Uncorked in the Broadgate shops are less than 5 mins from Liverpool St Station. Head up the escalator and walk to your left along the main road until you see some steps up to the long row of shops. Prices slightly elevated, but a very nice selection and not just the famous labels. This is the full address Exchange Arcade, 175 Bishopsgate, London | EC2M 3WA
Planet of the Grapes not too far away at 74-82 Queen Victoria St, Bow Lane, London EC4N 4SJ
Sagar & Wilde are the trendy place for tasting wine bars, trendy in that they have an eclectic range, sometimes very fancy, but making a point of offering something different to the mainstream regions.
Jeroboam's sadly have drifted out of the city - I liked the range
Not wine, but very nearby, Verde & co can be a nice cosy place for a pot of tea, a coffee or a light bite (their soups have a good reputation). However the real suggestion is Marcolini chocolates (Pierre Marcolini was the enfant terrible of Belgian chocolate making, and did much to inspire others to experiment with everything from spice to tea). Not cheap by any stretch of the imagination, but very fine chocolates. 40 Brushfield Street, Spitalfields, London E1 6AG (about 5 mins on foot from the same exit of the station - and again turn left onto the main road, but rather than walking up the steps to exchange arcade, cross the road and take the right into Brushfield st.
For dining locally, Hawksmoor (157A Commercial St - Spitalfields market, which itself is quite a useful option on Sundays when much is closed) had a good reputation for meaty goodness, and worth checking out what corkage deals they have. Rochelle Canteen is an old school bike shed and is a regular tasting venue for the 'Oddities' offlines. Rubbish glasses, but you can take your own, and corkage is quite modest (they don't sell alcohol). That tasting group speak very highly of it.
Rochelle School, London E2 7ES arnoldandhenderson.com
There is another place I'll mention, but that might be logistically more difficult. Jakes food and wines operates from out of the back of a fast food place in a London suburb, but is not what it might seem. It's run by Robert Walpole who has a very good selection of fine mature wines (plus some newer stuff), but at prices much more appealing than Fine and Rare, (and massively more appealing than vintage wine & spirits). Email him at
*Robert <DOT>walpole1@btinternet<DOT>com (replace the <DOT> with .) or via wine searcher
http://www.wine-searcher.com/merchant/5757 to get his latest list. I've only bought once from him, but it was a good experience, and a number of wine pages forumites are semi regular buyers from him. I suspect it's delivery only (there is no shop), but check with him if necessary. I'll see if I can PM you his list from last November to get a feel for it.
regards
Ian
* To help avoid any bots generating spam emails to him