Wine Diners at Xu

Unforeseen complications led to February’s date being cancelled so we were delighted to see some members who had not been free to attend for a while at March’s event at Xu, London.

The table opted into the set menu which started with Cuttlefish on Toast (think a fancy prawn toast), Xian bing (kind of dumplings) and peanut lotus crisps. It just so happened that two sparkling Roses were on offer too.

Starting with a Spanish Rose named after the winemaker’s granddaughter, this estate only produces two sparkling rose. Dedication. The second was an old ‘favourite’ – Mateus Rose. A recipe change a few years ago brought down the sugar significantly and was a pleasant surprise round the table as a summer drinker.

Beef pancake was next on the menu which did not convey the rich bone marrow, chillis and spring onion accompaniments to paper thin pancakes that disappeared rapidly. This was followed by “Saliva Chicken”, a surprisingly cold chicken dish with cucumber and sesame.

It was time to move onto the whites at this stage and a 2016 Dr Loosen Riesling Kabinett came out as a go to favourite from an original Wine Diner who is soon to leave us for South Africa. This was then followed by, let’s be honest, the wine of the night, 2007 Zind Humbrecht Gewurztraminer. An absolutely gorgeous rose gold glass that just kept giving, proving time again why we need to pay more attention to the “tall bottles” of the wine world, and not just with Asian food!

Mains arrived with sea bass covered in red and green chillies, crab, char sui pork and pepper steak all accompanied by sticky rice and asian greens. The one red of the night came out, from Sonoma but a winemaker trying to bring some finesse to the category both in abv and style.

Finally desserts were sticky orange cakes covered with condensed milk, shared across the table, with a “surprise sake” to go with – mix cultures, why not!

Thank you to Xu who provided excellent service, great music and a lovely atmosphere.

Wine Diners at Bar Duoro

Hurrah – we are well and truly back for 2018

And what better way to start than in the lovely wine packed private dining room that sits above the kitchen at Bar Duoro.

Once everyone was seated the only white of the night was opened and the wave of food began. Salt cod fritters and smoked Portuguese sausage croquettes arrived, cut through perfectly by the aptly named Eins Zwei Dry Riesling.

Potato balls and Ginger & Chilli dressed broccoli paraded as our healthy plates for the night complemented by two Portuguese reds, both light and approachable with the Louis Pato being particularly fruity, showing that the country is not all about big robust Ports as well as showing off some national varieties. We like the story behind the Curva choice…

 

Huge Garlic Prawns and Octopus came out with unbelievably well cooked onlget – prompting a debate on the best steak in London – and the ribs, well, the ribs could not have been better matched in their sticky glaze to the next wine, Bons Ventos, if they had tried!

Cheese brought out the big boys – 2000 Belgrave, a beautifully drinking claret – and Chateauneuf-Du-Pape from Domaine La Barroche accompanied by a wonderful story from a new member to our dinners.

We couldn’t resist desserts and these came with a local cherry digestive.

A wonderful restaurant whose staff got the pace just right and whose toilet makes me want to redecorate my bathroom immediately.

Salud!

Wine Diners at Anima e Cuore

6 Wine Diners
6 desserts
7 mains
8 starters

And a cheese plate. They say pictures speak louder than words. So here we go

It started with an amazing menu, fresh bread and Trimbach 2010 Reisling

It moved into 8 starters, EIGHT

Accompanied by 2007 Zind Humbrecht Clos Saint Urbain and a sprizty Junmai Sake

Then the mains arrived, ox cheeks and polenta, truffled, pasta, osso bucco ravioli…

With two Burgundian style white, in the New World corner South African, in the Old World Portugal

And dessert (with a funky little Pinot from Norfolk en route) …

So if you missed out, well, this place offers BYO anyway and we will ALL be revisiting it. Superb.

Sign up to learn about the next one as soon as it is announced.

Wine Diners at Poco Broadway Market

Well it might have taken us a few months to get 2017 going but we had a wonderful warm evening out East at Poco and we already have the next two dates in the diary, check the website and RSVP.

Poco is a great restaurant for sharing with lots of dishes perfect to enjoy together. Despite the warm weather our group went red heavy – great minds! – so we started with a St Nicolas de Bourgeil which one of our diners had bought young and opened over the years saving the last one for us. It was drinking beautifully. Along side that a Mas de la Devese came from a recent wine fair and showed that classic Southern French blend at its best, and at punchy alcohol too!

Starters included cauliflower (my vegetable of 2016), Labneh and piles of bread and lovely oil. Mains moved into Pork Belly, Lamb Shoulder and crushed potatoes. These were accompanied by two more reds, one was Touriga Nacional Mythos from a recent trip to Portugal and the other was Texan. I know! Who knew! The Bending Branch Winery had produced a blackcurrant packed, smooth Tannat – revelation.

Desserts were torn between crumble (the surprising winner) and panna cotta and rounded off with a Sylvain Gaudron Vouvray who sweet notes and balanced acidity rolled us out and into Ubers happy wine diners.

Thank you to Poco for hosting us and for their excellent food and staff.

Next up – Anima e Cuora on 3rd May.

Wine Diners at Soif, Round 2

We rounded off 2016 with a meal in Soif; not only a favourite of ours but also a restaurant who invited us back so we must have done something right!

We stared with a dubious wine from me – a Greek white that I had tried on the mainland the month before and I was concerned about the old “tasted good in the sun” sentiment. Fortunately it was a lovely aperitif and started us off as the starters arrived. Charcouterie was swiftly followed by some outrageously tasty veg – broccoli and anchovies and pumpkin with cheese.

Duck breast was the winner all round for the main and the autumnal reds came out with 2009 Rutini Malbec and Chacra Pinot Noir. One wine – a big Italian red – was declared corked after much debate, but these things happen; The person in charge of this wine was peeved though as it had been offered as a swap for something in her collection!

The bitter chocolate and salted caramel pudding followed with a fascinating Veil Aged Cider that had unfortunately “aged” a little too long but our wine diner had brought a sweet wine back up just in case.

And so ends 2016. It has been a fabulous year – new restaurants, intriguing wines and always great company. Share our website with friends and sign up for updates – we will be back in 2017.

 

We Turned 20!

We were so proud that from a idea created over many gins late one night, we – Wine Diners – had reached our 20th gathering. In an attempt to be able to involve more than the normal number we eschewed restaurants and embracing the sunny London weather, we pitched up in St James’s Park with a bottle of wine each and… a picnic!

The results were more than we dreamed of, with Ginger Pig style sausage rolls, provencal tart, caponata, chicken stuffed with mushrooms, wrapped in parma ham and slow cooked, celeriac salad, all the fresh breads, Gruyere rolls,  home made terrine and that was just the savoury.

Sweet extended to lots of cheese, Hungarian Lamingtons, Paul patisseries and, of course, cake. It wouldn’t be a celebration without!

Wine ranged from South African sparkling to Provencal roses, huge oaked Chardonnays through fine Burgundian Pinot Noirs, South African reds and ending with sweet French whites.

It was a wonderful evening and stayed warm for us even after the sun went down. Watch our website for the last celebration of 2016 taking place 7th November, location TBC.

 

Wine Diners at Petit Pois

Ah, Wine Diner #19 at Petit Pois. We had all heard the hype. Some of us had already been. And it wasn’t good. It was exceptional. Why can’t more restaurants just do great food at a good price?

We all seemed to be thinking aperitif with our wines so launched into a Hungarian trend of Sancerre Rose with sparkling water and a fruity little English red.

In classic Wine Diners style we went for 3 courses even though it almost pushed us into food comas. There was onion soup, mussels and blue cheese souffles for starters.

When it came to the mains between us we managed to order everything, steak, confit duck and sole meuniere with all the sides.

And it was so good we forgot to take pictures until the end so you will have to google it or go yourself!

This is when the big reds came into play with Chateau Talbot from the excellent 2009 vintage presented as well as French all organic and natural carbonic macerated Maximus.

When it came to dessert it would have been rude not to embrace the famous chocolate mousse but so the other desserts did not feel bad we also order a poached pear and cheese to share. Washed down with a hardly available Isle of Harris whisky (the first legal still on the island) some of our group discovered (to their detriment?) that Happiness Forgets was just down stairs.

I will leave you with a quote from one Wine Diner: “How, HOW, did I get home?”

And a picture of that chocolate mousse.

 

Wine Diners at Foxlow

BYOB #18 was held, unusually, on a Tuesday to make the most of Foxlow (Clerkenwell)’s free corkage. This sibling to Hawksmoor has all the quality at bistro prices, perfect for our Wine Diners gathering.

We started with a selection of pea guacamole, bread, cobble lane charcuterie and burrata and this was accompanied by two starting white. First up was a Jurancon wine called Ambitions from a recent holiday to the area; it was rich and round and stood up to the strong flavours. Next was a wedding wine (awh…!) called You&Me (double awh…!) from Spain and was the perfect crisp contrast.

When the mains came we had a mixture of fried chicken, short rib, lots of steak and a variety of sides. This meant one wine was left to open – a delightful white Bordeaux that spoke of summer to come on that balmy spring evening – and two reds. The first, a classic big Argentian malbec and the second, another new world, Chilean Pinot Noir.

By the time we made it to dessert, mainly bread & butter puddings – and through the cheese or dessert first debate (cheese, of course) – we had a wonderful surprise of both a 20 year old Port, wow, and a 2007 Rieussec, double wow.  A wonderful pair of treats to end the night and suddenly it was 11.30pm. Carriages!

Huge thanks to Foxlow and their fabulous staff.

Next Wine Diners: 9th May.

Wine Diners at Soif

BYOB #17 held in February 2016 was a resounding success, not that we would say so our selves but the thank you emails flooded in!

Soif, Battersea, were the evening’s hosts and was a new venue for most, though many had visited their more central site Terroirs.

We started with a lovely fresh Fino Sherry, as we suggest every meal should start (!) that was won in a bet involving the ice bucket challenge, remember that?! This was swiftly followed by Mondeuse from the Savoie, a light drinking wine that pairs well with Savoyard specialties but is delightful on its own too.

The starters came and we all got rather excited over terrine, rillettes and charcuterie… to the point that we forgot there was also another round of burrata and smoked mackerel to come! These were well matched to a New Zealand Chardonnay – little different to the sav blanc we can become used to – and a stunning “natural wine” called Gaja with notes of oxidation and a brilliant cloudy look.

Mains were a choice of meltingly braised lamb with polenta or cod with mussels and both dishes paired surprisingly well with a rich, beautifully drinking 2008 Brunello from a  new member of our group and a rich white Rioja.

Then for once the group turned down cheese but a red Brown Brothers blend – straight from the cellar door no less – and a regional French wine “Anciens Temps” saw us through desserts of chocolate mousse or pistachio cake, no easy feat but accomplished with aplomb.

A huge thank you to Soif and we plan on returning here very soon!

Wine Diners at Picture Restaurant

For our 14^th – FOURTEENTH?! – Wine Diners get together we did things a little differently. With Picture Restaurant offering a summer tasting menu, we pre-allocated courses for our 7 intrepid guests to pair wines to and then voted for the matches at the end.

Josh at the bar welcomed us with some fantastic grapefruit, thyme and Tarquin gin cocktails after which the charming Aaron showed us to the table where we started with a dainty shot of Gazpacho.

Our first wine pairing, for the grilled tenderstem broccoli and peaches, was a fresh round 2014 Sancerre (Roc de L’Abbaye) that was chosen as an option that “everyone would like”, a go-to wine that never goes wrong.

Next was an intriguing mix of pork cheek, pickled carrot, watermelon and bbq sauce, paired with a dry 2011 Tokaji Furmit from Hungary. Voted the most interesting wine match, its off dry notes worked really well with the fruit and BBQ notes.

Fish was up next, sea bream fillet with courgette, fennel, lemon and marjoram crumb, paired expertly – WINNER of the evening – with a Bulgarian white wine called Misket.

Onto the beef with white onion, young beetroot and greens – potentially an easy pair – and our Wine Diner looked everywhere for a challenging wine but not finding it (in time, to be available at session #15!) he settled on 2004 Grand Puy Lacoste whose lovely big Bordeaux flavours will always show well with red meat.

Now the dessert was meant to be chocolate mousse and strawberries but a last minute flurry of options means that various desserts appeared including cheese. These were paired to a slightly sparkling off-dry Moscato d’Asti.

Thank you so much to Picture Restaurant (whose Mondays are always free BYO), to Aaron and Josh for making this happen and our wonderful Wine Diners.

Keep checking back for September’s location update and check us out on Instagram now #winediners and also a WineDiners