We managed an all too infrequent trip into London one Friday night recently to meet friends in the pursuit of good food, interesting wine and general merriment! With that in mind, we thought we’d visit our old mates’ (Brett Woonton & Charlie Young) newest Vinoteca offshoot in Seymour Place. The Vinoteca wine-bar concept is a simple but compelling one, offering good quality interesting food alongside a well chosen selection of wines in a relaxed, buzzy environment.
We arrived to a heaving restaurant and managed to book a table with Willoughby who is the charming manager and formely at Le Cafe Anglais. Vinoteca only accept bookings for lunch and operate a first-come, first-served policy in the evenings. We managed to squeeze ourselves at the edge of the bar and near the serving pass. Strategically positioned at the bar, we ordered a glass of the house Prosecco which is on tap and a glass of Rosé. Noticing a bowl of olives in front of her, my wife helped herself to a juicy olive. Soon after the bowl was collected by a passing waitress and delivered to it’s expectant diner slightly less than complete! Luckily no one seemed to notice and we carried on regardless! Our old friends, Emily and Bruce, then arrived and we managed to squeeze in one of Willoughby’s cocktails which consisted of Campari, orange, Prosecco and a number of other secret ingredients in it. It seemed to hit the spot and, soon after, we were shown to our awaiting table.
Vinoteca, as you’d imagine, has a great well-priced wine list serving 25 wines by the glass and a further 285 by bottle. It will keep any oenophile enthralled for hours! As we were in the company of expert slurpers, Emily saw short shrift of the list and promptly ordered. All the wines can also be bought at retail prices in the the shop to take home.
I have to confess, the evening menu which I appropriated seems to have magically disappeared! So, I will have to delve into the memory banks which are still slightly hazy about most of the evening. For a starter I had smoked mackerel which was full flavoured and worked very well with the Pewsey Vale Eden Valley Riesling 2009. I then ordered the marinated Bavette with fresh horseradish, fat chips and watercress. Bavette is common in France but rarely seen over here. It’s basically a well-trimmed skirt or flank of beef. We drank a great bottle Vajra Dolcetto d’Alba 2009 which was rich and had enough structure to compliment the flavour of the beef. My wife ordered the milk-fed British rose veal which was beautifully tender and pink. I have to say the glasses and plates were mounting on our small table which all added to the general hustle and bustle of the evening. As usual, Bruce managed to see off most of the wine and was ready for fresh stocks which were ordered from the wines-by-the glass list. We manged to sneak in a few desserts and I opted for the steamed marmalade pudding with vanilla ice cream which was moist with a sticky sweet/bitter oozing marmalade mound. Clearly we needed dessert wines with our “desserts” and I enjoyed a great glass of Cadillac Chateau Fayou.
The kitchen is ably manned by Head Chef, Will Leigh, who was formerly at the Blueprint Cafe. As the kitchens are open to the restaurant, you could see the small brigade working efficiently and lovingly to produce great, flavourful food.
After a round of coffee, Bruce insisted we all had a Lemoncello (the after taste always reminds me of Lemon Squeezy washing up liquid) for the road. It was time to head, a little wobbly, for the last train home!
Vinoteca is a great place where you can get stuck into some serious food & wine in a fun, relaxed environment! What’s not to like?
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