The db Bistro burger at the Marina Bay Sands Singapore: sirloin patty, stuffed with red-wine braised short ribs and as a statement - foie gras, held by sturdy bamboo picks between a toasted parmesan bun. Sinful enough for a last meal, and therefore, dying for a wine pairing.
Since that burger is built for making the news, I can't imagine any table not ordering at least one burger. If my memory serves me right, all five at us couldn't help but order that same burger. Hey, makes the job easy for the waiter. And also makes my usual task of selecting the wine easier - theoretically.
Beef - clearly a red wine. And with the onslaught of fattiness, saltiness and savoury from the burger, a wine intense enough to stand up against it, possibly a Cabernet Sauvignon, or a blend that has Cab, like a Bordeaux. That is where the price constraint kicks in. My friends love me, but they would kill me if I made them split the bill for any wine priced far north of $100. And supposedly restaurants mark up Bordeaux, Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay the most because diners recognise them the most.
It didn't help that the wine list ran hundreds of labels long, and there were wines by-the-glass that cost more than wines by-the-bottle at white tablecloth restaurants elsewhere.
I would usually ask the sommelier for recommendations. I generally don't dine at expensive places, and some like me would have the misconception that the sommelier is their enemy. They imagine that dude has a sales target, a commission and bottles of wine going over the hill.
But they forget the sommelier has a reputation, and that his aim might be to ensure you enjoy your first bottle enough to continue with a second, or to return to the restaurant. Moreover, margins are actually the thinnest at the high-end restaurants. Restaurants can only mark up expensive wine so much before the diners balk.
And the sommelier-is-my-enemy camp forgets they can choose how the interaction goes. For example: ask the sommelier what wine the chef braises the short ribs with. That helps you select your wine.
Better to seek some expert advice, then to make your decision, than to order blind and end up with wine you don't like (and still pay for it).
All that said, I don't think I asked the sommelier that evening. Because I had spotted an ideal candidate - a Malbec from a Catena family owned vineyard in Argentina. I remember a gorgeous Tahuan Malbec by Ernesto Catena.
As a more obscure grape varietal, the price was right. The other good thing about ordering underdogs is that the sommelier couldn't have put the more obscure bottles in the list unless he or she loved it.
After that evening, at least one of my friends loved the Malbec enough to make the effort to find out who distributes it. He also discovered that the mark-up at db Bistro (priced at $100) was one time more than it retails for (priced at $50). Not bad considering most casual places sell supermarket bottles that can be bought for $15+ for $50+ (that's more than 3x).
To be honest, if you ask me for the exact flavour profile of the wine or the burger, I can't quite remember. I just remember lots of laughter, the inky dark purple, almost black Malbec staining our teeth, swirling the wines like we thought the experts would, inhaling deeply the fruity smells, letting each sip linger since we don't pay so much for wine every day, having difficulty holding the burger up, warm and comfortable service from the team, and for me - wondering why on earth the Catena family keeps putting pyramids on their wine labels.
If you haven't been to db Bistro, I would recommend striking that original burger off your bucket list, and having a Malbec with it. And bring friends - they are the best wine pairing or burger condiment you could ask for.
