Vinoteca

[magnolia]

Vinoteca, 7 St John Street, occupies the spot that was briefly a sandwich bar (owned by the folks who also owned the Italian caff on the corner that wraps around onto Cowcross Street, which alas is now a Pret-a-Manger).

It is a breath of fresh air in this neighbourhood which, aside from the stalwart St John & Club Gascon, has stagnated of late, due to a lack of new openings, or worse -has slid downhill (in the case of SoS bar & mid-range brasserie, my former go-to; and Sutton Arms since Rosie's departure).

The short menu - about four-five starters, four-five mains, four puds - is designed to be quick and easy for the kitchen, mainly to complement the impressive wine list. There are a decent number of choices by the glass as well as many great, some hard-to-find, bottles at a very non-greedy mark-up of about 50%. The portion sizes are large and dishes, very modestly priced. For those who don't want to choose their own wine, there's a glass recommended for each dish - or either of the owners - former wine tradespeople - will be happy to advise. It's also an offie.

Dishes are simple - only a handful of ingredients, easy-assembly type things - but creative, with good ingredients. A starter - a generous plate of Spanish chorizo, excellent capers and olives - for around £6 - easily fed two. I had a glass of the recommended manzanilla, and E ordered a glass of Brunello di Montalcino 1999 (can't remember the producers).

I then had a salad of roasted pumpkin with a poached egg and curry dressing over rocket, technically a starter but large enough that I didn't need to order anything else. E had beef in red wine with mushrooms and mash, which was lovely. We were both too stuffed to order pudding but I had a moment of regret when I saw the puddings come out...Total bill for two was £40.

The place is small - but not cramped; there are a few seats at the bar, too. Even though the place was packed at lunch, and there were only two servers (the owners) and a couple of large office parties, they were able to keep up the right pace for everyone, with none of the rush to empty your bottle so that you buy another one, a terrible habit that is now so rampant (even at Troisgros!) that I have taken to holding my glass until it's almost empty, in order to control the pouring.

At lunchtime there is waiter service, at dinner, you order at the bar and the food is brought to you. Last (food) orders at lunch are 14h30, but there is continuous bar service (and I'll bet they'd serve you some cold stuff, olives or whatever, too). Last food orders in the evening are at 22h00, and the place shuts at 23h00 in order to avoid the clubbing crowd, I guess.

[jayrayner]

Actually the mark ups are even better than you describe. Every bottle in the off sales section - and there must be a few hundred - has a drink in and take out price, which makes the mark up completely naked. Up to about the ten pound mark the price simply doubles, a modest mark up by London standards. After that there's a sliding scale of cash margins so that, at the top end, a serious bottle that would cost £95 to buy can be drunk in for something like £110. (I'm doing this from memory). It's a brilliant model and clearly the way to go.

Now all I have to do is try the food.

[magnolia]

Actually the mark ups are even better than you describe. Every bottle in the off sales section  - and there must be a few hundred - has a drink in and take out price, which makes the mark up completely naked. Up to about the ten pound mark the price simply doubles, a modest mark up by London standards. After that there's a sliding scale of cash margins so that, at the top end, a serious bottle that would cost £95 to buy can be drunk in for something like £110. (I'm doing this from memory). It's a brilliant model and clearly the way to go.

Now all I have to do is try the food.

←

If only there were more places that did this, but the only other one I've come across in the whole country (and I'd like to be proven wrong) that actually makes it their USP is the Garrack Hotel in St Ives. If more places were willing to take a chance with this kind of policy, I am convinced people would be more adventurous with their wine choices, and ultimately drink better wine in restaurants. Restaurants could then move their higher-cost inventory faster, recoup their investment faster, and free up cash to purchase more interesting wine. The knock-on effect for consumers and the trade would be very positive: diners encouraged to trymore interesting, higher quality wine would then, in theory, trade up when purchasing for home consumption. This in turn would encourage retailers to carry a larger proportion of higher quality wines...which would then help the wine industry.

Or maybe I'm just dreaming.

Anyway, the food probably will not knock your socks off, but it's perfectly pitched for the 'business model'. Very smart people behind it.

[Carlovski]

I think it would be great too, but I'm not sure how it equates to a good business model - If it was my business I think I'd feel happier making £10 on a £10-£15 stock item rather than £15 on a £95 one.... Couple of corked bottles a few accidents and you have just wiped out your profit.

Of course if it boosted trade enough it would definitely make sense.

[magnolia]

I think it would be great too, but I'm not sure how it equates to a good business model - If it was my business I think I'd feel happier making £10 on a £10-£15 stock item rather than £15 on a £95 one.... Couple of corked bottles a few accidents and you have just wiped out your profit.

Of course if it boosted trade enough it would definitely make sense.

←

The way I see it, in theory any restaurant with a fine wine list - assuming the wine was acquired at a 'good' price in the first place, possibly awhile ago, at auction or whatever - would benefit greatly in terms of profit and good will, because many of those wines are within the window of 'ready to drink'. By applying a sensible mark-up to a fine wine, rather than doubling or tripling it, restos would in theory encourage people to try spend more than they might otherwise, and shift the wine when it's ready, and release the funds that have been tied up for so long.

If the wine is faulty, it's faulty - charging over the odds for it won't fix it. In fact if it's a one off or rare bottle, the client may just ask to substitute a lower priced wine rather than take a chance. We recently ordered a bottle of Au Bon Climat (at a place with a relatively sensible mark-up) and it was corked, and so was the second one. Probably there was something wrong with the whole lot, and the restaurant was going to keep the bottles and returned them, along with the others, to the importer. But we gave up and ordered something else.

Also restaurants get themselves into all sorts of cash flow situations, partially by being...over-ambitious...and end up flogging a load of fine wine at auction or through the trade, because they're desperate for cash and that 's the one major asset they have. This is an unhealthy way to raise funds, whereas selling fine wine steadily, is more efficient.

You probably know this but when you see on a wine list a bottle for £10-15-20-25 that means it's actually £5-7, and probably available at any supermarket, and the restaurant is basically ripping your face off by trebling the price and offering you something you can get around the corner. Likewise, offering a £75 bottle at £200-250 puts it well beyond most peoples' reach, implying the bottle will sit there. But offering it at £110-125 or whatever puts it within a more reasonable reach, and also enables the restaurant to make nearly 50% or more profit, and sell more of it, faster.

Win-win.

But I'm not a restaurateur, and clearly most restaurants have found that the first strategy works for them. Then again most restaurants go out of business pretty fast. Of course these scenarios could be completely unrelated...

Edited December 12, 2005 by magnolia (log)

[Janice]

This place is next door to my office so I've been a few times and haven't had a bad dish yet. Highlights so far have been tagliatelle with a generous helping of wild mushrooms and a classic moules mariniere.

The puddings are excellent and there is usually a cheese plate on offer although I haven't tried it yet. The coffee is also well above average.

Please don't tell too many people!!!!

[naebody]

Just a quick note to say that, despite plaudits and popularity, this place has remained terrific. Dropped in Saturday night (10 minute wait for a seat, although note it's a lot worse on weekdays) to find one-woman miracle Carol Craddock still flies solo, somehow keeping calm while dealing with 40 or so covers over her two-burner setup at the corner of the bar.

Menu won't be repeated so there's no point in going into much detail, but to give a general idea: spicy, beany, yoghurty garlicy soup that tasted fresh and full of individual flavours; a nicely judged warm salad involving a poached egg, spinach and the like; squid (slightly rubbery once it cooled, but that's squid for you) on black linguine in garlic butter; and deep fried quail with rice and chile jam (tangy and, thanks to the finger bowl provided, pleasantly caveman-ish to eat). Wine choice remains interesting and fairly priced, and the staff were all jolly friendly and efficient.

Don't go expecting anything to match the Larousse-does-tapas you get at Gascon round the corner, or the minimalist gorefest in St John across the road. But, for things you actually want to eat, cooked well and priced with moderation, then sold without artifice in a place that does not require a three-month booking, this is perhaps one of the best options in town.

Edited October 16, 2006 by naebody (log)

[bakerestates]

Win-win.

But I'm not a restaurateur, and clearly most restaurants have found that the first strategy works for them. Then again most restaurants go out of business pretty fast. Of course these scenarios could be completely unrelated...

As a publican, I think a bit of both is the answer. I make the necessary margin needed to cover the costs of running my business on wines from £12-£16 (cost £3.20 - £6.25) and then reduce the margin, working more on a cash margin basis down to making no more than £10 a bottle by the time my punters are buying Serpico from Mitolo or Barbaressco 99 from Cigulti or Monthelie Blanc from Boisset. I know from experience that I sell more this way than I would making noraml margin. My accountant hates hit but I am still in business and have never used my overdraft!

On another note about margins, I can make less of a margin on real ale than I do on lager despite the fact lager is cheaper to produce. The general punter won't pay more for bitter than lager is sold for which is crazy as a large % of lager cost is advertising.

bakerestates