Bottles - Chelsea, London

Following its success in Spitalfields Market, BOTTLES has launched a second site on Draycott Avenue in Chelsea, to ensure that the neighbourhood's well-heeled denizens are equally well-fed and well-lubricated. Skewing more towards wine bar than restaurant, it offers a deep roster of wines, drawing from both micro and established producers with plenty of organic, biodynamic, natural, noble and fine options available. 

Beyond a modernist whitewashed façade with powder blue lettering, you'll find a dining room that can accommodate up to 50 drinkers, spread across navy blue banquettes and funky wingback chairs. There's a striking meat and cheese display perched above a white marble podium, as well as outsized exposed filament bulb pendant lighting and a wall that is seemingly crafted from cork. We settled in with the menu, spiked with Sicilian and Lombardian influences, and enjoyed a powerful Sirio Trebbiano.
 
A whole raft of bites arrived at the table. Cornwall scallops were served with mentsuyu sauce roe and topinambur; an arancino beccafico was supercharged with anchovy, pine nuts, wilde fennel and raisins; salted cod was immersed in tomato sauce and Cerignola olives; and an oyster was enlivened with finger line, gin and fennel elixir. A main of ribeye tagliata was accompanied by roasted butter carrots, coffee jus and mint oil powder, while octopus a la plancha bedded down with sautéed puntarelle, diced pumpkin and mushroom jus.