Scott

refute the Tseng - release your inner Tseng Moby, visualise it, be the Tseng. for what it's worth I have always thought, and this may not be applicable here, is that gastro pubs struggle to walk the line between pub/restaurant, and one of the easiest ways to stratify things is to not take bookings. No matter how sh*tful that might be to patrons. hey dude, pubs don't take bookings... that sort of thing.

FWIW , Colin Kay does not make his wines with RS.

One place I have been to recently, and might fit the bill is MJU. Service great, kinda funky atmosphere, food pretty damned good actually. All round very impressive. It's modern pacific rim food, with the occasional nod to classic french technique. The beef tataki with truffle and horseradish cream is to die for.

lol, I entirely agree.

I second that rec. Andrew Edmunds is fun, easy, and cheap. It's always my first choice in soho. apart from Pied a terre, where I enjoyed another stunning 8 courses last night!

wiltons.

ok, 2 of my favourite gastro pubs. UK 1. churchill inn in paxford. Stunning food, very fairly prices, tidy wine list and at least 2 hours from London! inventive, highly creative cuisine, with a rustic homey touch. London Bread and Roses Clapham. funky gastro pub, that is cool, laid back and doesn't secretly want to be a bar. It is a pub, a real pub, but shiny and very well done. food is good, the banana bread beer is better! I fear the problem in London is too many gastro pubs want their cake and... They're a pub, forgive them rubbish service and other sloppy touches, but they get to charge like a wounded bull. All too often a restaurant in pub clothing, with few of the good points of either.

that's some wine

I think I might be glasgow at this time...

Do I understand you correctly? That anytime a woman complains of sexism, that it is naturally and intrisically correct?????? That if it is refuted that is just another level of the misogynistic empire laying down the smack? I would never deny these things happen, and certainly discrimanatory stratifications are made in many fields based on numerous criteria, but surely the primacy of accuracy in accusation must be paramount. Rather than as an excuse not to look inwards. maybe I have misunderstood you, but I read your tone not at all favourably.

Bux, I know I basically agree with you, here but for semantics I would like to respond. A wine list full of big names, that aren't really intended for purchase, shouldn't be considered a great list. it is just a list, rather than a tool for the benefit of the diner. which is why if something isn't offered at a fair price, then it may as well not be offered at all.

Porkpa, The problem with veritas is that is a poor value wine list full of trophy wines at prices not intended to be purchased by real people, with poor vintage depth. I am sure you brought it up in context of a better list, but no matter. With a big enough cheque book I could purchase their entire wine list, and certainly charge no more. that alone disqualifies it. Value for money and depth of vintages must be the primary concerns when assessing a list. I.e There are wines at veritas that sell for between 4 and 8 times what I can buy them for at Tour d'argent. You're right Veritas will open and decant your wines, as long as you pay for it before you arrive. I don't see that as anything special.

Porkpa, Gee i am stunned. You quote parker saying exactly the same thing you do, and it's your point? You consider Veritas to be a better list? you must be a very, very special person indeed. I was in Paris on saturday, and chose not to go to Tour, I think it was good thing - they must have put somehing in your water

Robert, this is 100% correct. The price you want to pay is important. you get NO points from me, for stocking plenty of big names from a couple of vintages, at OUTRAGEOUS prices. this is a very poor wine list.

all jokes aside, that's f***ing outrageous!

Ah porkpa, correct me if i'm wrong but YOU don't have a point, you borrowed someone else's. Have you been? care to nominate another? But yes I do disagree with you/bob. Incidentally it is in the Guiness book of records as the largest wine list in the world.

Hi Susan, I suspect the reason is the vintage. 2003 was very hot, and importantly the temperatures at night were warm also, upsetting the acid balance. the fruit in the sauvignons certainly suffered as the thin skins lead to a singeing of the underlying fruit. I have found overly ripe, soupy tropical flavours mostly, but I can see where you would be coming from with mussels.

Wilson, I was going to bore both of us with a longer reply, but I decided against it. Obviously we disagree, and perhaps some of this stems from relative experience and expectation. You suggest I am jaded, rather I think I know enough to not believe in the tooth fairy, easter bunny, and the myth of sommelier omnipotence. That you recognised some of the wines served to you at Trotters seems to suggest a very low expectation. As it happens Lucas Carton has some of the finest wines by the glass of any restaurant in the world. These are essentially very fine, and often do provide sufficient maturity and complexity to enhance a dish - at great cost. When I was last at Lucas Carton last they were pairing 1985 Ch. Palmer with the signature duck apicus - at 60 euro a glass!!! Most of what you will get anywhere else will be pedestrian wine that does not possess the requisite complexity or maturity to really add to your food, but is a convenient way of getting non wine punters to part with whacks of cash. Consider this poor girl here, she wants to get the most bang for her buck out of the dining experience - how is spending $170 on wine (based on 2 people) going to do that. It's not necessary and it excessive. ~edit~ I should add, that I am certainly not anti sommelier at all, but one worth their salt should be able to find you something suitable for a lot, lot less money than that.

Michael, in plain speak the 95's are a rounder year, with prettier, lacier fruit than the 96's which are all concentration, tannin and thrust. They are indeed very much closed, at least the 1st growths certainly are. I think without question it is the most even vintage of the nineties (ex 90) in that both left and right bank flourished. I tend to favour the right, as the merlot benefits more naturally from the vintage character. Neither the mouton nor pichon baron enjoyed relative success in this vintage. Perfectly nice wines, but many felt they had the opportunity to achieve more. The Baron is a particular disappointment, which lacks dimension and complexity. You could certainly get away with this one now. The mouton needs 5 - 8

an opportunity to show off my music nerdliness? bring it on! Fi Fantastic! I will be way cooler with my complete and utter ignorance on nearly anything they could ask!!! I might need a PR agent afterwards

My old man used to say: "it's one thing to call a spade, a spade, it's another to call it a f**king shovel" I agree entirely, some get so caught up telling it like it is, they don't stop to wonder if they have "it" right.

That's easy. 1 word: ALLARD

I have tried them all from Vitiano up to Montiano. nothing special. Just more Riccardo Cotarello frankensteins (montiano) and unstable, astrigent green tea monstrosities (vitiano). I can't even get my in laws to drink the remainder of my case of vitiano.

Cusina, well said. I agree, perhaps there is something worth exploring in this issue, just not from said article. I think the main reason for this young girl not taking the chance to delve or provide substantive backup is not just limited to her lack of ability in this regard, but perhaps her motivation in the first instance. I don't think she has wanted to do anything more than strike out in a churlish callow fashion at those she feels have slighted her. She is smart enough to know that accusations of sexism can create a cloud of sub editor sensationalism, through which she can escape out the back door. Little more than telling tales, trying to get someone in trouble at school - or at least this is the level of sophistication I attribute to her motives. I am starting to look through my newly acquired loathing of this girl, and see perhaps a slow news day and an unscruplious editor egging her on perhaps? After all as someone said earlier, if she doesn't know better, the guardian should.