Hotel du Vin Blog

The party’s over, the service truly begins.

What an evening. London turned out in force to support the bistro opening night. Bloggers, celebrities, media londonistas, top chefs. The roll call on the culinary side is as follows – Michel Roux Jr, Stuart Gillies, Pierre Kauffman – all seemed impressed and stayed a while to witness the artistry and graft of Keith Shearer and his boys working the live kitchen.

On entering guests were treated to an exclusive Marmalade vodka infused martini or a cool iced tea infused with Millers gin. The food stations and our prized pewter top were brimming with shellfish and cuts of steak. The Josper Grill well and truly fired up filled the kitchen space with an amazing smokey aroma. Meanwhile in the live butchery, Eric from La Cave de Fromage hosted a majestic display of his finest cheeses, which proved to be immensely popular to say the least. Music was provided by Mario and his jazz quartet. The drink flowed. The food flowed. All there were more than served with the simple taste of “du Vin”.

The “by the glass” dispenser proved to be a complete smash. Busy all night. The music continued with Universal signed artist Jonathan Jeremiah, who provided a rousing uplifting set of songs from his album. And a thoroughly nice guy too. Downstairs in the the “Whisky Snuggle” the Scotch Malt Whisky Society held a night long tasting. I think I caught him at one point describing a whisky as the Angelina Jolie of whiskys – our kind of guy.

The whisky, the wine, the food continued to flow. At one point the outside became an alfresco cigar venue. Good times. Eventually the coats were taken from the vintage lockers and some of us headed off to our London beds (although some are still believed to be still there.

A massive thank you to all who attended. Keep the faith and see you in Soho in June for the second.

Thanks to Eat Out for such a swift review too.