Yes, of course, you could drink all manner of wines with this bold and vibrant dish. A crisp, young dry riesling - something from the excellent 2012 vintage, for example - would be stunning with the clean taste of the cured fish and the zestiness of the lime. A fruity young sauvignon blanc would be lovely with all those crunchy textures in the jicama and cucumber. And a later-harvested pinot gris or gewürz or even an off-dry riesling would be able to handle the heat and sourness of the pickled chillies. I know that many of the restaurants hopping on the Mexican bandwagon across Australia are doing a pretty good job with their wine lists: the selection at Melbourne's Mamasita, for example, is wonderfully eclectic, featuring Canadian rieslings alongside Uruguayan tannat, even some Txakoli from the Basque country (a wine that would, incidentally, be a great match for the kingfish). But be honest: when you think Mexican food, do you really think wine? No. You think tequila. And I think beer (I can't think tequila since that rather unfortunate night back in 1989…). Cold, pale lager. Drunk from the bottle (or, if you must, the glass). It really is exactly what you need to wash down a tostada. Or two.
A riesling would be stunning. A sauvignon blanc, lovely. But when Max Allen thinks Mexican food, he reaches for a lager.
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