Nayan Gowda

Sorry. I have to ask... Why do you have salt that is over twenty years old?

Doh! Missed out a key ingredient in my Chicken marinade; in the form of cumin

It's one of those dishes that has a lot of regional variations; not only between countries, but within countries too. The one I learned to make in Lebanon is Chicken thighs marinaded in olive oil, slice onions, crushed garlic, thyme, paprika (smoked if not using charcoal to cook), lemon juice and salt. The sauce was yoghurt, tahini, crushed garlic. Stack chicken thighs on a rotisserie and cook over coals basting with a little olive oil and lemon juice to keep moist. Once cooked through, slice thinly. Serve in a pita (or roll as in Germany) with fresh salad things and sauce.

I'm pretty sure I've seen it in the AC Butchery in Leichhardt. Worth giving them a call.

I organised a group of 13 who each brought one or two bottles from their cellars. The three 96s we had continue to confirm my view that it is the best South Australian vintage from the 1990s. I'll be organising another one at the beginning of next year; you can either keep your eyes peeled on the UK Wine Forum or PM me with your contact details and I'll give you a heads up if you're interested.

The Food Selection of Spanish Cured Meats from Jabugo, Almonds & Olives Salt & Pepper Squid, Chilli, Rocket, Lemon & Mint Buffalo Mozzarella, Roasted Vine Tomatoes & Oregano ~~~~~~~~ Baked Line-Caught Pollock, Broad Beans, Peas, Ratte Potatoes & Sauce Vierge Roast Lamb Rump, Smoked Aubergine Purée, Spinach, Chickpeas, Tahini & Yogurt Dressing Char-Grilled Quail, Pecorino Polenta, Parsley & Walnut Pesto Warm Salad of Golden & Red Beetroot, Baby Artichokes & Cave-Aged Goats Cheese ~~~~~~~~ Selection of Seasonal Cheeses, Homemade Oatcakes, Apricot & Rosemary Chutney ~~~~~~~~ Chocolate Tart, Marinated Cherries, Cream Grappa Pannacotta, Raspberry & Strawberry Sauce Blackcurrant Sorbet The Wines (in serving order) Hanging Rock Macedon IX (Macedon, Vic) 02 Mesh Riesling (Eden Valley, SA) 92 Moss Wood Semillon (Margaret River, WA) 00 Wartina Estate Chardonnay (Yarra Valley, Vic) 98 Bindi Quartz Chardonnay (Macedon, Vic) 95a Penfolds Chardonnay (SA) 88 Eileen Hardy Shiraz (McLaren Vale, SA) 92 Henschke,Mount Edelstone (Eden Valley, SA) 99 Mount Mary Quintet (Yarra Valley, Vic) 94 Best's Thomson Family Shiraz (Grampians, Vic) 87 Magill Estate (Adelaide Plains, SA) 98 Torbreck Descendant (Barossa Valley, SA) 96 Torbreck Runrig (Barossa Valley, SA) 99 Torbreck Runrig (Barossa Valley, SA) 02 Yering Station Shiraz Viognier Reserve (Yarra Valley, Vic 02 D'arenberg Laughing Magpie (McLaren Vale, SA) 93 Yalumba Oaktavius (Barossa Valley, SA) 93 Penfolds Bin 707 (SA) 96 Peter Lehmann Stonewell Shiraz (Barossa Valley, SA) 96 Jim Barry Armagh (Clare Valley, SA) 98 Wynn's John Riddoch (Coonawarra, SA) 98 Bannockburn Shiraz (Geelong, Vic) 86 Yarra Yerring No. 1 (Yarra Valley, Vic) Campbells Merchant Prince, Rare Muscat (Rutherglen, Vic) Not bad for a lunch...

In the end I hired the private room at Vinoteca (St John Street, EC1). Great room, plenty of glassware and decanters and the food was very good. Cost was 750GBP split between the participants. I highly recommend this as a venue for groups, and will definitely be doing another wine event here in the future.

Marmite!

I've been told by my butcher that I can't get beefs cheeks in the UK due to the regulations post BSE. I would love it if someone could tell me that's not true.

Thanks for the tips folks. Scott, by "half decent food" I meant good honest cooking; nothing spoofulated, or style over substance. RJs is kind of what I had in mind, but I know that a number of the group often go to other wine dinners there, and I wanted to offer something fresh. It's definitely on the list though. I've contacted a fair few places that have sounded good, and the response has been somewhere between a flat refusal to no problems for a $x corkage, oh and there'll be a $xxx charge for the private room; which I reckon would kind of take the sheen off the evening. MoGa, great suggestions, and I used to eat at the Lahore when I lived in London; unfortunately not the right kind of food for this wine dinner. But as I want to organise a wine with Indian food event later in the year... Howard, Whits sounds about what I'm after. Not too far out from the centre, straight forward food, and no stranger to the concept of byo. I often do take my own glassware with me, but I was just wondering what you found lacking with what they offer there.

I'm organising a dinner in London for some serious winos, and am looking for a half decent restaurant that will allow us to BYO some very special bottles without being thoroughly penalised for the privilege. Somewhere central would be ideal, but I am not discounting travelling further out to a decent venue. Any help or suggestions would be really appreciated. Thanks in advance.

David, According to the English Wine Producers Assocation website in 2005 there were 362 vineyards and 102 wineries with an average vineyard are of 2.27 hectares producing 1.3 million bottles of white (including sparkling) and 300,000 bottles of red (not much). Apart from a few big boys, such as Nyetimber, Chapel Down and Three Choirs it's mostly ma and pa operations that have very low production. Wines are generally sold either through cellar door, or locally through shops and restaurants; there's generally not enough wine to create the cost effective critical mass to export. Coupled with the fact that land prices are high in England and this is reflected in the final product, they often don't appear competitively priced in comparison to equivalent quality imports from other countries. It's a shame as there are some lovely wines around. I tend to favour the sparklers and the wines made from aromatic varieties.

Try replacing the vinegar with lemon juice, marinading overnight (in the fridge) and baste with the remaining marinade while cooking. Their souvlaki might be more intense as they use Greek oregano (Rigani), which has a different flavour to "normal" oregano.