairs brilliantly with seafood but here’s a twist to take the experience to another level.

 Txakoli and practically everything on the Palomar menu

Txakoli and practically everything on the Palomar menu

I think Txakoli may be my new favourite restaurant wine - or at least it is this summer. It’s a unique, sharp, very slightly fizzy white wine from the Basque region of Spain. The one we were drinking - at the Palomar in Soho - was the Agerra Txakoli which comes from the designated origin of Getariako

Uyen Luu's Vietnamese Chicken salad

Uyen Luu's Vietnamese Chicken salad

I don't know how often you turn to Asian-inspired salads at this time of year but I find myself making them more and more. Here's a classic Vietnamese salad from Uyen Luu's Vietnamese to inspire you.

Spicy chicken salad

Spicy chicken salad

We normally think of lunchboxes in terms of kids' packed lunches but James Ramsden has come up with this a brilliant book of imaginative dishes you can take to work. Called - appropriately enough - Love your Lunchbox.

Richard Turner's beef rendang

Richard Turner's beef rendang

If you like a bit of a project make Richard Turner's beef rendang this weekend - one of his favourite recipes, he tells me, from his brilliant new book PRIME.

Omelette baguette (bánh mì trứng ốp lết)

Omelette baguette (bánh mì trứng ốp lết)

One of the cuisines I've always wanted to get to grips with is Vietnamese, not least because we don't have a good Vietnamese restaurant nearby so I welcomed Uyen Luu's beautifully illustrated My Vietnamese Kitchen with open arms.

Kid Rogan Josh

Kid Rogan Josh

One of the most interesting cookbooks to come out in the past couple of years is James Whetlor's Goat - a book of recipes for using goat meat.

Japanese ginger and garlic chicken with smashed cucumber

Japanese ginger and garlic chicken with smashed cucumber

A simple but spectacular Japanese-style dish from Diana Henry's marvellous new book A Change of Appetite which I've also reviewed on the site here.

Gizzi's Thai Roast Duck & Watermelon Salad

Gizzi's Thai Roast Duck & Watermelon Salad

If you want to make just one dish to celebrate the Thai new year try Gizzi Erskine's fabulous Thai-style duck and watermelon salad from her most recent book Gizzi's Healthy Appetite.

Easy Korean Kimchi Hotpot

Easy Korean Kimchi Hotpot

Want to cook something authentically Korean to celebrate Korean New Year next week? Try this easy, traditional Korean kimchi hotpot suggests Nathalie Gardiner.

What wine would you drink with Pad Thai?

What wine would you drink with Pad Thai?

What’s the best wine for pad thai? Well, it’s a dish you might well not think of pairing with wine at all but according to a report on the blog Musings from Thailand, an adviser to the Thai government has suggested a campaign to link French wine and Pad Thai as a way to promote Thai food overseas.

Toulouse sausage and prawn dumplings with sweet chilli sauce and Thierry Puzelat gamay

Toulouse sausage and prawn dumplings with sweet chilli sauce and Thierry Puzelat gamay

A pretty wild combination this week at a lovely wine bar, Magnum, we went to in Toulouse on Saturday night. The owner Jérôme’s wife, who originally came from Réunion, had made Chinese-style dumplings with the local Toulouse sausage and prawns served with a sweet chili sauce. Not the kind of thing I would normally go for but he sold it so persuasively we had to give it a go and it was fantastic.

Thai fishcakes and witbier

Thai fishcakes and witbier

Although I'm not one of those who is resolutely against pairing wine with spicy food there are definitely occasions when beer goes at least as well, if not better and this is one of them.

Thai beef salad and off-dry Riesling

Thai beef salad and off-dry Riesling

It’s easy to get stuck in the trap of thinking red wine is the only accompaniment for meat, especially red meat but in these days of multi-cultural eating that’s not necessarily true. And a good case in point is a Thai beef salad with its zingy, hot/sour flavours which influence the match much more than the beef does.

Sushi and an oaked Luis Pato white

Sushi and an oaked Luis Pato white

About the last thing you’d think I’d be recommending after 4 days in Portugal last week would be a wine pairing for sushi - but that was the outstanding match.

Satay and aromatic whites

Satay and aromatic whites

What do you drink at those restaurants that have multiple small plates - I.e. most restaurants these days?

Root vegetables in dashi with junmai sake

Root vegetables in dashi with junmai sake

A terrific pairing which was part of a fascinating tasting I went to last week of sakes from the Tohoku region of Japan, the area most affected by last year's earthquake and tsumani. It was organised jointly by the British Sake Association and events company Tengu Sake (@tengusake on Twitter) and took place at Tombo, a Japanese cafe in South Kensington which laid on some particularly delicious food.

Prawn laksa and dry German riesling

Prawn laksa and dry German riesling

It was a bumper week for wine pairings with some classic favourites such as pork and Beaujolais (an excellent Fleurie at Cora Pearl) and oysters and muscadel (at the new Hawksmoor in Edinburgh) but I’m going for this riesling pairing as it solves the thorny problem of what to drink with laksa.

Prawn curry and saffron lassi

Prawn curry and saffron lassi

I’m always on the lookout for interesting alcohol-free drinks to pair with food so was pleased to see that Asma Khan had listed some really interesting options at her Darjeeling Express residency at The Sun and 13 Cantons pub in Soho the other day.

Panko-fried yellowtail with truffle honey and sparkling sake

Panko-fried yellowtail with truffle honey and sparkling sake

I honestly didn't know which dish to pick out of this extraordinary pop-up at The Dead Doll’s House Islington last week, hosted by wine importer Bibendum PLB who now also bring in a wide range of sakes. So I’m going for this one because it was the first and one of the simplest.

Mezze and a Palestinian white wine

Mezze and a Palestinian white wine

Finding a Palestinian restaurant in London is unusual enough but discovering a Palestinian wine to go with the food is beyond all expectations

Junmai sake with cheung fun, asparagus and shiitake mushrooms

Junmai sake with cheung fun, asparagus and shiitake mushrooms

It’s partly because not enough restaurants offer the option but I don’t drink sake often enough in Asian restaurants. (And yes, I know Asian is an imprecise term but that’s how many describe the food they offer)

Grosset off-dry riesling with a Chinese New Year’s Eve feast

Grosset off-dry riesling with a Chinese New Year’s Eve feast

We had a great feast with friends on Saturday night to celebrate the Chinese New Year, cooking a range of dishes from Fuchsia Dunlop’s fabulous Every Grain of Rice about which I was raving last week.

Curried lentils with Waipara riesling

Curried lentils with Waipara riesling

Riesling is often paired with Indian food though I don’t think it always works with hotter curries. But with this anglicized version of a dal from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s new book Eat Better Forever it was spot on.

Clams with rice and Verd Albera

Clams with rice and Verd Albera

What do you drink with tapas? My immediate go-to is sherry but having indulged that whim the other day in the form of a glass of tangy manzanilla amontillada from Lustau’s almacenista collection I unusually followed it up with a glass of white.

Cheese and cassava croquettes and rum punch

Cheese and cassava croquettes and rum punch

This week's match of the week is a bit random, admittedly, because everything goes with rum punch in Barbados but I wanted to single out these delicious croquettes we bought in the Holders Hill farmer's market.

 Lamb tagine with prunes and Châteauneuf-du-Pape

Lamb tagine with prunes and Châteauneuf-du-Pape

You might not immediately think of wine in the context of Moroccan food but in fact Morocco has been a significant wine producer since the days of the French protectorate. And they planted the same grape varieties - grenache, syrah and cinsault that thrive in the south of France.

An alternative New Year's Eve menu for four

An alternative New Year's Eve menu for four

Tired of turkey? Bored with goose? Try Signe Johansen's fresh-tasting suggestions for a simple New Year's supper with friends.

Yoghurt-baked fish with walnut-herb crumbs

Yoghurt-baked fish with walnut-herb crumbs

This recipe came from a fascinating dinner at which chef Greg Malouf cooked a selection of Iranian dishes from his book Saraban which he wrote with his former wife Lucy with whom he still collaborates. This unusual and simple fish dish in yoghurt particularly appealed to me and I thought it would to you too.

Vivek Singh's butter chicken

Vivek Singh's butter chicken

In the run-up to National Curry Week TV chef Vivek Singh shares his favourite recipe for Old Delhi-style butter chicken from his enticing new book Spice at Home.

Shanghai red-braised pork with eggs

Shanghai red-braised pork with eggs

If you're looking for something to make for the Chinese New Year try this marvellous recipe from Fuchsia Dunlop's Land of Fish & Rice (Note: Fuchsia recommends you make it a day ahead.)

Romy Gill’s Paneer Burji (Scrambled Paneer Curry)

Romy Gill’s Paneer Burji (Scrambled Paneer Curry)

A wonderfully comforting recipe from celebrity chef Romy Gill’s India, her most accessible book yet, which is full of the simple, homely recipes she makes for her family and friends. 

Maria Elia's carrot keftedes

Maria Elia's carrot keftedes

If you're giving up meat for Lent try these delicious carrot keftedes from Maria Elia's excellent book Smashing Plates, one of the cookbooks that impressed me most last year.

Kimchi and Gochujang skillet eggs

Kimchi and Gochujang skillet eggs

If you're a kimchi addict you'll love this spicy way of serving eggs from Ed Smith's fabulous book Good Eggs. And if you're not it should convert you! 

Khao Soi Noodles

Khao Soi Noodles

After the carbfest that is Christmas I fancy clean spicy flavours in January so leapt on this easy, delicious dish from Claire Thomson's The Art of the Larder.

Cherry, herb and freekeh tabule

Cherry, herb and freekeh tabule

You might not think of putting cherries in a salad but it can work wonderfully well as Sarit Packer and Itamar Srulovich of Honey & Co demonstrate in this clever twist on a tabbouleh from their most recent book Honey & Co: At Home.

Can any wine survive a Vindaloo?

Can any wine survive a Vindaloo?

The widely held belief that wine doesn’t pair with curry has largely been dispelled with the new and more subtly spiced curries on the market. But what of really hot curries like a Vindaloo?

Wagyu beef tataki and ginjo sake

Wagyu beef tataki and ginjo sake

We get so used to thinking of red wine as the only pairing for beef that it’s good to be reminded there are other options. Especially when it comes to Japan’s fabled Wagyu beef which is all about subtle tastes and textures.

Tantamen ramen and Asahi Super Creamy Head

Tantamen ramen and Asahi Super Creamy Head

I’m beginning to get Christmassed-out already so this week’s pairing is not the very old madeira and Comté I had last night, amazing though that was, but a steaming, spicy bowl of ramen and an Asahi Super Creamy Head beer I enjoyed at Bone Daddies Ramen earlier in the week.

Sushi and Genmaicha (Japanese green tea with roasted rice)

Sushi and Genmaicha (Japanese green tea with roasted rice)

To the incomprehension of my husband who can’t see the point in raw fish, I adore sushi and try to eat it at least once a week - usually with one of my daughters who are both big sushi fans.

Soft shell crab tempura maki and ‘Misty Mountain’ sake

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.

Sashimi and Koshu

Sashimi and Koshu

This week’s match had to involve the extraordinary Kaiseki meal I had at Umu. I wrote it up extensively a few days ago so I won’t dwell on it again but rather focus on the pairing that I think would work best in a less rarified contest. And that’s sashimi and unoaked koshu.

Okonomiyaki and orange wine

Okonomiyaki and orange wine

Our experience of Japanese wine is so limited in the UK that it came as quite a surprise to find three wines I would never have expected in a small restaurant and natural wine bar called Pasania in Osaka - a pinot noir, a kerner and an orange koshu.

Mango shrikhand with Floris mango beer

Mango shrikhand with Floris mango beer

Last week I did another pop-up with Bristol chef Romy Gill - this time at the Butlers Arms in Sutton Coldfield which is owned by Twitter friend Chris Giles and his wife Paula.

Lamb curry and Luigi Bosca De Sangre 2011

Lamb curry and Luigi Bosca De Sangre 2011

A cabernet would have been the last wine I would have thought of drinking with a curry but as happens from time to time you come across an unexpected wine match that really works.

Kylie Kwong's roasted beef fillet with Cape Mentelle Cabernet Merlot

Kylie Kwong's roasted beef fillet with Cape Mentelle Cabernet Merlot

Celebrations come thick and fast at this time of the year - first Burns' Night, and now Chinese New Year and Australia Day. Since both fall on the same day this year I thought I'd kill two birds with one stone (terrible expression but you know what I mean) and mark the Year of the Ox with a beef recipe matched with an Australian wine.

Guava Collins and Singapore Noodles

Guava Collins and Singapore Noodles

Traditionally it’s been difficult to find a pairing for noodle dishes, especially soup noodles which have the triple drawback of being hot, sour and wet. But the other night at Alan Yau’s new restaurant Cha Cha Moon (of which more to follow when I do my round-up of new London openings) I had a delicious non-alcoholic cocktail which really hit the spot.

Guacamole, salsa and a citrussy pale ale

Guacamole, salsa and a citrussy pale ale

Last Friday night Helen, our designer, and I had a bit of a works outing to our colleague Monica Shaw's who works on the nuts and bolts of the website. She cooked up an amazing Mexican feast of which this was just one element but it was striking how much better the whole meal went with beer than with wine.

Flying fish cutters and Banks beer

Flying fish cutters and Banks beer

A week without wine might sound like hell for wine lovers but to be honest in Barbados why would you drink anything else? Wine is expensive and there’s not much choice whereas beer is cheap and ubiquitous.

Couscous royale and 2011 Chateau Romanin Les Baux de Provence

Couscous royale and 2011 Chateau Romanin Les Baux de Provence

Last week we returned to one of our much-loved haunts, Arles, and ate our way round some of our favourite restaurants (the ones that weren’t closed as a number mysteriously seemed to be at what you’d think was still peak holiday season).

Contemporary sushi and Sancerre rouge

Contemporary sushi and Sancerre rouge

The best meal on my whirlwind tour of the Centre Loire* last week - and there was stiff competition - was a Japanese meal prepared by sommelier Juli Nakata-Roumet, the Japanese wife of the local promotional body’s director of communication Benoit Roumet

Aubergines with walnut sauce and amber wine

Aubergines with walnut sauce and amber wine

It’s hard to pick out one pairing out of the multitude of dishes we were served with amber or orange wine during my first visit to Georgia last week but I’m going for one we barely ever failed to find on the table - grilled aubergine with walnut sauce.

What to drink for Diwali

What to drink for Diwali

If you’re planning a meal to celebrate Diwali this weekend here are two traditional drinks to accompany the feast.

Fresquito Vino Nuevo de Tinaja

Fresquito Vino Nuevo de Tinaja

If you want proof of how adventurous a wine retailer Marks & Spencer has become you only have to try this unusual Spanish white made from Pedro Ximenez, which is more usually used to make a sweet syrupy style of sherry.

Drink of the week: Sawanotsuru sake

Drink of the week: Sawanotsuru sake

Always on the ball Aldi announced this week that it had added a sake to its drinks range. Not quite the bargain it first appears when you discover the bottle is £3.99 for just 300ml but that’s enough for two and interesting nonetheless.

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