This will just be a short photo-blog on the interestingly named Addiction Aquatic Development in the Taipei Fish Market, and the lovely wine bar located inside. The Taiwanese restaurant group Mitsui revamped a section of the old Taipei Fish Market to include this charming upscale restaurant/supermarket.

Takeaway sushi, live fish, and butcher cuts are available, although we were most impressed of course with the excellent wine selection!

  

A very thoughtful selection of Riesling from Willi-Schaefer and Muller-Catoir, two excellent producers. There was a Grower Champagne I wasn't familiar with, and a Chablis Grand Cru - although I think just a 1er Cru cuvee would have sufficed. I loved that they had Muscadet by Domaine de l'Ecu, one of the finest producers of Muscadet in France. Fred Niger, the winemaker there, farms biodynamically and brings great clarity and energy to his wine. 

Unfortunately their "by-the-glass" selection was less exciting. There was a very large selection of wines by the glass (more than 8 reds and 8 whites), but all the whites were basically Chardonnay from all over. We stuck with a Marc Morey - Chassagne Montrachet 2007 (mineral, saline, and a touch of honey - delicious), and a Cremant de Bourgogne by Lou Dumont (excellent balance, also delicious!).

The standing sushi bar was beautiful, and the variety of the set menu was excellent. We chose the middle-tiered option, which cost roughly 200HKD. Everything was fresh, delicate, and perfect with our wine. It's such a shame that Hong Kong doesn't have anything so pleasant and affordable for both tourists and locals to go to. 

We were incredibly happy to see that the market was promoting organic & biodynamic wines - even though only one low-intervention winery was widely promoted, they were all from the amazing Domaine de l'Ecu, and were priced very attractively. We picked up a bottle of this nervy sparkling Chenin Blanc for dinner.

Dinner was of course, xiao long bao! We had already gone to Ding Tai Fung the first day, so we went for the Shanghainese option at Kao Chi. Delicious, and less MSG as well. The fresh apple-aromas of the Chenin Blanc cut through the savoury dumplings, and went perfectly. There was a hint of residual sugar as well, which really balanced out the richness of the broth inside the dumplings. The minerality of Chenin Blanc is always amazing with seafood and well ... practically every Asian dish. 

If you are like us and find the idea of pairings quite dull - keep it simple. Sparkling Chenin Blanc from the Loire + a biodynamic producer? Easy.