We visited on a Saturday night, and although pretty busy, we had no trouble booking a table.  It does look a bit more like a weekday place and probably does a stonking lunchtime trade.  Evidence to this effect was added by the speed of service, which was aimed at impatient businessmen rather than lingering lovers.  Having said that, the interior is darker than an Afghan cave which does create a little intimacy.

I asked the waiter about a wine to match the halibut.  He guided me to the Fiano di Avellino 2007 Feudi San Gregorio (Campania).  Exactly as the wine menu said, it tasted of pear and hazelnut and I thought it to be somewhere between a Chablis and a NZ Sauvignon Blanc.  Quite acidic but lots of fruit and a little steel.

My starter, Fritatta di Eglefino turned out to be a duck egg omelette with smoked haddock and leeks.  Very nice but a Yorkshire sized portion that would have been enough for a main course for two.  The halibut was simply perfect.  Served with asparagus and a sauce so freshly made you could taste the bubbles in the Champagne.  I thought this must have been my imagination so I asked the waiter and he claimed that the kitchen whisked the Champagne in at the very last moment to keep the fizz.  Interesting stuff…

I finished the meal with a Macchiato (perfect) and an Armagnac (Casterede 1979) which tasted of coffee and rum and raisin fudge – delicious.

The meal, the atmosphere, the decor, the wine – everything was spot on.  Only the Ferrari style service left us feeling a little rushed, but on the plus side left enough time in the evening to visit the casino for a few spins of the roulette wheel.  If only The Ivy had service this speedy, they could then justifiably chuck their diners out onto the street in 1.5 hours.

Stock Restaurant, The Stock Exchange, 4 Norfolk Street, Manchester, M2 IDW.
T: 0161 8396644.  W: www.stockrestaurant.co.uk

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…. 

The 1966 Marcel Trepout was dark and moody like Marlon Brando.  In the bowl it smelt of menthol vegetables.  In the tulip, Caramac and coffee.  The taste from the bowl was quite rough, surprisingly, with burnt toffee almonds and coffee.  More like an espresso with an intense short sharp shock of a taste.

In the tulip it was slightly smoother with caramel and golden syrup.  More like a cappuccino, smoother, creamier, longer lasting and good to sniff.  So in my view the tulip wins.

I should explain that I love brandy but find Armagnac so much better value than Cognac.

So the next two Armagnacs I tried only in the Riedel tulip.

The Sempé XO had a hint of caramelised apples, toffee apples and parkin.  Nice.

The Sempé VSOP had a less strong aroma with brown sugar, candied peel and fruitcake.

Result?  Actually my top choice was the Sempé VSOP, the cheapest of the bunch.  Surprisingly smooth and tasty.  Second was the Bobby Moore of brandies – 1966 Trepout.  Third and last was the Sempé XO which was a bit too rich.

In terms of which glass won, that depends on how you take your coffee.  If you are an espresso person take the bowl.  If you are a cappuccino person take the tulip.  That’s not intuitive but try it yourself and you will see what I mean.

As for Cave à Paul – you may find me back sampling their vins doux very soon.

Being in the West End we opened with a quick glass at the Cork & Bottle on Cranbourn Street and swiftly moved on to the surprisingly quiet location next to the St Martin’s Theatre where The Mousetrap has been playing since 1436:

For such a well known place, the entrance is discreet, almost invisible.  I guess that makes it look even more exclusive.  I had never been before, so had no idea what to expect.

There was a Sunday lunch menu at a pretty reasonable £26.95 per head (plus service).  But that didn’t mean the final bill was going to be cheap.

Our table was not ready when we arrived so I grabbed a glass of champagne, but the glass is a stupid shape.  Stupid in the sense that as you get towards the bottom, it flicks a good dose of champagne right into your eyes, just as you put the glass down.  And predictably, as I sat there looking stupid and rubbing my eyes with a napkin I heard the immortal line ”yoor tebble is redeee sur”.

My starter was Summer Vegetable Soup (think mushy peas but made from garden peas, but still with the butter).  Gorgeous!  This was followed by Rib of Hereford Beef (hey I only share Anne Robinson’s hair colour, not her dislike of the Welsh).  The beef was really nice but the veg was unbelievable.  Do they shake MSG, or cocaine on it or something?  How do they make it taste so good?  The broad beans were legendary!  The final course was cheese (British – hooray!) with a glass of Muscat de Beaumes de Venise.

Then it started getting messy and there followed a bit of a skirmish with a bottle of 1966 Armagnac.  I thought of it as my tribute to Bobby Moore.

I manage to reach pie eyed status and I’ve not even told you about the wine yet!

Well, it was a Nuit St Georges “Les Allots”, Domaine Remoriquet, 2001.  This almost tasted like the Gamay from nearby Beaujolais so I checked the bottle again – no defo Nuit St Georges.  It started off figgy and plummy but opened up to strawberries and I don’t know if it was oaked but it tasted like newish oak to me.  I found it at the ever dependable everywine.co.uk at £225 per case. This makes the mark up about 294% which is a bit on the rich side but I guess that’s the price you pay for sitting with the stars. Come to think of it, where were the stars?  Not even a minor celeb (well not one that I would recognise)!  The only stars I saw were when I fell over on the way out and banged my head…

The bill came to a whopping figure. Not far short of £200 for two including service and cover charge (not seen one of those for years).  This beats our record bill from a few years back at the Cap Horn in Courchevel.  In fact if Cap Horn hadn’t burnt the mussels that day, the Ivy would have lost.

But then the Cap Horn was very funky and very cool with a Superstar DJ on a piste basher (video) and the waiters all looked like extras from Officer and a Gentleman!  Maybe I’ll post on that meal one day.

As for the Ivy – you must try it once.  Not for celeb spotting but for bloody good food, excellent service, great atmosphere and dodgy champagne glasses.

The Ivy, 1 West Street, London WC2H 9NQ.  T:  020 7836 4751  F:  020 7240 9333.  www.the-ivy.co.uk.