We’d been to see The Kite Runner at the Wyndham Theatre and wanted a post-theatre drink so headed for Covent Garden. From Googling, I’d found an Italian wine bar I’d not heard of before, “Vini Italiani”:https://www.italianwines.com/ so we decided to explore.
We only had the address, Unit 33, The Market and struggled to find it. But if you’re a regular visitor to Covent Garden and I said it was in the main Jubilee Hall building, next to The Crusting Pipe in the well with the live opera and music, you’d probably know where it was.
As well as serving food and drink, it also sells wine. There were around 10 tables in a small side room but these were all full and so we perched at one of two high tables and stools next to the display of wines. This gave us a good view of the opera singer that was performing and belting out tunes without the aid of a microphone.
Although we only wanted drinks, we made sure we looked at the “menu”:http://www.italianwines.com/menu_bar/CG_%20Wine%20Cafe%CC%81%20menu.pdf for future reference and it sounded good. It was mainly salads, bruschetta, platters of cheese and meats although there were three more substantial hot dishes – lasagne, spit roasted pork and aubergine bake. For the location, prices were reasonable. Service was excellent and very friendly.
We paid £8.50 for a glass of prosecco and £3.50 for a huge bowl of big, fat green olives.
There are no toilets but you get a voucher to use the immaculate public ones which are just across the way.
There is also a branch on the Old Compton Road, in South Kensington and separate “breakfast”:http://www.italianwines.com/menu_bar/CG_Breakfast.pdf menu with ‘breakfast wines’ and also an “Afternoon Vino”:http://www.italianwines.com/menu_bar/CG_Afternoon%20Tea.pdf menu which sounds good – check it out!.
I’ll definitely return to eat (and drink)!