and the enfusion of a GOOD QUALITY red wine will add to the taste

[Lucifer Box]

Lucky man LB - where did you purchase that fine wine from?

The Fenchurch Colony on New London Street (just off Fenchurch St). Was my regular lunchtime tipple for a time. The problem is that although a fine wine indeed, the 1995 was so superior that all years since then have been disappointing.

[mcquiggd]

Theres a chap named Silvio Scalini who used to run a restaurant here in Edinburgh - had a wine list that included a 1948 Barolo... probably the best food Ive had outside Italy.. sadly he closed as his talent was wasted on the general populace. Last time I was there he pointed out the people at the next table were drinking white wine with steak, and he just rolled his eyes. I was dating a half French, half Vietnamese beauty at the time - very useful when it came to ordering as she could pronounce just about anything!

Silvio now works front of house in the Vintners Rooms, which I have yet to visit, but apparently they have a part of the restaurant that is purely lit by candles - might have to book it for Valentines. If he works there, Id say thats a very good recommendation indeed.

[hyperD]

.. sadly he closed as his talent was wasted on the general populace.

Shame... I love these type of places...

There's a great restaurant hidden away in the deepest, darkest Hungary that serves original, Hungarian Gypsy wild boar, goose liver, fish and paprika pork stews etc for the price of a sixpence. I hope to god it doesn't get discovered by Thomas "**** it up" Cook...

Talking of gyppos, off to Woking by bike to exchange a piece of badly welded winerack tat that my wife got from some rejects store for my xmas present...

[mcquiggd]

HyperD, it was indeed a treasure... Silvio knew exactly when to chat to his 'guests', and when to leave them to their own conversation.. his daughter would appear as if by magic to refill your glass from the decanter, and his son was head chef...

The decor was very, very understated... authentically Italian, nothing to distract from the food, wine, and conversation. The lady I took there was the daughter of a multi-millionaire, and she had eaten in some of the top restaurants in France - she was very impressed indeed.