Eat & Drink
Originally published on Tuesday, 9th December 2008
Drink Wine, Lose Weight, Live Longer
Fresh from the first ever German Premier Grand Cru tasting, as hosted by the infamous folks at The Wine Barn, it seemed apt that the Wine Chap should bring you this Teutonic special to whet your Euro-friendly palate…DrinkOut: Wild Honey
Previously the Drones Club (London hangout of languid, leisured Bertie Wooster), this Michelin-rated Mayfair outpost is appropriately, if not actually, better and a little more polished (barman clean-shaven, maitre d’ Savile Rowed, dishes more drizzled and jus’ed up). It got its Star with almost indecent haste and continues the successful formula of simple combinations of ingredients presented with a gastro-flourish and a concise, intriguing winelist, mostly available by the carafe. As an aperitif, Moutard Prestige Rose makes fine food Champagne. And by ordering two carafes together, one white and one red, all bases were covered when it came to ordering food: a slightly smoky Alsace Pinot Gris (Frederic Mochel) had sufficient viscosity to pair well with an excellent nugget of pork belly with its entourage of snails. A German Spätburgunder (Pinot Noir), from top producer Meyer-Näkel, had a cool-climate Burgundian elegance and the smoky, soft red fruit of a New Zealand Pinot to make it a good foil for delicious, creamy/flaky halibut and mussels.
I was obviously making the right noises (and loudly enough) about the winelist as the sommelier gifted us a glass of Barbera, Ca’d Carussin, a rare sweet red from Piemonte which, served chilled, made a fresher, more liquorice-scented alternative to Port with our cheeses. Then back to Germany (see last column) to finish with a rich but not sickly (Auslese) Rheinberg Riesling, Gottelmann Munsterer, pairing gold alongside the heavenly signature Wild honey ice cream and crushed honeycomb. In fact if they can ride out the Credit Crunchie, with two Michelin Stars in two years (Arbutus got deservedly gonged this year), the owners should considetr rolling out the formula again. For although previously named after lazy male bees, the current incarnation of this site could not be accused of lying down on the job…
Wild Honey : 12 St George Street, W1S 2FB
020 7758 9160
GrapeVine – Drink Wine, Lose Weight, Live Longer
Previously avoiding the almost weekly and conflicting wine and health related stories that pepper the press (depending when and what you read, wine either cures or causes everything from halitosis to cancer), with the season of gorging and excessive drinking fast upon us, GrapeVine is now unashamedly getting behind the latest research that shows the compound resveratrol, present in the skins of red wine grapes, confuses the body much the same way wine fuddles the mind but with more positive consequences.
Apparently reasonable consumption staves off weight gain (how many fat Parisians or winos on the street are overweight?) by convincing the body to burn its own fat and mucks around with your genes to prevent ageing-related changes in your heart. GrapeVine also noted with less interest that resvera-whotsit reduces calorie consumption in rabbits; improving endurance and making them want to jog or something.
WineChap is just happy to stuff himself not just with impunity, but scientific endorsement, and is signing up for his own cage alongside the bunnies in the lab in 2009.
