A pleasing adventure for any discerning palate is that of matching Western-style wines with Chinese cuisine. In this arcane and mystical art, it's a question of balance; neither should overshadow the other. If if done correctly it can be a marriage made in heaven.

Among all the Chinese cuisines that are available, Cantonese must surely be one of the most popular.

For adventurous types, who like to enjoy a relaxed Sunday brunch with dim sum, what could be better than champagne? Try a cool, bouncy, yeasty champagne such as Bollinger or a superb Billecart Salmon Ros. A good quality sparkling wine would also suit.

Fried foods require a more full-bodied wine such as Chardonnay or a sparkling (red) Shiraz from Australia.

Crisp white wines such as Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand, South Africa or Chile, which tend to be more fragrant and fruity, are suitable with steamed fish such as pink Garoupa and shrimp siu mai.

In fact, Sauvignon Blanc can almost always replace champagne. Steamed crab claws are perfectly suited to an oaked chardonnay like the Kendal Jackson from California, a more lightly oaked chardonnay from Victoria in Australia or a Chablis, from Burgundy in France.

Red wine drinkers have a wide range to choose from when it comes to feasting on barbecued suckling pig with hoi sin sauce - a light-bodied, nutty-flavoured Merlot from Robert Mondavi in California, Pinotage from South Africa, Cabernet Sauvignon from China to a Shiraz from Australia or, perhaps, best of all, a Pinot Noir from Burgundy.

One of the very best is an 18-month oak-aged Santenay Pinot Noir from Cote de Beaune via the negociant Maison Louis Latour - available at Remy wine shops. Lovers of Pinot Noir swear the wine has a spring-like effect on one's stamina.

Pinot Noir is also a delightful complement to panfried fillet of eel with soya sauce. I recently had the dish with a Kendal Jackson Pinot Noir. The alliance worked out well, bringing out the sweetness of the fish and the cherry fruits of the wine. The combination proved that red wine can work well with fish.

To finish off an extravaganza of Cantonese cuisine and grape-wine, a late harvest Riesling from Chile or Australia (where it is referred to as a "ticky") can be served with the popular desserts of panfried red bean cakes or chilled coconut with taro cakes.

Some enterprising Chinese restaurants such as the Promenade at the Harbour Plaza Metropolis Hotel in Hung Hom, have a wine trolley going around the tables so that customers can see and taste the wines before choosing the ones they would like to drink with their dinner.

The restaurant's biggest draw is the generous dinner buffet, particularly at weekends. At this feast, Cantonese dishes and Western specialities vie for attention across serving tables groaning under the weight of all the food diners have to choose from.

The reluctance of other restaurants to offer grape wines with Chinese food is becoming a thing of the past. And so it should be. This is the way to go for the more urbane consumer in a major city.

Promenade:

Harbour Plaza Metropolis Hotel, 7 Metropolis Drive, Hung Hom Tel: (852) 3160 6880

* Maggie Beale is an international wine and food critic and judge; and president of the Wine Writers Circle

(HK Edition 12/03/2004 page16)