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The Almeida reopens with new twist on a wine list - it does not have one

Published:  04 September, 2014

One of London's first restaurants without a wine list has just reopened after a mini refurbishment. The Almeida in Islington, north London, will instead rely on its waiting staff to make their own personal recommendations tailored to guests' individual budgets, style preferences and food order.

Almeida set to reopenAlmeidaAlmeida set to reopen

One of London's first restaurants without a wine list has just reopened after a mini refurbishment. The Almeida in Islington, north London, will instead rely on its waiting staff to make their own personal recommendations tailored to guests' individual budgets, style preferences and food order.

However, guests who still prefer to choose their own wine can make their way to Almeida's new so called "wine wall", where all of the bottles available will be on show. Guests will also be able to sample the staff's favourite wines before they order.  "Some may see us binning the wine list as a bit radical but I hope it will change the way our guests at Almeida think about what they drink," said  restaurant manager Rob Kihlstrom,  We are doing this to get our passion for wine across to our customers a lot better and the whole experience will be more fun and interactive than the usual approach of working your way through a long list."

The wine offering at the restaurant concentrates on classic regions of Spain, France and Italy, and wines made with indigenous grapes from less well known areas such as Viña Godeval Godello from Valdeorras, Spain. New world producers such as John Duval Plexus Shirax from the Barossa Valley in Australia are also included.

Local wine educator Hugo Read will be hosting monthly wine tastings at the Almeida as from this month, and these informal sessions will include classic wine regions, less well known grape varietals as well as up and coming wine producing countries, with the opportunity to buy all the wines afterwards from the new online shop D&D Wine.

Head chef Tommy Boland's seasonally inspired contemporary British menu offers such dishes as octopus ballotine with sea vegetables, lemon dressing, taramasalata and crispy squid; roasted grouse with celeriac puree, smoked bacon, savoy cabbage, elderberries and barley; and millefeuille of banana, salted caramel, peanuts and honey jelly.

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