7 St John St
EC1M 4AA
Tel: 020 7253 8786
Date of Last Visit: Saturday, October 22nd
The Victim: Paulo
The Damage: 25ish?
Paulo and I were celebrating Michael and Michelle’s good news–they’re expecting the stork in March! Paulo was a groomsman at their wedding; I got to do a reading. The two of us met up at Vinoteca to catch up. I had read the reviews in Time Out and elsewhere and they were favorable. And lucky for me, I just moved flats and am in meandering distance.
Good impressions started immediately. I was meeting Paulo at Smiths at 7, so I stopped into Vinoteca at 6:45 and asked if I could book a table. They were super sweet and explained that they don’t take bookings but that if I came back in 15 mins or so, the wait shouldn’t be that long. All this with a lovely Australian accent!
I picked up Paulo and we swung back to Vinoteca. We were quickly shown a table. It’s a small little place…it serves as both a wine shop and a little restaurant. Ummm,I think I ordered the foie gras to start. How surprising. It was good. Very good. I was pleased. I like carmelized onions.
Paulo ordered the plate of meat. He’s weird. He said he wasn’t very hungry, but the plate of meat was huge and he ate everything. I went with the lamb stew, which was superbly filling and very well orchestrated. I could have shared it with three other people.
Throughout our meal, we enjoyed a lovely bottle of Argentinian Malbec, which the bar staff heartily approved of. I love when the bar staff approves of my choice.
What I liked most about Vinoteca was that although they don’t take bookings, it’s a pretty high turnover place. I’m not quite sure how they do it! While we were seated, most of the tables around us turned over at least once, if not twice. And I don’t think we were there for too long.
The Verdict: Don’t go here. Only I can go here.
