Isn’t it always the way, that something almost on your doorstep is often not somewhere you go as much as you should. You mean to, but never quite get there. And that’s true for us and the wine bar in our London village. It’s been there a while now, and may even have changed hands, but we finally went along and had a relaxing evening.
It was a busy night there though, with live music which added to that. Thankfully we’d booked which was just as well as the people arriving in front of us were turned away, or at least had a bit of a wait for a table to become available. Our table was towards the back of the wine bar, which was great as it meant we had a good spot to watch the to-ing and fro-ings from the kitchen and were able to soak up the atmosphere of the live music but still manage a conversation.
Rather than opt for a ‘proper’ meal - and by that I mean a main course we decided on a more informal approach choosing cold cuts, a bistro salad, bread and a cheese platter - and a bottle of wine or two. It made a pleasant change to sit and chat, and reminded me of nights gone past spent in a wine bar in Covent Garden, which is probably no longer there - and probably hasn’t been there for a while.
But of course, I couldn’t leave without checking out the loos - which weren’t quite what I expected. In my mind’s eye, they would be typically French matching the atmosphere and decor from the wine bar downstairs. But they weren’t, they were full of hummingbirds with a modern touch - and I loved them.
The cheese alone is worth going back for, and I’m pretty sure this won’t be our only visit. Somehow drinking wine and eating cheese feels so much more relaxing when you’re out, maybe it’s as simple as knowing you don’t have to do the washing up!
