jamie goode's wine blog: Steak at Gaucho and City Hall

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Steak at Gaucho and City Hall

Had a nice lunch at Gaucho Tower Bridge on Monday, with Trapiche's single-vineyard Malbecs.

This particular Gaucho restaurant, which, like the others, is lavishly decorated with cowhide, is in an interesting location. There are great views of Tower Bridge and also the remarkable squashed egg- or scrotum-shaped building called City Hall. Indeed, the Gaucho is part of the 'More London' development that includes City Hall, home to the Mayor of London and his recently pruned band of staff. Administrators and governing types always tend to be particularly well housed. If you are ever on a university campus, for example, and are looking for the administrative building, it's usually easy to find. Just head to the tallest and grandest construction, and there you will find them.

I always enjoy eating at the Gaucho, which specializes in huge hunks of very nice Argentinean beef, and has an extensive (if slightly expensive) list of Argentinean wines. They've got the ambience just right, and with all that cowhide there's a sense of irony that liberates you to enjoy tasty, simple hunks of meat without feeling bad.

Initially, I thought the 2006 Trapiche single vineyard wines we tasted were a bit obvious and made in a very modern style. But then trying a 2004 version of one of the wines with lunch, I suddenly saw what the point was. Aromatically, it was singing, and was just beautiful, with sweet, expressive, harmonious red fruits. There's something to be said for just a little patience with reds like this.

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2 Comments:

At 7:02 AM, Anonymous keith prothero said...

Not a fan of Gaucho myself even though we have one on the Thames about 200 metres from where we live.
Find it expensive for the quality of food and I am no big fan of Argie wines at those prices!!
At least on about one day in the year when the weather is nice enough,you can sit outside on the edge of the river--------but inside!! no thanks.

 
At 10:47 PM, Blogger Jamie said...

Keith, you have a point - Gaucho isn't cheap. And the wines are expensive, certainly. But then they do it so well.

 

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