» A vine romance
Andrew Kay falls in love with In Vino Veritas
In 1974 I hit London, and in particular Chelsea, just in time to enjoy the wine bar boom. It seemed that the metropolis had gone vino mad and we as art students were certainly inmates of those tiny asylums that were so aptly dubbed wine bars.
Initially the wine bar phenomenon was great, we would settle down to endless bottles of house plonk, much of it of very dubious provenance, and sip away looking as ‘Parisien’ as possible. I even took to wearing a gigantic red beret.
‘‘To say that Jimmy G-Scene has a good appetite is understatement on the grand scale. His capacity for bon vivacity is legendary – as is my own’’
Then all at once the joy went out of wine bars. Where once we would ponder over a Pinot we were suddenly being asked if we were eating? The simple wine bar had morphed overnight into a restaurant. It was a phenomenon that re-occurred when pubs did the same. For a while it was nigh on impossible to get a drink without having to order a meal.
I missed wine bars. They had taken me from a passing knowledge of Hirondelle and Blue Nun to a new level of drinking. I became aware of varieties and regions and developed a long lasting habit.
Now Brighton and Hove boasts a new era of wine bars. In Vino Veritas is on one level just that, a bar that specialises in wine. It’s also rather a sophisticated cocktail bar, tapas style eatery and bistro. Tucked just east of the back of the Jubilee Library, it occupies a rather smartly refurbished building on four floors. The basement is a cocktail bar, the ground floor the wine bar and informal restaurant, the first a bistro and the top is given over to the kitchen.
And what a kitchen, I went along with my old mate and fellow publisher James Ledward. Now to say that Jimmy G-Scene has a good appetite is understatement on the grand scale. His capacity for bon vivacity is legendary – as is my own.
