I've said this before, but my Shun Classic paring is about as close to ideal as I've used. It's (IMO) far and away the best knife that Shun makes. I've slowly changes the blade shape over the years and ended up with something that looks similar to the famous sab. The handle and integral bolster add a balance bias that is very handle heavy (as it should be). It's a knife that just feels good and everyone who's used it really loves.
I'm a huge carbon fan, but this is a knife that I really appreciate being stainless as 99% of what it cuts is very acidic.
The only thing that I'd change is subbin in something like AEB-L or ginsanko for the vg10, but for the way that a pairing knife is used, the properties of vg10 are totally adequate.