The Wine Theatre

An Italian friend told us about this place and organised a wine tasing for a large group last Friday. For a fixed price of just £20 we were treated to a very generous taste of some beautiful and unusual wines (well, I had never heard of Zibibbo before — my favourite!), as well as a wonderful Chianti to round off the evening. Each of the four wines was accompanied by a dish selected to match the wine. These were mainly meat and seafood based, but the vegetarian alternatives were equally delicious and suitable. The Italian version of crème brûlée that followed the feast was one of the best I have ever tasted (and, believe me, I have eaten a few), actually this may well have been the best meal I have had so far this year.
I had actualy walked past the restaurant on several occasions as it is on route from Southwark Station to Tate Modern. The location doesn’t do any justice to what is on offer inside.
Not sure how often they offer this type of wine tasting event, or if I was just incredibly lucky to have been invited by my friend. However, I will definitely return — soon. Apparently, it is an Italian tradition for restaurants to offer an aperitivo with your drink before the main meal starts. This idea has been adopted by The Wine Theatre, and a free tasting table is available with all wine orders from 5 to 8 — almost a little too good to be true, especially when you consider the quality of the food here.

Wow this was the tackiest place I’ve been for a while. Possibly the only time I’ve ever been handed a glass of champagne by a waiter with the words «Here you go darling». Classy. That’s really the trouble with this place, it’s just trying too hard to be chic and expensive but they put pickled onions in one pasta dish. Actual pickled onions. Wha???
The blurb about the place says it’s supposed to resemble a kind of Milanese aperitivo bar where you have bits and bobs of different foods to go with the various different wines you’re trying. Optimistic. The house wine was foul and anything lower down the menu was incredibly expensive and the food was the least authentic thing I’ve ever come across. I’ve been to Italy. Actually, scrub that, I’ve been to restaurants. You might expect to find this sort of place in a very small town somewhere far away but not in central London.