This week we held the first of our two Taste of London Safari Lunch press launches in which we visit three different London restaurants in two hours, enjoying an entrée course and wine match at the first, followed by a main course and wine match at the second and a dessert and wine match at the third. My pleasurable task in the days beforehand is to prepare the wine match for each course - then on the day, hope all the journalists agree with my choices!
First up, was the high quality and always popular seafood restaurant Scott's in Mayfair, with a delicious and beautifully textured starter of octopus carpaccio and slow roasted datterini tomatoes, capers and rocket, which I matched with the impressive dry white Chapel Down Bacchus 2010 from Tenterden in Kent. Scott's is a restaurant where you need to book if you plan on eating here as it's one of London's top dining spots and the day's dish certainly proved that point .
Our next stop was ORA, a modern Thai restaurant which opened a few months ago. Their subtly spiced tuna went perfectly with the wine choice which was the Domaine Wachau Terraces Gruner Veltliner 2009 from Austria - a fresh, intense dry white made from the high quality Gruner Veltliner variety. This was a real crowd pleasing wine which balanced nicely with the delicate flavours of the tuna.
Our final stop was the famous and always buzzy Le Caprice in St James. Here we enjoyed an intense and full-flavoured Cru Virunga chocolate crackle pot with raspberries, matched in sweetness and weight by Le Calcarole Recioto della Valpolicella Roberto Mazzi. This wine, with its deep ruby red colour sweet red fruits and natural alcohol content of 15 per cent, is made by a process known as appassimento or passito where the three red grape varieties: Corvina, Rondinella and Molinara have been dried out before making the wine. This naturally concentrates the fruit flavours and increases the sugar content.
What a great way to spend a lunch time!