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Slideshow
London’s most extravagant wine bars and restaurants
Clos Maggiore
Frequently voted as one of London’s most romantic restaurants, Clos Maggiore is known for its floral decoration, candle lit decor and stellar wine list – which is among the largest in the UK and boasts some extremely impressive verticals of first growth Bordeaux, Super Tuscans and Romanée-Conti. It has also been particularly strong in its Californian selection for some time with its hefty 100-page wine tome.
“A spellbinding collection to complement delicate dishes such as native lobster, scallop and king prawn tortellini poached in langoustine bisque, and roasted Wagyu beef from Kyushu Island, Japan,” according to the drinks business’ Wine List Confidential experts.
Bonham’s Restaurant
Opening in early 2015 with young chef Tom Kemble at the helm, the restaurant gained a Michelin star that September.
The restaurant boasts a wide range of wines by the glass and is open for lunch from Monday to Friday and dinner from Wednesday to Friday. Sensitive selections start with Hambledon Classic Cuvée NV from Hampshire at a more-than-reasonable £9. A focused selection of Bordeaux, many with some decent bottle age, will no doubt keep Bonhams’ customers happy. “The best-value wine list in Mayfair by some distance,” according to Wine List Confidential.
Earlier this year the restaurant offered free corkage to those dining in the evening for the whole of May – a service we hope will be repeated. The restaurant even offered for customers to send a bottle in advance to give it time to settle and, if necessary, be decanted by sommelier Charlotte Logan-Jones.
Bob Bob Exchange
Billed to open in in the City of London this year, Bob Bob Exchange (BBX) is restaurateur Leonid Shutov’s second venture, following in the footsteps of Soho’s Bob Bob Ricard. Once open, its creator’s are promising diners live fine wine auctions, with bottles starting at cost price, every 30 minutes via display screens placed throughout the restaurant.
Taking up the entire third floor, the 180-cover restaurant will include an all-booth dining room divided into seating for between two and eight people. A further 120 covers will be spread across a clutch of private dining rooms that will cater for four to 40 diners. Available in standard and executive class, the latter will offer diners their own bar and “private jet style seating”.
In addition, a micro restaurant catering for just nine diners will sit within a private dining room at BBX, where sushi, sashimi and tempura will be served.
Shutov has said he plans to serve house Champagne from methuselahs (6 litres) at about £14 a glass ($19.50), with the restaurant also slated to feature its table side ‘push for Champagne’ buttons.
Ten Trinity Square
The latest addition to a growing list of wine-focused private members’ clubs in London, Ten Trinity Square Private Club launched earlier this year at the Four Seasons Hotel.
It is the result of a collaboration between the Four Seasons, Château Latour and chairman of the Reignwood Group, Chanchai Ruayrungruang – a Bordeaux-collector with a particular fondness for Latour – and marks the first time the wine estate has lent its name away from the Latour vineyard in Pauillac.
With former Restaurant Gordon Ramsay head sommelier Jan Konetzki at the helm as wine director, members of the club have access to some of the most sought-after vintages of Latour, complemented by food from celebrated chef Anne-Sophie Pic, who runs the kitchen at La Dame de Pic restaurant within the Four Seasons Hotel.
A unique partnership between Reignwood, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts and Château Latour, the private club is designed to “serve as a forum for members from around the globe to meet and share ideas; building powerful partnerships and cultural links”, a statement announcing its arrival stated.
67 Pall Mall
Still one of the best and most comprehensive bars in London for wine lovers, private members’ club 67 Pall Mall offers some 3,000 wines from its vast list, making it home to one of the UK’s biggest wine lists. As if that wasn’t enough, earlier this year the smart venue announced it was adding a further 2,000 new wines to its range in a bid to ensure its title as the largest list in the UK.
The new selection will be available at the club from early December this year, with around 800 set to be offered by the glass, which means you can get a taste of some of the world’s most precious wines without having to shell out on a bottle.
However using the Coravin wine access system, the club could realistically provide every wine on the list by the glass, should a member request it.
67 Pall Mall has already earned top spot in Wine List Confidential, which ranks London’s leading restaurants according to the quality of their wine list.
Raddison Blu’s Angel Wine Tower
The first Angel’s Wine Tower Bar opened at the Radisson Blu hotel in Stanstead – an unlikely location, perhaps, for such a grandiose spectacle. Now, there is another tower at a sister hotel in Zurich, Switzerland.
The 16m tower houses 4,000 bottles of wine and Champagne, with bottles retrieved by acrobatic ‘angels’ that scale the structure. The team also puts on regular evening shows, that see them take part in aerial spectacles, complemented by a light show. Who knew ordering a bottle of wine could be so entertaining.
We can’t vouch for the content of its wine list, as unfortunately it isn’t available online, but for spectacle alone the Radisson Blu’s Wine Tower earns a mention.