The BIG SURPRISE
 about Vietnamese food and how well it goes with wine

No-one asks what wines do I drink with European food?? Because it's a stupid question. There is no useful category called European food. There is only French food, German food, Italian food and so on. Given this, then, why do so many people ask what wines do I drink with oriental food?? The answer is because they imagine all oriental food to be similar. But it is not. It is just as varied, as individual, as any in Europe.

And none, in its own peculiar excitements and supreme compatability with wine, is more individual than the cuisine of VietNam. All those fresh slivers of vegetables. The dipping sauces. The ingenious marinades. The braising. All those fresh herbs.

Vietnamese cuisine is very special and it is a great thrill to have created a wine list for a Vietnamese restaurant where every bottle has been meticulously chosen to go with all the dishes. The wines are also fairly priced. The not only match the food, they do not have the usual mighty restaurant mark-ups. Thus they match anyone's expectations of how to eat and drink out, wonderfully well, and not blow a fortune.

Malcolm Gluck