Okonomiyaki

Okonomiyaki

Okonomiyaki is a hearty cabbage pancake with pork or seafood, lacquered in sweet-savoury brown sauce and mayonnaise and scattered with bonito, so the dish is rich, fried and intensely umami, wanting high acidity to cut the richness and a little fruit for the sauce. Bubbles or an off-dry white work best. Avoid tannin and oak.

Pairs Perfectly

A Crémant, France. Traditional-method bubbles and bright acid scrub through the fried richness and the mayonnaise.

Pairs Well

An off-dry Riesling, Mosel Kabinett, Germany. Acidity for the fat, a touch of sweetness for the sauce, and it costs little.

A Verdelho, Western Australia, Australia. Citrus and tropical fruit with fresh acid, a New World white that meets the sweet-savoury sauce.

Avoid

Tannic reds and oaked whites, which turn metallic against the deep umami.

Failing That

A Prosecco, Italy.

If All Else Fails

Pinot Grigio, Italy.

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