Eat this, drink that: Oz Clarke on pairing inflight food & wine

One of the world’s most celebrated and colourful wine authorities, Oz Clarke helps Singapore Airlines curate its impressive ‘cellar in the sky’.

It’s a collection which now boasts the exquisite Cristal 2015 Champagne in first class, alongside the best reds and whites from around the world.

Combine that with Singapore Airlines’ extensive inflight menu, including its enviable Book the Cook selection, and the stage – and table – is set for a restaurant-grade experience, especially in business and first class.

But Clarke doesn’t adhere to the traditional pairings of food and wine. Instead, with so much variety at hand, he encourages travellers to “keep an open mind.”

“For instance, as a rather traditional red wine, red Bordeaux technically shouldn’t go with spicy dishes from South Asia,” he tells Executive Traveller.

“Although you lose some of the flavour (at altitude) it actually goes pretty well with the kind of spices they use in some Cantonese dishes.”

“It shouldn't do, but it does… and eventually you realise there’s no should and there’s no shouldn’t.”

“So to say that we would pair a wine particularly with this Cantonese dish or that dish from northern Japan or from Australia… it doesn’t work like that.”

Instead, Clarke suggests passengers take full advantage of the opportunity to sample different wines.

Oz Clarke suggests you embrace the opportunity to try new wine pairings on Singapore Airlines.

“For Singapore Airlines we're trying to go to choices of three whenever we can, and in fact sometimes you've got a choice of four.”

“We always have the classics, like a red Bordeaux and an Australian Shiraz, because  every time we ask our customers what they think, red Bordeaux comes up again and again and again as the most popular red wine, followed by Australian Shiraz,” he reflects.

“But right now we've also got Ribera Del Duero and an Argentine Malbec on this month.”

A ‘wine flight’ with a difference...

“You’ve got a sommelier on board, and the stewards and stewardesses have also been trained in wine, so they can help you choose…  my feeling is to just take your pick and if you don’t like that wine with this dish, don't worry, ask the steward and they’ll give you another one.”

“If you want to do a tasting of all the wines, just ask. You’ll have a really good time and you’ll get a slightly better night’s sleep than you expected!” Clarke jokes.

“The thing about flying on Singapore Airlines is that you’ve got half a dozen cuisines as soon as you get on board.”

That said, Clarke readily admits “there are a few perfect pairings in the world of wine, and they’re all really simple… something like a quality Burgundy or Tasmanian Chardonnay with a piece of cod, or a quality Bordeaux or Coonawarra with a piece of beef.”

But exploring new food and especially new wines is all part of the experience of flying, he argues.

“People get on board the plane looking forward to their flight and expecting an experience.”

“I certainly do”, he adds, “and I’m an inveterate traveller. I love travelling 30 miles on a train out of London, let alone thousands and thousands of miles from London to Singapore.”

“Yesterday I was in Heathrow. I bounced down the gangway with a big smile on my face, thinking ‘I’m going to have 12 hours on this Singapore Airlines plane and I’m looking forward to every single one of them.’”