Dion Wine and Champagne Bar, Restaurant Review
Dion Wine and Champagne Bar
David Constable Reviews:
52-56 Leadenhall Street,
London EC3A 2BJ
Tel: 020 7702 9111
The interior decor at Bank’s Dion, Leadenhall Street, has a flawless and fresh appeal with a corridor stretching deep to the rear and lined with lighted booths for pin-stripped managers and mergers to swill, gargle and spit exorbitant wines.??Wine carries the weight on the menu and there is an abundant selection of French and Italian varieties, yet an inadequate picking from Spain.
The “cru classe” of Beaujolais is Fleurie – Millesime Cave de Fleurie 2006 -(£29), and is gamy beginnings, tasting tenderly of strawberries. Following France was one of only three Spanish varieties and a Dinastia Vivanco Rioja Crianza, 2004 (£29.50) packing more punch with rich and toasted spices in the backdrop of winter nightfall.??
The evening menu is a tasting menu and is overall uninspiring. There’s nothing of substance to absorb the wine and – being The City – all is fabulously over-priced. The mini salmon & dill fishcakes at £6.50 arrived looking like four infinitesimal Scotch eggs with cocktail sticks poking out. They tasted dry and sapless and ghastly plain. Red onion & gorgonzola tartlet at £5.95 was flavoursome and a little better, yet the sliced Cumberland sausages with English mustard (also £5.95) was truly horrifying in texture and presentation, and made Canapés look like a jollification banquet.
??A glass of Veuve Clicquot Yellow Label Champagne to wrap up carries effervescent bubbles of cheer, and we toast to the hullabaloo of a birthday soiree and withdrew into the winter night in search of food with substance.
About David Constable:
David Constable was born in Kent and studied in both the United Kingdom and United States where he found it very difficult living on the student diet of baked beans and super noodles. Once released from academia and thrust into the ‘real world’ he found comfort in an eclectic mix of British, French, Italian and Mexican cuisine. His favourite restaurants in London are Roast and Launceston Place – precision of dishes and fine British game – and he enjoys red wine as much as he does his food. Amarone being his beloved tipple.
Along with his restaurant reviews, David also writes television reviews for Broadcast and a weekly media blog for Production Wizard. His website is: http://davidconstable.wordpress.com
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