If you like wine, or need a bit of a guiding hand when it
comes to matching wine with food, Soif, in Battersea, is the place to
go.
Living very much up to its French name, Soif (meaning
‘thirsty’), the restaurant is bursting with a cellar of over 200 varieties of
wine (mostly light-to-medium bodied selected from Italy and France), from
sparkling to champagne, dry to sweet. All the wines are hand-made and naturally
produced by small artisan growers, and, having been fully tried and tested, we
can verify they are indeed delicious to drink.
We felt obliged to put the waiting staff’s knowledge of the wine list to the test, and they certainly know their stuff, telling you everything from where the location of the
wine is sourced, what it should taste like and what it goes best with, all the
time ensuring that it is compatible with your taste buds too. It’s almost like
the London cabbie’s ‘Knowledge’ for wine.
The serving team are not only fully-versed on the wine
menu, they are equally attentive and personable in a non-overbearing way. When
we asked for meal suggestions, they happily obliged, and we felt like we were
the best customers they had all night.
We kicked the evening off with a glass of Italian
prosecco; light and appetising and we told ourselves we should start meals off
like this more often. The bubbles tingled on our tongue and we were ready for some starter dishes: fluffy mozzarella on a bed of thinly shredded tender vegetables with a
hint of lemon, and some spicy grilled prawns in a juicy garlic sauce. The
waiter matched two glasses of white wine from the French regions, and not being
white wine drinkers ourselves, we were pleasantly surprised (another couple to add to our shopping list).
Mains consisted of grilled hake with celeriac; 'some of
the best fish I've ever eaten' exclaimed my friend (a bold statement indeed), and lamb
with griolles (tiny mushrooms we learnt) with aubergine in an ever-so slight
tomato sauce. The lamb (which we observed quite closely) was none that we had
eaten before, being reddy-pink with a brown and juicy rim on one side, but
bizarrely light and pork-like on the other. We thought this was more fine cuisine
than a peculiar type of meat however, and carried on eating what was an immensely
enjoyable dish. With this we drank another white wine, from Italy, we think, but our mind started to go hazy at this point, and a nice juicy red with the lamb.
Dessert came and we enjoyed a cheese board with a glass of sweet
red, and a bitter chocolate mousse with a very cider-like sweet white wine (the
final addition to the shopping list).
If you fancy something a little lighter on your visit to
Soif, you can also enjoy boards of cured meats, soda bread, olives and other
small plates. These alone are quite filling and a great excuse to make up the
larger proportion of the bill with wine.
Soif is definitely a restaurant to be revisited. The
wine, food and service demand it. And you are not in the south-west area of
London, you can venture to its sister restaurants Terroirs in Covent Garden and
Brawn in Bethnal Green.
If there is anything to be learnt however, drink plenty
of water or you'll regret it in the morning.
27 Battersea Rise, SW11 1HG
Average price for main course: £18
Average price for glass of wine: £7
Food/Drink: 4/5
Value: 4/5
Service: 5/5
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