Le Relais de Venise in London

This is a lesson in why I need to actually write down wine labels when I'm out, even if I do look like the complete dork that I am.

Last night I had the chance to eat at La Relais de Venise L'Entrecote, the London location of the original Parisian brasserie off the Champs-Elysees. Coincidentally, I went to the Paris restaurant with Katie during our recent December weekend trip. Last night, a friend and I chanced upon the London location off the Marylebone High Street as we wandered around looking for somewhere suitable for dinner. The restaurant has a simple menu of salad with walnuts and steak frites with their signature special sauce (served in two helpings!). It also famously does not take reservations and you simply wait in a queue outside until you are eventually ushered in to a tight-spaced table.

We didn't have to wait long to be seated since it was 9pm on a Monday night, and the brevity of the wine list assisted a quick decision to get the second Bordeaux on the menu. Now, here's where my problem starts. I do remember the name of the wine "Blend 55 - Bordeaux" but I can't find it when I google it, and more embarrasingly, I can't remember which varietals the 55 refer to (it being 55%/45% of two different varietals). Being a Bordeaux, the options are either Cab Sav, Cab France, or Merlot, so I'm guessing it was the two cabs?!

The first sip gave me the impression that it was a bit flat (something that too much Merlot might do to it). It had good flavour but maybe not enough tannins. But as I started to drink it with the food, the structure appeared and it was a much friendlier wine, all the more so for the reasonable £16.95 price. It's an easy combination to pair medium-cooked steak with a red cab blend, so the choice was right and I'm just left wondering if the restaurant has it bottled and branded just for their restaurant?...