Icewine Goes Great with....Fish?

We went to a Japanese restaurant last night and ate a ton of seafood. Eating Japanese in Taiwan is way better than what you get at a Japanese restaurant in the US, maybe that's obvious, but the reasons why may not be. The obvious reasons why are Taiwan's proximity to Japan and that, like Japan, Taiwan's main sources of food come from the ocean. The less obvious reason is that Japan occupied and befriended Taiwan during WWII, leaving behind a culture in Taiwan that is distinctly Japanese. This is unlike the Japanese restaurants in the US, which quickly realize that they need to Americanize themselves in some way to be successful, usually resulting in smaller food portions, higher prices, and less availability of foods.

There were 7 of us who went to this restaurant. Here's a breakdown of what we ate:

• An appetizer, 3 plates, of salmon roe and sweet beans (not sure what they were, they were black)
• 4 dishes of sashimi. A "dish" would consist of 6 pieces of fish, and we had salmon, tuna, and some mystery fish.
• 4 dishes of baked eel. Each dish had two pieces that were 4" x 6".
• 2 mystery fish, completely in tact, with a mean looking snarl on their faces. Tiny fish that were maybe two inches in diameter and 8 inches long. Tasty but bony.
• 1 Shrimp roll. 8 pieces in total.
• 4 dishes of Misoyaki, which is a fish of unknown origins, baked in soy (I think).
• Yet again 4 pieces a mystery fish, rolled in some mystery roll, served in some mystery broth (try ordering that).
• Two huge plates of vegetables.
• 4 plates of Shrimp Tempura: each plate consisting of 3 large pieces of shimp, deepfried, and served with deepfried vegetables.
• Two hand rolls: 1 sea urchin, 1 asparagus and shrimp.
• A hot pot of food. A clay pot filled with miscellaneous vegetables, fish, and tofu.
• 7 teapot soups. They literally serve you a teapot and you drink the broth. When finished with the broth, there are miscellaneous pieces of fish inside that you eat. Apparently this is a very popular and traditional Japanese dish, but I've never seen it before.

And the bill? $130. I've eaten for two at a Japanese restaurant in the US and easily spent over $100. I can't imagine what this bill would have been in America.

We also had a fantastic icewine, served somewhere between the 5th and 6th servings of fish. It had to be fantastic because any sweet wine that was less than fantastic would have ruined an appetite if drunk during this meal. My father-in-law receives gifts from customers all the time and he usually leaves the gifts to sit in his office and rot (I'm going to teach him ebay this week). One of the items was an icewine, and he wanted to drink it as soon as we sat down. Luckily I was able to have it chilled for 15 minutes before we unleashed the dessert wine onto our pallets.

2004 Peller Estates Vidal Blanc Icewine; Private Reserve

From the winemaker: Lemon yellow colour with enticing aromas of honey, caramelized sugar, spice and golden pineapple. Intense flavours of mandarin orange, peach, marmalade and sponge toffee. A medium to full-bodied dessert wine with lingering notes of honey and candied orange all perfectly balanced by firm acidity.

TravelGuy says: yup yup yup, the description is spot-on, though I think the "intense flavours" section is a bit much - I didn't taste this, but then again, it could have been the omega 3 fatty acids from my food that was inhibiting my palate. Yeah, that's it. I did love this wine and wish I could try it again with something sweeter than fish.

Google Shopping result: $50; and that's for a 375ml bottle. Ouch. Worthwhile? Maybe, but I am not worth that much at this point. Glad that this bottle was free.