I was going to review this place next year when I could have titled the post, 4030 2010. But on the 40th floor bar of 30 St Mary’s Axe the view could not wait and, verily, it must be one of the most stunning in the whole of London.
Hotel restaurants always give me a slight sinking feeling. Reminders of 1980s boil in the bag meals; they always smell of stale cooking, probably because breakfast buffets are when they get 90% of their traffic.
The Hotel Russell probably counts early risers 99% of its clientele. It’s easier to get a table at The Ivy than a breakfast table here. Dinner, however, was predictably quiet. A few lonely foreign travellers and one table of two couples from Yorkshire who were asking for more gravy – gravy shortages are punishable by death north of Watford Gap.
I’ve got my comeuppance for slagging off Mark Hughes. Man City announced that the UEFA Cup quarter final home leg would be a “reward for the fans” and tickets were priced at only £5 so “ordinary fans” could come and watch. I am obviously not an ordinary fan since, despite numerous calls to the ticket office (engaged tone) the match is sold out and I have to watch on some backwater internet channel. Shame – I am in Manchester on 16 April when the town turns into a Hamburger for a night.
So perhaps I should be more complimentary about people I have never met.
Everyone knows that it is impossible to mass produce and mass market a decent wine – especially a Pinot Noir. Trouble is, nobody told Alfred Hurtado. His Chilean Cono Sur brand is taking over the world and rightly so.
I was at Sam’s Chop House in Manchester earlier this week. Pat and Martin were kind enough to chip in and buy me a decent bottle of wine in memory of my birthday. One from the year of my birth and reduced by an impressive £50 from the normal price.
Riojanas Monte Real Reserva 1964 had a dodgy cork, took an age to decant and was served too warm for me (about 23 degrees – I would serve at 18). But it is probably the oldest wine I have ever drunk, so I was intrigued.
I wonder what went through Claudio’s mind when I asked how warm the wine was. I reached out my hand to touch the bottle. Claudio winced. Another stupid and ignorant Englishman? Even worse than an ignorant Scotsman. I grinned. The bottle was cool. Claudio nodded approvingly. He had served the Primitivo Da Castello di Puglia at the recommended 16-18 degrees. Probably even cooler actually, which suited the wine rather well. Sweet flavours of cherries, cherry lips and bubble gum collided with the not unexpected tannic youth of the Italian stallion.
You may be sick of me carping on about wine temperature, or you may be a staunch supporter of my unfortunately acronymed WART campaign. Personally I am getting ever more fed up of the ignorance of British bar and restaurant staff bringing me Beaujolais from the wine oven and Chablis from the beer freezer.
But what worries me more is the attitude I get when I ask for a red wine to be chilled. Replies range from the polite but sardonic “That’s a red wine, sir, it should be served at room temperature” to the downright rude and sneering “You’re wrong, sir, it should be served warm”.
As it is Christmas, I dug out one of last year’s presents, a wine thermometer. It is quite enlightening to read the instructions and I hope I am not breaching copyright by reproducing them verbatim.
The single most important factor of serving wine at its optimum is the temperature. The enclosed thermometer will give you an exact reading for you to follow on our guide and eliminate the need for guesswork. We recommend you serve wine one degree lower than the guide indicates to compensate for the wine glass warming up to room temperature.
16-17°C – Vintage red wines when mature Bordeaux type
15-16°C – Vintage Burgundy type
14-16°C – High quality or vintage red wines still young
14-16°C – Vintage dry white wines
11-12°C – Light fruity or young red wines
10-12°C – Dry and young white wines
10-12°C – New or young red wines
10-12°C – Very fruity rosé wines
8-10°C – Light or local white wines
7-8°C – Champagne or sparkling wine
5-6°C – Sweet or aromatic wines
Whilst you may quibble about some of the individual detail, and I could find a case to change one or two recommendations by a degree or two, the range of recommended temperatures is valid. When you consider that most restos serve all red wines at 25 degrees and all white wines at 5 degrees Celsius, it is clear there is some education required out there.
By the way, if you don’t own a thermometer, about an hour in my fridge gets a wine down to about 15-16°C.
Now I have had my rant I can get back to the Xmas festivities and a particularly feisty yet lithesome bottle of Riesling. Can I take this opportunity of wishing you all the highest compliments of the season. May your food be warm and tasty, and your wine chilled and dandy.
When dining out, one well known restaurant critic makes a point of asking how the tips are distributed, always leaving cash, and encourages readers to do the same. So I dutifully asked the MO of one waiter at the Cornerhouse Grill and was stunned by his response.
I met Rob McIntosh in Manchester, the night before the UEFA Cup Final (Rangers lost 2-0). Piccadilly Gardens was packed and all the pubs were overflowing with friendly but very pissed Glaswegians. Fortunately, the Scots had not found the Northern Quarter, an eclectic mix of trendy, funky, bohemian bars, clubs, clothes shops and arty establishments. Rob had spotted the old fish market earlier and a bar/resto on the other side of High Street confusingly named The Northern Quarter.
In deepest Evian-les-Bains I found one of the best wine shops ever. La Cave à Paul had such a wide range of Armagnacs going back to the year dot. But they had none from 1964 (year of my birth), so I settled for second best 1966 (last time England won the World Cup).
And when I got home I discovered that I had also (sort of) unknowingly bought some duty free Armagnac by Sempé (we flew from Geneva, Switzerland). It was time for a taste test. But hang on! There is more complication because I had also invested in Riedel glasses. The Cognac glass is a small tulip (on the left of the photo below), whereas a traditional Cognac or Armagnac glass is a bowl (shown on the right). An interesting experiment was to ensue….
Following my recent post on which glasses to drink from I was asked about glass “maintenance”.
There is a supposed cardinal rule with fine wine glasses that you should never use soap. I ignore this, but do so with care.
Here’s a few practical tips for keeping your wine glasses in tip top condition.
Stumble It!
