Possible new venues

[jdaw1]

This thread is to hold discussion and notes about restaurants (and the like) that might be a suitable venue for a port tastings, whether in London, in New York, or elsewhere. This is to include simple notes of places worthy of some further investigation, as well as more detailed discussion of places about which more is known.

[jdaw1]

Bloomsbury pub and restaurant, The Lady Ottoline, formerly a Charrington pub, on the intersection of John Street and Northington Street, near Theobald’s Road, WC1N 2JF. In the pub excellent ale (ELB’s Nightwatchman) was served by a very competent and intelligent barman; the restaurant upstairs has a private room, seemingly little-used, which looked good. Generally excellent aesthetics. Usual corkage is £4 per bottle; and the wine list has Fonseca Quinta do Panascal 2005 at £40”“ε (‟Concentrated & lucious black fruits with velvety tannins & a long smooth finish”) as well as Barros LBV 2003 at most of £32. The one known problem is the weak lighting in the private room. Apparently The Lady Ottoline is always busy late in the week, but almost empty on Monday.

Our dining room can seat up to 45 guests and is available for private hire. Our private dining room can seat between 10 and 15 guests and is available with a banqueting menu.

For tables of 8 or more or to enquire about private hire, please call 020 7831 0008

I will return to eat, tout seul, and to enquire about glasses. A further report will follow.

[DRT]

This sounds promising, particularly the "Generally excellent aesthetics".

The location might be unwelcome by those who have already commented the High Holborn is inconvenient as this seems to be even further away from the tube lines preferred by some.

Worth a try, and an excellent idea for a thread.

[g-man]

Running list of places in NY:

Square MEal:
http://www.squaremealnyc.com/
accomodates only 6
North Square: Private room, pre fix 100$/person all included

Harry's:
harrysnyc.com/
125-150$/per son private room

Uncle jacks'S Westside
440 Ninth Avenue
New York, NY 10001
212.244.0005
: 125$ / personal all included private room

Afkhan kebab house
764 9th Ave New York, 10019
(212) 307-1612:
Ala carte, no corkage, no nonsense, no glassware but BYOB.
Small tables

Sarabeth's West
http://www.sarabethswest.com:
Can get crowded, long tables, friendly.

Hillstones
Hillstone.com
Can get very very crowded during busy times, will push the tables
but when free nice booths, free corkage, ~50$/person

[jdaw1]

The location might be unwelcome by those who have already commented the High Holborn is inconvenient as this seems to be even further away from the tube lines preferred by some.

The Lady Ottoline has a good location for those going to Kings Cross, or otherwise needing the Piccadilly or Central lines. Probably less good for Wokingham.

[DRT]

The location might be unwelcome by those who have already commented the High Holborn is inconvenient as this seems to be even further away from the tube lines preferred by some.

The Lady Ottoline has a good location for those going to Kings Cross, or otherwise needing the Piccadilly or Central lines. Probably less good for Wokingham.

Also an extra 10-15 minutes walk (≈1 pub stop) for those who tend to stay near Westminster/Victoria.

[Alex Bridgeman]

Jonathan, manager of the Bung Hole, said that he is to become manager of Grapeshots, and that he will try to persuade us to hold tastings there.

Oh dear. After just becoming used to Bunghole as our new home, everything is disrupted again. I took a look at the Grapeshots (GS) website and concluded the following:

Advantages of the new venue over the old
- Jonathan is the manager
- Close to Liverpool Street station

Disadvantages of GS over TBH
- East of Bishopsgate
- More inconvenient for Waterloo
- Menu link on the website broken, so unable to check menu
- No private rooms
- poor selection of ports on the wine list menu

I am not convinced of the merits of moving to our third location in three months! I think we need to ask for willing volunteers to undertake a personal inspection of GS before we come to a decision.

Any volunteers?

[DRT]

I am happy to take a look, but the location and prospect of moving from TBH are both very unappealing to me.

[RAYC]

I am happy to volunteer to be part of a tasting group that tests this out as a new venue.

But i do like The Bunghole, and also retain a fondness for TCP so would be sad if we never went back there.

[jdaw1]

Davy’s first bar, the Boot and Flogger, 10-20 Redcross Way, London SE1 1TA.

The wine list included:

• £120, Cockburn 1963;
• £120, Quinta do Noval 1966;
• £120, Dow 1970;
• £90, Offley 1970;
• £90, Warre 1970;
• £190, Sandeman 1970 magnum;
• £65, Croft 1985.

The Dining Room would make an excellent venue for six of us, and there were large rooms about which I couldn’t decide whether fourteen would or wouldn’t work. The lighting might be a problem.

[jdaw1]

This BBC article made me wonder whether it could be our home away from home.

OK, perhaps not.

[djewesbury]

Moved from Ramos-Pinto: Tuesday 21st October 2014.

This may be a stupid (or even 'brainless') question, but are the various branches of Davy's our only current options? Are there any other friendly pubs / wiine bars with steak on the menu and a function room? The kind that you can use for free for meetings to discuss the overthrow of the state, etc?

[flash_uk]

Are there any other friendly pubs / wiine bars with steak on the menu and a function room?

A good challenge to occupy us in the months coming up to Christmas. I will explore in the area around my office.

[djewesbury]

Are there any other friendly pubs / wiine bars with steak on the menu and a function room?

A good challenge to occupy us in the months coming up to Christmas. I will explore in the area around my office.

Thank you Mike. A very noble offer. I am aware that we have very specific requirements: space, temperature, food, lack of a problem with corkage, but I feel sure that somewhere in the City / east end of the West End, there are other venues that can meet all or most of these requirements.. There must be?

[PopulusTremula]

I will also have a look around the office but I think Rob's comment in another thread was very apt; what we enjoyed at TBH was too good to last.

[jdaw1]

Rob's comment in another thread was very apt

A pity, though with hindsight the arrangements at the Bunghole were too good to last and we should be thankful for the 2.5 years we have had there. I suspect we will have to get used to paying more to hold central London tastings in future...but since the weekly event schedule of 2012 has dropped off somewhat, perhaps that is not as serious as it once was.

[jdaw1]

But as AHB has said St. James's would be very convenient (much more so than Woolgate).

EDIT: the Club Room at St. James's looks very agreeable. Could a researcher visit?

The Club Room at Davy’s at St James’s:

[flash_uk]

It certainly looks like a research visit to St James is required. The menu is the familiar steak menu. Tick. The fireplace is decorated with spent bottles of port. Tick. The table looks like it could accommodate 14 settings. Tick. Central location. Tick.

The run up to Christmas looks a little busy. Perhaps a January visit?

[jdaw1]

Each table is 75cm square, so this double-table arrangement meant that the total width was 1½m ≈ 59″. This worked really well. I and others liked that amount of space — room for glasses, notes, water, things, and lots of food.

[flash_uk]

Yes, Woolgate definitely a winner in terms of all the desired attributes.

And I have only now just remembered the reason why one face who shall remain nameless is privacy-blurred

[Alex Bridgeman]

And I have only now just remembered the reason why one face who shall remain nameless is privacy-blurred

It was my inability to focus on the face of the person sitting next to me that caused me to leave early, convinced that I had already drunk too much!

[jdaw1]

Davy’s at St James’s: the Club Room.





Lovely room; bad lighting; impressively huge decanter.

[jdaw1]

Davy’s at St James’s: the Office.





Great room for four; five would be acceptable; six tight; seven or more won’t fit.

[flash_uk]

Mmm. Those pictures of the Club Room suggest that 14 in there will not be feasible, though 10 yes easily, 12 probably OK.

So it would seem that St James might be a place for 6,8,10,12 sittings. Woolgate can handle sittings of 10/12 and importantly 14 in the Brasserie, as well as 6 or 8 in the Boardroom.

I think it would be very useful to explore a little at Davy's St James when we visit. They also show a "Champagne Cellar" on the website which might be an option for more space...

[jdaw1]

They also show a "Champagne Cellar" on the website which might be an option for more space...

Yes, rather like the tunnels at the Crusting Pipe, except that the tables are — growl — 75cm, and they can’t fit two side-by-side. (Occupied when I visited, so photographs weren’t taken.)