One of the advantages beer has over wine when it comes to food matching is that its flavours frequently complement dishes in ways that wine cannot. The caramel, roasted flavours of darker ales and stouts, and darker lagers such as the American Samuel Adams, go particularly well with roasted and barbequed meats.
The hop flavours perk up the palate and cut through anything cloying. The bubbles clear the tongue for the next mouthful.
Try a Bavarian wheat beer, such as Erdinger (which is full of banana and clove notes), with spring rolls. Or a strong stout like bottled Guinness Foreign Extra Stout with dim sum. Hunt down the amazing Gale's Prize Old Ale from London, available in Hong Kong bars such as the Happy Valley Bar and Grill. This strong (9 per cent) sweet-sour dark ale is beer's equivalent to sherry, and marries perfectly with Peking duck and pancakes.
Annie Lam of the Beer Bay, near the Discovery Bay ferry pier in Central, is interested in the idea of matching beer with Chinese food. Lam believes England's breweries offer some excellent matches for Chinese cooking. 'You can divide English beers into three simple groups,' she says. 'The strong ale group: strong in alcohol, 5 per cent or 6 per cent proof, and tending to be very hoppy. These are beers like Bishops Finger from Shepherd Neame in Kent.'
British beers tend to be relatively low in strength, as Britons drink in quantity. 'For this kind of ale, it's best to match with red meat. Choose strong flavours, like beef and lamb. These beers bring the flavours out if you're using oyster sauce.
'The second group is the pale ale group. This kind of beer has a flavour which is very subtle. It includes beers like Hooky Gold from Hook Norton in the Cotswolds. I would match it with white meats and fish. It would be very good to bring the flavour out in a light curry sauce, or a vegetarian hotpot.