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Brett Woonton, Charlie Young and Ross Goodall at Vinoteca |
Camden Restauurant: Review | Venoteca Bar and Wine | Smithfield | Brett Woonton | Charlie Young | Ross Goodall
Open since September 2005, Vinoteca in Smithfield offers more than 25 wines by the glass and 275 by the bottle – and its seasonal menu changes daily, as Sara Newman discovers
THE spit and sawdust décor, simple dark wooden tables, chalkboards, and shelves of wine bottles belong in an ink sketch of European 19th-century bohemia.
The no-frills owners insist that Vinoteca is chiefly a wine bar but the proof is in the menu.
Chef Ross Goodall has just returned from San Sebastian in France where he ate bronze-coated chips at legendary fine-dining restaurant Arzak.
“I’ve done the fine dining scene in New Zealand and Australia, where fusion cooking is all the rage,” he said. “But I get more enjoyment in getting quality ingredients and using simple methods of cooking.”
Different meals are served for lunch and dinner and the menu also changes about two to three times a week, depending on the availability of ingredients.
The meat is bought from local Smithfield market and most of the vegetables are ordered from British farms, while the Pata Negra ham and cured meats are imported from Jabugo in southwest Spain.
My taste sensation lunchtime choice (pan fried grey mullet with asparagus and lemon risotto at £11.75) was a brand new addition to the menu.
Soups, home-made breads and smaller meals of tarts and hearty salads go for about a fiver.
Brett Woonton, 41 and Charlie Young, 39, met each other working in the wine trade in 2000.
The influence of Brett’s fiancée, joint partner Elaina Ares, a civil servant whose family work in the restaurant trade, means both food and wine are treated with equal respect. “We hit it off because she was quite passionate about food,” said the soon-to-be-wed Brett.
Charlie added: “Because we worked in the wine trade we know how to buy and what to buy in certain quantities so we pass that advantage on to the customer.”
Rather than make a blanket percentage margin on all their wines, they tell me, prices are kept low by using cash margins instead.
Of the 275 wines on offer, 85 of them are under £20.
The concept of a vinoteca, common in Italy and France, is to provide a space where customers can drink-in with a fresh seasonal meal or take a bottle away for a good price.
I had a light fruity white Portuguese wine called Vinho Regional Ribatejano (£5.25 a glass).
I’m told it’s unusual for its variety of grapes, which includes, Fernão Pires, Arinto and Alvarinho.
“It’s a little education,” said Brett. “A lot of people have this old-school misconception about wine, that it’s for the upper classes and that it’s quite stuffy.
“We want to offer a relaxed environment where anyone can come in and have a glass, enjoy it and go away with a little bit of knowledge.”
Despite being born at opposite ends of the world New Zealand-born Brett and Yorkshire lad Charlie have followed similar career paths.
Choosing to travel between Australia, New Zealand, the UK and the United States, they both started in hospitality before specialising in wine.
“I was in New Zealand, which is at the bottom of the world,” said Brett, “so I wanted to go and see other things and the best way to get away quickly is to do hospitality.
“You can go anywhere if you speak the language. Unfortunately, I only speak two languages,” he quipped. English and New Zealand and neither particularly well.”
For taking quality seriously, this is my number one find this year.
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