SIP THE LIST

When Kim mentioned she’d been to a Japanese-Italian restaurant, I was like, “Pardon?” And then she said, “I had to send back the prosecco.” I said, “I don’t think I’ve ever sent back a glass of prosecco.” She was like, “Yeah, it didn’t taste great” and I was like, “Okay, but what was the rest of the drinks list like?” And she said, “They served my sake in a wine glass.” And part of my brain collapsed. Checking out the drinks list myself a short time later, I was intrigued to see a cocktail called “Hang To Drown” which, despite conjuring up all sorts of water torture thoughts, ended up being a delicious blend of bacardi, vodka, lime juice, butterfly pea flower water and lemon. And the much more pleasant sounding Innamorarsi (Italian for “love at first sight”) featuring gin, lemon, rose syrup and grenadine will definitely bring the grins. There are five sakes to choose from from Takara and Asahi in 300ml pours and they’re pretty decent quality, nothing eyepopping.

But what did make my pupils bulge was that for a restaurant that’s half Italian, the only prosecco they’re offering by the glass is from … Australia. And no Italian rosé? While they do have two (only two, mind you) very delicious Italian white wines on the list (Ciello’s Cattaratto and da Vulcano’s Fiano Benevantano) — not one of them is available by the glass. And of the four Italian reds on the list, just one, (the Poggio Anima Sangiovese), can be bought by the glass. I’m no expert, but were I wanting to champion Italian flavours, I’d maybe feature more Italian wines on my list. And I’d have more of them available by the glass to encourage people to try them! Just a thought.