List Summary

Around for a while, serving its curious but not unsuccessful combination of classic French cuisine alongside Japanese dishes, the main draw to this favoured repository of Kensingtons Middle Eastern money, must be it its extraordinary wine list - a veritable Aladdins cave (or cav) of rare and precious vinous jewels. Its a slightly mad list, fascinating and endearingly eccentric (three of the five white halves are from Domaine de LArlot, more Corton-Charlemagne is listed than Chablis, the only South American white is a Brazilian Pinot Grigio/Riesling blend, its youngest Madiera (sic) is 109 years old etc),
With a correspondingly Bohemian distain for avaricious mark-ups and a depth of older vintages unparalleled in London. It most reminds me of walking in to Ian Townings Bourbon- Hanby antiques arcade in Chelsea and in fact of the dear man himself.

The lunch and early bird wine list is compelling in itself with up to a third off a great array of different vintages before 6.45pm. Who else offers money off older Cristal, Pavillon Blanc 90, Grange and dYquem. The selections by the glass and half are not encouraging like the lone overdressed salad in a Texan steakhouse. An interesting artisanal sake selection follows and then on to Champagne - which concentrates on vintages, each of the Grands Marques getting their time in the sun, highlights being 12 listings of Salon and 23 of Dompers.

All the Alsace Rieslings should feature as First Date choices or just ensure you go on lots of First Dates here. White Burgundy is dominated by a sumptuous Meursault choice, with a particularly expansive (and expensive) selection from Comtes de Lafon. White Bordeaux covers the big names and the brief Loire offering is little more than homage to Dagueneau (just as the North American sections later pays tribute almost solely to Kistler).

Bordeaux is really what this list is all about, leading off with a great Medoc choice La Croix Beausejour 95 at 55 is a punchy mission statement. Pauillac is utterly dominated by a 16 strong library of Mouton (including an unbroken vertical from 91-2000), whilst St Julien is particularly well turned-out, with strong vintage selection at wonderful prices, a perfect cellar in fact. Graves has a rather dusty library of older Pape-Clement and offers one of the rare occasions WineChap has looked at a Bordeaux list and much like most of Piccadillys Clubs preferred to see a little more youth propping up the venerable worthies. St Emilion is a definite turn on, with an unusual number of older wines under 100 and 420 for Cheval Blanc 75 almost seems like too good a bargain to not remortgage.

Red Burgundy offers more treasures, particularly from Nuits and the Cote du Beaune offers a few mature highlights but is dealt with more briefly. Time spent in the Rhone is similarly short but selections throughout are well-priced and show excellent vintage depth. Choices south of Avignon are cursory at best. The Italian section is disappointingly expensive and dominated by older Super-Tuscans with a Sassicaia bibliotheque to complete the enviable if top-heavy collection. Iberia is notable for its Unico listings - you just dont see 69 and 62 elsewhere. Juicy and extensive choices of older Californian classics and very strong listings of big name Aussie Shiraz are the most salient points on an otherwise perfunctory New World offering.

There is a great choice of magnums with attractive age, benefitting from the larger format and some prices that one could almost think were for single bottles. We finish with a flourish an intoxicating selection of Dessert wines including a smattering of shockingly well-priced vintage Veuves Riche Reserve, an 86 Sauternes for less than 85 and a range of Ukrainian Tokays from 1923- 68.