Eat & Drink
Originally published on Friday, 13th February 2009
Credit Crunchier
After Viva Verdi found producing a plate of charcuterie at 10pm on a Thursday beyond them, Tsuru gets a big WineChap thumbs up. Unlike the ONS figures for alcohol consumption.
DrinkOut: Tsuru
After Viva Verdi next to the NT door found producing a plate of charcuterie and cheeses at 10pm on a Thursday beyond them, Tsuru gets a big WineChap thumbs up.
The food, a simple menu of Japanese staples, is excellent: Chicken Yakitori, Nasu Dengaku, Sea Bass Sashimi all have the right textures and flavours and really don’t cost much. Similarly, the wine selection, although brief, is judiciously chosen and offered at a very reasonably markup. Compiled – perhaps too weighty a word to describe the action of putting together an 11-bottle selection – by Sotheby’s Damian Tillson, the whites are all Old World, but often betray New World sensibilities. Tunella’s juicy and herbaceous Cabernet Franc 2005 from Friuli, however, is the stand-out wine – and for £23 an absolute bargain. Monthly wine and sake Tastings (next one March 10) are offered by Damian to match drinks with specific dishes, plus you can also purchase the booze retail from the restaurant to continue the sake fun into the small hours … when Viva Verdi will probably have been closed for eight hours already.
Tsuru: 4 Canvey St, SE1 9AN • 07944 848740
GrapeVine: Middle Class Binge Drinking
According to The ONS (Office of National Statistics/Order of the Nanny State) nearly half of UK professionals exceed recommended daily alcohol consumption, with a fifth doubling up on their one big night a week. Now, many incensed pro boozers will surely rant that it’s February, it’s freezing, it’s bloody Valentine’s again, businesses are shedding employees like the holiday’s weight gain, and what on Earth else is there to do when you’re stuck at home with 18ft of snow blocking your front door, watching the polar bears on Planet Earth starve as the ice caps melt?
But WineChap’s response is more sanguine: the figures are clearly nonsense. When was the last time you told the truth to anyone taking notes about your weekly alcohol consumption? 21-28 units a week? Yeah right, those special 48hour weeks maybe. We all know we drink more than we probably should. And if someone in the government did the real maths, they would have to draw the conclusion that either people are hording vast stocks of supermarket Pinot Grigio at home or we’re all lying, and find them contemptible for even asking in the first place.
