A Fine Wine Lunch In Historical Cavalry & Guards Club Where Portraits of the Queens and Commanders Surround you

A wine lunch at the Cavalry & Guards Club. Photo by Trevor Sharot.
 

If you want to hold a lunch or dinner or event in elegant surroundings in a private room you can choose a restaurant  - or one of the world's many clubs. There are American clubs, journalists' clubs, clubs for all kinds of professional groups, for government employees, the military and trade associations. Sports clubs include golf clubs, cricket clubs, fitness clubs and sailing clubs. I have been to several clubs in Singapore and London as well as a journlists' club in Hong Kong.

London's many clubs for profession and trades, such as the RAF, The Cavalry & Guards,, The Civil Service and many more .

One centrally located and historic club is the Cavalry and Guards. You might recognize pictures of the late H M Queen Elizabeth, as well as the current queen Camilla. Up and down the rand staircase and in all the rooms are portraits of famous people. Some are on horseback as the name cavalry might lead you to expect. If you have any knowledge of historic battles or leaders you will be fasinated by all the pictures. 

They have rooms of various sizes at assorted prices.  If you do not qualityf to be a members of the club, you might be invited to a dinner, or bothday party, engagement, wedding or a group's annual dinner.

Types Of Wine Events

I have been to several tastings and wine dinners run by different people at different venues. Wine warehouses, shops, restaurants. Chocolate tastings. Sake and food matching at a food and wine show in Singapore. 

Wine And Food Dinners

I prefer matching wine to food, at a sit down dinner. You might start with Champagne, sparkling wine or an aperitif. You might match the colours of the wine to the food, such as white wines with white fish and heavier reds with strong meats. You might have chocolates at the end of the meal with the dessert or the wine which is sweet such as muscat or port or the coffee.

A private group of people appreciate the format of wines matching food. Conversational people, who know when to speak and when to listen.

Who Is Welcome Where and When?

An advertised group might simply be open to all willing to pay. 

A promotional group tasting wines, might be free for potential buyers. 

A group might start off as a wine club attached to a bank or large company. When the business closes, numbers might dwindle or continue for years. 

Another group might start in an area of a city or country, grow largers or smaller, and move as the organizzer moves away, dies, or retires, or decides they are too busy and hand over to somebody else.

A wine group can start to promote a restaurant, or provide a service, an acitivty for club members. Over the years, the membership changes, the original venue is unavailable, and the members continue to meet elsewhere.

If you go to enough formal public events, you eventually meet people who know of private events. Sometimes they have a waiting list for the club as a whole, especially if they meet in people's homes, or for a particular event if the room is booked and already filled. 

Limiting Numbers

You cannot just add people for several good reasons. 

1 The chef and kitchen cannot cope with more. 

2 The wines are unavailable for larger numbers. 

3 It is too much work for the oranizers. 

4 The room cannot take any more because of limited table size and seats, 

5 Because of fire regulations on the numbers allowed in the room or building.

Good Company

People who don't sit silent.Those who don't become drama queens after drink. 

Price

Events vary in price. A promotional dinner by a wine maker or wine region might be free. But their first choice will be those who have either bought wine or studied wine at levels one, two, three or four of WSET. 

Other events are open to anybody willintg to pay, eg for a lunch with matched wines at least once off and ideally regularly because minimum numbers are needed to book the room and order the wines and food to hold events, which take a lot of oorgnaizing, slecting the menu 

Themes

Normally the starting point is a theme of wines, such as a country, such as French classics, white bordeau, Sauterne, . 

Budget

The budget per bottle means that if one wine is under the average spend, you can spend more later. The starter wine is Champagne, served with two kinds of nuts.  

Matching food and wine by colour. Choose a menu you have not had recently, not adding anyting extra expensive, which..

Some groups  include a talk, slides, tasting notes, voting on the best wines. They have to be in private rooms, or fill an entire restaurant, or one end of the restaurant. This means the speaker is not interrupted by strangers talking or even singing (eg Happy birthday)  at other tables. Equally, the talk by the wine expert . 

The restaurant needs a wine license.

Others simply let you chat to your partner or friends.

My Verdicti on Today's Menu From Cavalry & Guards

Hot bread with seeds and butter. Bread, perect.

Smoked salmon - perfect.

Lemon slice, large, generous, attractive.

Butter, served in small semi circular bowls. Good . (Butter not quite salted enough, but salt was on the table.

Main course

erfect Lam. Kale was cold and tastleless. I have never liked kale. 

Dessert

Profiteraoles with honazelnut filling and hcoolte sauce. Two of the profilteroles seemed to be empty whilst another was completely full. Puzziling. 

The coffee was fine, not remarkable.

The Sharot's' Personal Touch with Port

Violet centre chocolates with violet coloured foil wrapper from Whitakerers. Original. I preferred these to the usual mint chocolates we served.

Getting There

The Cavalry & Guards venue is near Green Park Station and the Hilton Hotel bus stop.