London eateries for wine lovers

If you are dragged up to the city for the January sales, don’t despair. Simply combine bargain hunting with an excellent lunch and wine, advises Jonathan Ray

THE country is all very well but once in a while you need an invigorating trip to London, if only to remind yourself why you live in the country. The January sales are as good a reason as any for a shirt-popping lunch in town and these are my top 10 London restaurants for wine lovers. Cheers.

Best Restaurant to Kiss and Make Up In: Andrew Wong (70 Wilton Road, London SW1) A friend with whom I’d fallen out took me to lunch here and I sat, arms crossed, waiting for him to apologise. One bite of the truffle dim sum and tears sprang to my eyes. Rich warm soup flooded my mouth with exquisite, subtle flavours and we both immediately stood up and embraced, vowing never to be so foolish again. The sublime 2016 Dopff au Moulin Pinot Noir from Alsace helped.

Best Restaurant with a View: Galvin at Windows (22 Park Lane, London W1) It is well known that the further a restaurant is from the ground or the better its view, the worse its food. Galvin at Windows is a glorious exception. Sited at the top of the hilton hotel in Park Lane, the view across London is stupendous and so is the grub. The poached pollock, celeriac risotto and lobster bouillon is perfect and the 2013 Marqués de Murrieta white Rioja is the ideal partner.

Best Traditional Restaurant: Simpson’s (100 Strand, London WC2) Simpson’s has been refurbished and is bang back on form. This is where to come for hearty English fare and if there is a finer place to enjoy roast rib of 28-day, dry-aged Scottish beef, carved from the trolley, I’d like to know about it. My choice with beef: 2014 Meerlust Rubicon from South Africa.

Best Riverside Restaurant: The Gun (27 Coldharbour, London E14) The Gun, a gem of an 18th-century pub, smack dab on the river, is barely 10 minutes’ walk from Canary Wharf. The view of the Thames and the imposing O2 opposite is worth the journey alone. Factor in the step-back-in-time atmosphere, the excellent food and the carefully chosen vino (more than 30 by the glass) and you have every reason to go. Best Restaurant for Lovers of High Camp: Bob Bob Ricard (1 Upper James Street, London W1) BBR is like a devilishly decadent Orient Express, with each table cocooned in its own elegant private booth. The modern Russian/english grub is top-notch and the wine list famously well priced. Best of all, each table has a button that says ‘Press for Champagne’ – exactly the sort of button I like to have within constant and easy reach.

Best Indian Restaurant: Indian Accent (16 Albemarle Street, London W1) The amusebouche of pumpkin and coconut soup left me begging for more. As for the lamb seekh kebab with cumin new potatoes and stilton and sweet pickle pork ribs, I couldn’t get enough. The 2012 Willi Schaefer Graacher Domprobst Kabinett from the Mosel and 2015 hans Nittnaus Blaufränkisch from Austria topped things off nicely.

Best Michelin-starred Restaurant: The Greenhouse (27A Hay’s Mews, London W1) Way beyond my station but if someone else is paying... The canapés are works of art and meals in themselves, and the saddle and shoulder of lamb are outrageously tender. Allow the daringly adventurous sommelier to choose the wines and you’ll be taken to vinous heights you never dreamed of.

Best Club-like Restaurant: Bellamy’s (18 Bruton Place, London W1) Proprietor Gavin Rankin calls Bellamy’s “a club without a sub” and it is agreeably discreet yet welcoming. One visit and they will remember you. And you will remember the smoked eel mousse, the mussel and saffron risotto and the picatta of veal. The entirely French wine list is favourably priced. My go-to wine is the deliciously aromatic and creamy 2016 Crozes-hermitage Blanc from Alain Graillot.

Best Restaurant for Canoodling: Andrew Edmunds (46 Lexington Street, London W1) A jolly, intimate, famously cramped candlelit bistro. The menu and wine list are both deliciously eccentric and there are all manner of treats to tempt one. how about braised hare leg or whole roast teal with a bottle of 2016 Massaya Le Colombier from the Lebanon? If you can’t crack it with your date here, then you might as well give up.

Best Restaurant in London. Forget it. If I told you, I’d never be able to get a table again…

Each table has a button that says ‘Press for Champagne’, the type of button I like to have