Chinese meals are paired successfully with wine with slight flavour adjustments

PAIRING wine with Chinese food may be quite a novelty in Malaysia but it can be achieved with a good understanding of the different flavours in the cuisine.

“People here don’t associate wine with Chinese food but this concept has caught on in countries like Australia and Hong Kong,” Quality Wines Sdn Bhd managing partner Robert Tan, 60, said.

Quality Wines recently teamed up with Hakka Restaurant in Jalan Raja Chulan, Kuala Lumpur, to present a Chinese New Year Sau Kung Chow (year-end appreciative dinner) for about 200 guests.

 
Enticing: The Hong Kong style BBQ duck is paired with the Toro De Piedra Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon.
 
Tan said he would sit with the chef to taste the food with the wine so that the chef would understand the kind of taste that was expected.

“Chinese food has very strong flavours that might overpower the wines so I would ask the chef to tone down on certain ingredients,” Tan said.

For this dinner, the must-have Yee Sang is paired with the six-year-old Segura Viudas Heredad Cava Reserve.

 
Well-matched: The dry Los Riscos Chardonnay which is low in acidity pairs well with the rich shark’s fin soup.
 
“The Yee Sang is a unique Malaysian dish with many flavours, aromas and textures and it also goes well with a young unwooded white wine with fresh acidity, dry or off-dry Rose and young sparkling whites,” Tan said.

The rich Shark’s Fin Soup was paired with the Los Riscos Chardonnay from Chile that was dry and low in acidity, bringing out the flavours of the broth.

The Steamed Ocean Red Snapper was steamed with less ginger for easier pairing with the soft-tannin Alfredo Roca Malbec from Argentina.

“Someone asked if it is okay to pair fish with red wine because it is usually paired with a white. If you know your wines well, it is definitely okay. This young and low-tannin red is good for fish, pasta and vegetables,” Tan said.

 
Good combination: The signature stewed pork knuckles with dried oysters and fatt choy matches well with the Farm’s Special Reserve Shiraz ‘99 because of the high content of fats in the meat. Well-matched: The dry Los Riscos Chardonnay which is low in acidity pairs well with the rich shark’s fin soup.
 
Next, the Stewed Pork Knuckles with Dried Oysters and Fatt Choy, one of the restaurant’s signature dishes, was paired with the award-winning Farm’s Special Reserve Shiraz ‘99 from Australia.

“The high fat content in the pork knuckles makes the wine smoother,” said Tan.

The Hong Kong Style BBQ Duck with its strong texture and oily crunchy skin was paired with the robust, full-flavoured and full-bodied Tora De Piedra Reserve Carbenet Suvignon.

A well-rounded, mellowed tannin, full-flavoured and easy drinking wine, the Penross Petit Verdot Reserve was paired with two dishes — the Fish Bladder with Fatt Choy and Mushroom and another popular Chinese New Year Dish, the Steamed Rice with Waxed Duck and Duet Sausages.

To end off the meal, the Chinese Pancake with Lotus Seed dessert was paired with the Wild Africa Whisky Cream liqueur with its sweet and creamy taste.

With eight dishes and seven types of wine, Tan’s advice was to go slow with the wine during the first few courses.

“You want to be sober enough to enjoy all the pairings but from my experience, you will get a very happy crowd by the fourth or fifth dish,” Tan said with a laugh.