A long lunch at Felix

What is a girl to do.....an offer of lunch at new French bistro Felix in the city for on a Monday afternoon. Well my arm was twisted! I do try to be good at the beginning of the week, or on Mondays at least, but this all went to pot when I turned up for lunch!

The very personable and helpful sommelier, Andrew Sharp, convinced us (it didn't take much) to try some wines, despite our protests at it being a Monday (with a busy afternoon to follow!). First off we sipped a beautiful French champagne, NV Ruinart 'R', while choosing our meal, which went down a treat.

As we all chose different dishes for lunch (crumbed rabbit, pork cutlet and steak frites), Andrew suggested a French Pinot Noir - Gevrey-Chambertin Tradition 2008 - which washed each dish perfectly.

We then decided that we HAD to try at least two of the amazing desserts, so opted for the coconut meringue with summer fruits and a decadent chocolate mousse with spiced cream and caramlised hazelnuts. This pretty much tipped us over the edge (I almost had to lie down), but a silky Chateau Broustet Sauternes 2eme Cru Classe Bordeaux (sorry can't get acents on this thing) which came in a very funky 100ml test tube brought us around. Not at all what I was expecting for for a French desert wine vessel!

Andrew then kindly treated us to a quick tour of the wine cellar which houses over 600 wines, over 80% of which are French and displayed beautifully to the rest of the restaurant.

All in all, lunch was fantastic and the wine list to die for. Check it out here - http://www.merivale.com/#/felix/felix

Helen (still stuffed!)