Restaurant wine lists

Last Thursday, after months of sitting at home due to the sudden and mysterious disappearance of our babysitter, Mr Q and myself finally found a replacement and went out on a date. Following our aperitif at Cafe en Seine, (a glass of Pinot Grigio), we felt part of the real world again, and no longer just spoon-feeding-nappy-changers. For dinner Mr Q chose The Chili Club, one of Dublins longest surviving ethnic restaurants, with an excellent reputation for its authentic Thai cuisine. Most often described as cosy or intimate, the word small is probably the most accurate way of describing of the The Chill Club.

Fellow diners were a mixed bunch - gang of girls, family celebrating junior cert results, couple on an early date, jaded married couple, group of mature ladies. Restaurant full.

Yummy, yummy Thai food. As happens in life, when the children arrive, the family meals become bland, unsalted, flavourless offerings for a couple of years. We therefore like to spice things up on our evenings out, generally choosing Thai or Indian cuisine. The food at the Chili Club was excellent. We shared a mixed platter for our starter - satay, prawn toasts, spring roll and tofu. Main courses were pad Thai and a green curry.

The difficulty arose when it came to choosing a wine. The wine list is relatively extensive but doesn't seem to have been chosen with the food in mind. Because the idea of this topic came to me after our evening out, I didn't make notes. Also, my husband decided to push out the boat and go for the 2006 Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc, for a hefty €56.00. Cloudy Bay is a lovely example of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, but it is overpriced. There are also a number of reasonably priced substitutes which I would like to have seen on the list - Astrolabe and Oyster Bay have the same flavours of green fruits and length of flavour as the regions' most famous Sauvignon. Although the price is high, Cloudy Bay retails for around €29.00 so The Chili Club is to be commended for not further ripping us off by charging €70.00 plus as some restaurants do.

Not only were there no other New Zealand sauvignons on the list, neither was there a Gewurztraminer, which would have been my first choice to match with Thai food. In the past we have been unsuccessful when ordering Cloudy Bay (despite the price it doesn't stay in stock for long) so I had mentally selected an Australian Riesling as second choice, priced at €30.00.

So then, some days later, like Carrie Bradshaw before me, 'I got to thinking'. Why is it that so few restaurants put any effort into creating a wine list that goes with its menu. A recent British survey found that drinks regularly make up more than half the bill, yet as Natalie Maclean pointed out in her quintessential book 'Red, White and Drunk All Over' many critics just throw in a line at the end of their review 'we had a lovely bottle of Cabernet for €25.00.' Of course they are foodies first, but surely the reader merits more wine recommendations.

Have you had a particularly good or bad experience with a restaurant wine list? I'd like to compile a list and post it to the website so would love to hear from you.

Until next time.

So many wines, so little time.

winegoose@hotmail.com