Worlds Greatest Wine List?

[Grant]

Enjoyed dinner last night at Vanitas, in the Versace Hotel on the Gold Coast. Food was excellent, service right on the money, prices quite steep. Entree's $26-$30, Mains $36-$40, so it's not a cheap night out, but definately worth a look if you have some spare cash burning a hole in the pocket.

Dined with an old friend, Englishman Nigel Batt, who had the most amusing dining experience I've heard for some time.

Nigel has some business interests in Thailand, and was staying in Pattaya three weeks ago. Hungering for some Indian food( the staple diet of single Englishmen), he was delighted to find the Ali Baba Indian Restaurant only a few blocks from his hotel.

To add to his joy, upon entering, he was presented with the wine list. Not just any wine list though, but a tome numbering twenty pages , literally crammed with hundreds of the finest wines in the world, including Grand Cru Burgundy , classed growth Bordeaux, classic Rhones and a good smattering of hard to find Australian labels. Being a passionate lover of wine, Nigel salivated over the list from cover to cover, memorising an array of wines to impress his guests in company.

After some time, he called the waiter over. " I'll start with the 1996 Chataeu Talbot, thank you".

The waiter scuttled off out the back and returned some minutes later, " Sorry sir, we are out of that wine tonight, would you like to make another choice?"

" Sure, we'll have the 2000 Sancerre, please".

The waiter again left for some time, only to return after a period with the same story, and would sir like to make another choice, and could he perhaps suggest the house red?

Undetered, Nigel went back to the list and picked a Rhone red, only to be told that they were, unfortunately, out of that wine too.

" But can I recommend the house red, sir?"

"No, I don't want that, bring me something, anything off that wine list ".

" Very good , sir, that would be the house red ".

" So what you are telling me is that you do not have one, not a single wine that is listed on this twenty page wine list ?"

" Ah , yes, sir that is correct. Would you like to try the house red? " !!


Needless to say, the Ali Baba restaurant didn't get a cent out of Nigel that night! Obviously, in the future he'll have to get there before the 40 thieves come in for their nightly dinner!

Cheers

[smithy]

Just as well he didn't order any cheese to go with his red!
All they had was some camembert but its a bit runny!

Thanks Monty Python.

Cheers
Smithy

[Red Bigot]

8)

Just as well he didn't order any cheese to go with his red!
All they had was some camembert but its a bit runny!

Thanks Monty Python.

Cheers
Smithy

Andrew, a couple of years ago we went to a french-oriented restaurant out in the 'burbs of Bangkok, near where our Thai friends live, it was going Ok until someone decided to order the deep-fried brie, the result looked nice, but it still had the wrapper in place around the cheese under the crumbed coating. We were amused and they a little embarrassed and quickly replaced the dish.