Friday Afternoon Champagne

Here I am this Friday afternoon, eating lunch at my desk, thinking about last Friday afternoon when I was sitting in Hugh's in House of Faser on Buchanan Street with girl-e. It was a very warm day and the dark chocolate brown decor of Hugh's seemed a lovely place to hide from the world. As an in-store cafe, it's a rather nice, quiet atmosphere for snacks, teas, coffee, drinks, etc.. Might also be a nice place for your other half to hang out while you get on with the business of wearing out your credit cards. We didn't try the food on this occasion so I can't say much here - but the menu was fairly thorough and I'm sure most would find something here. Some of it seemed oddly heavy (confit of lamb shoulder?) for what must be a lunch or snack destination - but perhaps I was unduly influenced by the heat of the afternoon in forming this opinion!

As a Champagne Bar (it was set up by a company called Champagne Bars Ltd which created a certain expectation), well, it was fine.The champagne section of the menu offered 6 choices by the glass (a not bad number) - 4 non-vintage 'white' champagne and 2 non-vintage rose champagne. For vintage, you need to order by the bottle. What disappointed was that we took our server's recommendation and tried a glass of the Boizel rose champagne. We were entirely underwhelmed - it was indeed pink but it was really rather bland, missing soft summer fruits or floral notes almost entirely. There are plenty of excellent quality wines that would have fit this price point - to have one that was so disappointing just made me wonder if they knew what they were doing. It could have been a less than stellar bottle so perhaps I am not being fair - but I don't really want to give it another whirl at £9.50 for 125ml. To make up for this defeat we had a second glass - Pol Roger non-vintage. This was every bit as lovely as I would have expected it to be so we were significantly cheered up by this (and at only 50p more per glass). All in all, it was pleasant - and I'd go back again if I were in Fraser's. I don't think I'd make a special trip though - and I might just order a coffee anyway. (Or a champagne cocktail, they has a most interesting selection of these!)

Don't get me wrong, a cool glass of Champagne to soothe a weary shopper is a spectacular idea - but every time I hear 'champagne bar' I get rather excited. Usually, though I am disappointed. I do realise that I might be somewhat harder to please than most in this regard and I also realise that restaurants and bars can be constrained in their purchasing by contracts out of their control and based on whatever fickle system of sales and distribution applies. But for me, I'd like to see some really well thought out choices: reliable, big name, non-vintage (they did achieve this) and maybe a vintage or two by the glass at a reasonable price, delightful and expertly chosen lesser known labels by the glass, non-champagne fizz by the glass (it's really about the bubbles isn't it?). I like sparkling wine and I am happy to pay a premium for high quality wine - but a cool glass of lovely prosecco would have done nicely rather than poorly chosen actual 'champagne' that wasn't worth it's premium price. We do know what these bottles cost in Oddbins so we understand the mark-ups - and I do know that we are paying for the location, the experience, the decor, the convenience, the service etc. But I could also just have a coffee. Was I somewhat unfairly put off by mediocre champagne? Perhaps. But while I will settle for mediocre wine in a pub (that's me with the ice in my vin de pays), I'm not there for the wine. I don't go to 'Champagne Bars' to be disappointed.