A weekend away with Mrs. SF, in the big smoke, gave me the chance to try a couple of places that have been on my list for a while. Mrs. SF’s priorities while we were there were a show and shopping whereas mine were, of course, getting from one  food and drink establishment to another with shops an unnecessary and unwelcome distraction in between.

First on my hit list was an offshoot of the Quality Chop House, in the form of Quality Wines, which was a very short (once we had got our bearing after starting off walking in the entirely wrong direction –  probably just me and getting old, but I find Google Maps can sometimes be really confusing) from our temporary place of abode on Ray Street (the Coach Inn, which was very nice).

Now any place that has the word wine in its name tends to pique my interest and, with the pedigree of it bigger Quality Chop House sibling next door, it was a must visit when it was just around the corner.

Busy little joint, with it pretty much packed at 19.15 on a Thursday (with people even eating, on what was a bit of a dreary night, outside).

A wall of wine entices you in (it is a wine shop as well as a wine bar/restaurant), although inside it is tad on the stygian side with the only lighting provided by candles on the tables (fire officer not been for a visit at night recently then!? 🙄).

The food menu is short and sweet, changing weekly, with a bit of a Greek theme ( much more to it the just gyros and moussaka – good wine too) on the night in question.

There are few better ways to peruse a menu than with a bowl of top notch salted almonds

and here these “Queen of almonds” marona ones (£4) hit the spot nicely with a lovely sweet savoury/umami taste and a robust coating of salt. My only regret was that I didn’t have (they didn’t have) a top notch fino to hand to drink with them.

Next up was the original pintxos in the form of a couple of gildas (£2.5 a pop), with both Mrs SF’s and our server’s eyebrows raising somewhat when I pronounced it as hildas (with the dish’s Spanish origins as a homage to Rita Heyworth in the film Gilda,  I was of course right to do so),

which brought back memories of my beloved Pais Basco (it has been too long). I just love this oh so simple, but effective, combo of briney olive and anchovies and the slight warming heat of pickled guindilla pepper.

A bountiful plate (so it should be at £14) of finocchiano was (as it also should be) gratifyingly fennel heavy in nature.

Whilst there in abundance, the fennel gave the meat a perfumed fragrance which enhanced rather than overpowered. Cracked black pepper, garlic and red wine, as well as a good ratio of fat to lean, all added nicely to the mix. Not cheap, but you pays your money and takes your choice and it was worth every penny in my view

Soft yielding leeks (£10) with a mild alium hit came in a quite punchy emulsified vinaigrette.

The tartness of the vinaigrette worked very well as a counterpoint to the richness of the duck egg.

Really good dish this, with the eggy vinaigrette lovely mop up by the bread we ordered.

Said bread, focaccia (£4), was nice and bubbly on the inside, with a crisp salt and rosemary heavy crust. Good olive oil ratio too, with it being evident but not to saturation levels.

Excellent on its own, it was perfect for mop up duties for the leek dish and the next up crab dish

Crab on toast (tartine if you are posh) came with a big smack on the chops of rich brown crab meat (£9). Many prefer white meat (probably for textural reasons), but to me it is the brown meat that drives the flavour of (and thus pleasure in eating) a crab.

I associate Café de Paris butter more with steak, but here its mix of herbs and spices amped things up nicely. Chopped chives operated to ameliorate all the richness a bit, with a touch of acidity. Whilst it looked rather like a very loose (only way) scrambled egg (over cook scrambled egg and it’s not even fit for the bin, but I digress…) on toast, this was a very superior bit of stuff on toast.

Salad in November may seem a bit odd, but when it is as good as the marouslata (£9) here I would eat it on Christmas day (in an igloo in Siberia).

Deceptively simple, with finely shredded lettuce, spring onions, a good amount of feta and absolutely loads of dill (and mint), it was all brought together by a fine lemon and oil dressing. Really refreshing dish that just sung with bold flavours –  the tangy saltiness of the feta, the anis of the dill, the menthol of mint, the fresh fruitiness of the top quality olive oil and the zing of freshly squeezed lemon. All conveyed to the gob on strands of lettuce (at last, boring old stager, you have found a stage to shine on), this was just gloriously stuff. I have a Greek recipe book at home and I have (to my mind) successfully replicated this.

Our last savoury dish was another Greek corker in the form of sofigado (£24).

Lovely, fall apart tender, chunks of beef sat in a rich yet tart, sauce containing onions, garlic red wine vinegar, rosemary and a Greek grape molasses called petimezi. This was further enriched by slices of fragrant, cooked down, quince. These had an almost savoury tartness to them, as well as a tropical fruitiness. Slow cooked spinach added a nice irony flavour, but could/should have been a tad hotter.

For pud. there were only two option,

so, of course, we went for both.

The pistachio cake had a nice crust and plentiful amount of pistachio. Slightly dense (naturexof the beast I think) I would say, but very nice none the less.

The star, however, was the pear ice cream. Very underused fruit, pear, which I have not seen as an ice-cream flavouring before. This is, I think, rather a shame as it was very good with a subtle vanilla sweetness and floralness to it.

The second dessert was rather more indulgent and less subtle in the form of Fat Pig cannoli, with one salted peanut praline and one pistachio.

Both very rich, I preferred the more subtle pistachio. The salted peanut praline was rather too in your face – like being clubbed by a peanut encrusted mace.

On the booze front, with wine in the name it is to be expected that there would be a fulsome list and it didn’t disappoint, with a decent by the glass

as well as by the bottle, selection.

I had heard tell that with the place operating as a wine shop in the day, you can buy a bottle off the shelf and drink it in for an extra £15 corkage. As it was rammed by the wine shelves, with tables right up to it at the time of our visit, this was not really an option (suppose I could have gone in earlier and in effect reserved a bottle – next time, perhaps, with hindsight being a wonderful thing🙄).

We defaulted to the list and with Mrs. SF only slowing getting back on the wine horse (after a month or so of abstinence) I let her dictate the choice with her going for a rather fine rioja from Rioja Baja/Orientel (still just cannot warm to the latter “modern” name).

Nice berry laden nose, with distinct herbal notes of thyme and a touch of lavender. Very drinkable stuff, which went down a treat, especially with the beef and quince dish. Mark up wise I think this retails at about the £20 mark, so £50 on the list ain’t bad for London.

With the desserts, as it was sherry week, I had a Jerez moscatel from Cesar Florido

Lovely aromas of sweet orange, mint, honeysuckle and hazelnut, with a pleasing honeyed finish.

Plus point for having it on the list, negated by the miniscule 70ml pour it came in. As it was a proper sweetie, I can just about live with it (it is a heinous wine crime if it is that pour for a manzanilla or fino), but I still dislike it. That dislike is compounded by the pricing, with a 75cl bottle of this stuff retailing at around £20. With this £7 for said 70ml pour, that makes for a mark up of x 3.75 (which I think is rather steep).

The verdict

Very enjoyable meal this, showing that a succinct food menu is often not a bad things. This is exactly my sort of eating, with lots of plates and good wine (the revamped Uisce or Parallel are probably the nearest thing we have to it in Cardiff, the former better than the latter in my view).

The week day lunch looks an absolute steal,

so I will definitely be back for a return visit.

Detail

Address: 88 Farringdon Road, London, EC1R 3EA.

Website: https://qualitywinesfarringdon.com