The London Wine, Dining and Travel Meetup

Kiwi Cru are thrilled to announce the second in their series of exclusive New Zealand Wine Dinners at The Laundry, curated by their very own chef-sommelier Melanie Brown in collaboration with Pippa Wood from Kiwi Cru. The second dinner is a celebration of Hawkes Bay, the warmest of New Zealand's wine regions, situated on the East coast of the North Island.

This dinner will be 3 courses of delicious food dinner accompanied by 6 prestigious wines from Hawkes Bay.

MENU and WINES: The food menu has not been finalised, but the venue is able to cater for certain dietary requirements (for example vegetarian, gluten free) as long as you mention these when you book.

Canape; Smith & Sheth CRU Albariño 2023
Pumpkin katsu bite
Petit baguette & salted whipped butter

Starter; Bilancia Chardonnay 2022 & Elephant Hill Sea Chardonnay 2020
Salmon rillette, pickled cucumber, crumpet

Main Course; Craggy Range Gimblett Gravels Syrah 2021 & Te Mata Bullnose Syrah 2021
Short rib - slow-cooked beef, truffle polenta, red wine jus

Dessert; Radburnd Merlot/Cabernet 2018
Chocolate mousse, pavlova crumb gf

DIETARY ISSUES: Although 'flexible' diners will get the most out of the food and wine pairings, dietary requirements will be catered for. Please mention these when you book.

COST: The 'ticket price of this event is £89 to include the 3 course meal and 6 wines, service charge, and meetup/paypal fees. I have reserved 8 places for the group. Please note that we may be on a larger table shared with non-members of this group.

Please note that Meetup now charge an additional fee to attendees on top of the price which the Organiser sets. This fee is paid direct to Meetup and is beyond our control.

REFUND POLICY: As I have to buy the tickets in advance no refunds are offered for this event, so if you need to cancel you will need to sell your place to someone else in the group.

WAITLIST: If this event is fully booked and you would like to attend if someone cancels, post a comment in the event to let me know that you are interested.

Cheers,
Christos

ADAM THOMASON: is a Michelin-trained chef who worked at Noma for 3 years and also at Sat Bains in Nottingham. In October 2017, Adam picked up two culinary accolades, taking second place in Craft Guild of Chefs’ National Chef of the Year for the second year in succession. He was also awarded a prestigious Master of Culinary Arts (MCA) by the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts.

FOOD: Adam is offering a fabulous tasting menu for £110 for us to enjoy at his home in Streatham Hill. There is no menu yet as Adam will decide what to cook in the week depending on what is fresh and available at the time. The meal will start with some delicious canapes (see the photo of a previous event), home made breads and butters, and then there will be several further scrumptious courses! Having eaten his food on several previous occasions I can guarantee that it will be a gastronomic feast of Michelin Starred quality. Adam also matches the food to my wine selections!

DIETARY ISSUES: This event is suited to 'flexible' diners, however if you have any allergies or dietary requirements please mention these when you RSVP so that I can let Adam know. If you do not mention any allergies in your RSVP, the menu cannot be changed on the night.

WINES: Adam includes a glass of sparkling wine as a welcome drink. To complement the high quality food, I will take 2 bottles each of 2 white and 2 red wines, 2 x 50cl bottles of a dessert wine, and a bottle of port, all with an average retail price of £25 per bottle. So over the whole evening there will be a bottle of fine wine per head.

The 'ticket price' for this event is £145 which includes:
Adam's tasting menu and a welcome glass of sparkling wine
The selection of fine wines I will take
Transport of wines to the event

With this quality of food and wine, you would pay at least double this amount in a Michelin starred restaurant!

We will be seated around one long table and numbers will be limited to 13 people.

PAYMENT IMPORTANT PLEASE NOTE: The fees which Meetup would charge Organiser and Participants come to £10 per person for this event. To avoid these charges I will be collecting money by Paypal Friends and Family or by bank transfer. After you RSVP please let me know how you would like to pay. If you do not respond and pay within 48 hours, I will change your RSVP to 'Not Going'

LOCATION: Streatham Hill, within 3-5 minutes from the station. We have been asked to arrive at 18:30 with the dinner starting at 19:00. The whole experience lasts several hours and we will need to leave by 23:15 latest.

Adam’s address will be emailed to all attendees 2-3 days before the event, but it is very near Streatham Hill Station (3-5 mins walk).

REFUND POLICY: If you cancel your place by 12:00 noon, Saturday 24th January latest you will get a refund of £140 but, IMPORTANT PLEASE NOTE, only if there is someone on the 'waitlist' who books and pays for your place. TO MAKE IT CLEAR - NO REFUNDS UNLESS SOMEONE ELSE PAYS FOR A CANCELLED PLACE.

WAITLIST: If this event is fully booked and you would like to attend if someone cancels, post a comment in the event to let me know that you are interested.

Cheers,
Christos

The Ninth is a relaxed, vibrant neighbourhood restaurant located on Charlotte Street – home to some of the best restaurants in Fitzrovia. They focus on elegantly simple French Mediterranean style cooking using top quality seasonal ingredients. The chef is Jun Tanaka who used to be head chef of Pearl in Holborn following a long career in some of the most prestigious kitchens in London.

The lunch menu is £38 for two courses or £43 for three courses which is good value for a Michelin Starred restaurant. There are 3 choices in each course and the sample menu menu is below. Even better on Mondays The Ninth offers BYO for no corkage, and for our table of 6 people I will take 5 bottles with an average retail cost of £22 - 1 bottle of champagne or equivalent quality sparkling wine, 1 white wine, 2 reds and a 50 cl dessert wine. With typical restaurant mark-ups these wines would cost £65+ on their wine list, so this is a great opportunity to enjoy delicious food accompanied by fine wines without paying restaurant prices (for the wine that is!).

#### STARTERS

Seabream Carpaccio, Grape, Pickled Kumquat & Pomegranate
Burrata, Focaccia, Almonds, Puntarelle & Gordal Olives
Spaghetti Alla Chitarra, Smoked Anchovies & Mussels Tempura

MAINS
Beef Featherblade, White Polenta, January King Cabbage & Ravigote
Hake & Herbs Butter, Cannellini Beans Purée & Cime Di Rapa
Crispy Mushroom Risotto, Egg Yolk, Parmesan & Tarragon

DESSERTS
Pain Perdu & Tonka Bean Ice Cream
Cream Cheese Ice Cream & Comice Pears
Rice Pudding Brûlée, Poached Rhubarb & Blood Orange

The pre-pay for this event is £56 which includes:-
- the 5 bottles of BYO wine
- £30 credit towards your food bill
- paypal/meetup fees

The wine which I will take is an integral of this event so please do NOT ask if you can attend if you are not happy to share in all 6 bottles of wine. On the day you will pay for the balance of your food bill and for any additional drinks you order.

Please note that Meetup now charge an additional fee to attendees on top of the price which the Organiser sets. This fee is paid direct to Meetup and is beyond our control.

REFUND POLICY: If you cancel your place by Friday 30th January latest you will get a refund of £53 but, IMPORTANT PLEASE NOTE, only if there is someone on the 'waitlist' who books and pays for your place.

WAITLIST: If this event is fully booked and you would like to attend if someone cancels, post a comment in the event to let me know that you are interested.

Cheers,
Christos

In this month's tasting we will be exploring wines 'Off the Beaten Track'. By the way ignore the mention of 'Wine and Food Pairing' and 'Street Wines' in the photo - this is the best photo I could find to promote the event. It will be a 'regular' tasting with the usual food, but that's as far as 'regular' goes, as we will be delving into some very unusual wine regions!!

The tasting will start with 2 bottles of a Cremant de Savoie, a sparkling wine from one of France's lesser known areas. Then there will be 3 whites and 5 reds from a variety of countries featuring Poland, Slovenia, Armenia, China, Morocco, Malta, Turkey and Peru!! So this is your chance to explore the boundaries of the world of wine.

Numbers will be limited to 12 people seated round one table, so almost a bottle of fine wine per person. During the tasting a selection of fine cheeses, pates, and other food will be served.

WAITLIST: If the event is fully booked and you would like to join the ‘waitlist’, post a comment to let me know

REFUNDS: The 'ticket price' for this event is £35 including £3 for paypal/meetup fees. If you cancel by Tuesday 4th latest AND there is someone on the waitlist who pays for your place you will get a refund of £32.

Please note that Meetup charge an additional fee to attendees on top of the price which the Organiser sets. This fee is paid direct to Meetup and is beyond our control.

Cheers,
Christos