{"id":6463,"date":"2019-05-02T15:51:22","date_gmt":"2019-05-02T15:51:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/?p=6463"},"modified":"2025-03-03T10:51:17","modified_gmt":"2025-03-03T10:51:17","slug":"cheap-and-cheerful-but-unchilled-highs-and-lows-of-byob","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/budgeting\/cheap-and-cheerful-but-unchilled-highs-and-lows-of-byob\/","title":{"rendered":"Cheap and cheerful… but unchilled \u2013 the highs and lows of Bringing Your Own Booze"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I arrive at Victoria sweating like a Good Morning Britain producer after Richard Madeley\u2019s done a 6am swear and then gone full Partridge while conducting an interview with a woman\u2019s breasts. After half an hour on the underground I’m hot enough to saut\u00e9 scallops under my armpits, and at this point it occurs to me that a potential drawback of bring-your-own-bottle is arriving at at the restaurant with wine that\u2019s practically bathwater-warm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meeting my mother inside the station, I voice my concern that our Brut could serve as a hot water bottle. \u201cRi-ight?\u201d says my mother in a tone that suggests she’s wondering what my point is. I pause to give her time to grasp it, but it turns out she doesn\u2019t care. \u201cI don\u2019t mind a warm wine, it\u2019s never bothered me,\u201d she shrugs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, after deciding that I\u2019ve perhaps attached undue importance to the temperature of wine, we make our way to Grumbles<\/a>, Pimlico\u2019s secret celebrity retreat where Princess Diana, Julie Christie and Tom Jones have all reportedly parked their bottoms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As my mother chooses tiger prawns followed by a steak, and I order escargot with a main of Thai-style duck breast, it crosses my mind that perhaps I should have looked at the menu online before bringing a bottle of sparkling white wine. But hey, why be a slave to inane wine etiquette? Plunged into an ice-bucket on our arrival, our Cremant de Limoux<\/a> is jolly nice \u2013 isn\u2019t it mum? \u201cIt\u2019s\u2026 sparkly<\/em>,\u201d says my mother in a manner that implies she\u2019s expecting a George Cross for drinking it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Proprietor\nAlex Turnbull shows us round after we\u2019ve eaten, pointing out an alcove where\nthe Social Democrat Party held secret meetings. It\u2019s tucked away on the lower\nground floor and it comes as no surprise when Alex tells us that Grumbles is a\nregular haunt for MPs popping over from Westminster \u2013 although he doesn\u2019t\nreveal whether they bring their own bottles! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over in North London, I visit Shishlique<\/a>, a kebab establishment that offers BYOB every night of the week with no corkage. After a starter of olives, stuffed vine leaves and houmous, I share a platter of chicken and lamb kofta, doner and shish with my school friend Nicola who\u2019s brought a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There’s no need to share! Photo: Samantha Rea <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

I have a tendency to cave to other people\u2019s preferences, so if we\u2019d been ordering off a wine menu I would have agreed to share a bottle of white when really I wanted red. But, as we\u2019re bringing our own (which we can take back home again!) there\u2019s no need to share, so I arrive with a three-litre bumper box of red. It\u2019s dreadful stuff, but the never-ending boxy abundance alleviates my FORO (Fear of Running Out) which is essential when dining in an establishment that doesn\u2019t serve alcohol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\nis also the joy of making wine come out of a little tap, which never ceases to\ndelight me. And of course, if you\u2019re on a budget, wine by the box gives you\nmore booze for your buck. So, if you can bear drinking wine that tastes like\nnail varnish remover with a hint of crotch rot, I urge you to buy wine by the\nbox!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But\nwould my gauche drinking habits cause a stir at this Kensal Green kebab house?\nI am happy to report that nobody bat an eyelid when I got my box out, and they\nwere even kind enough to wrap up our leftovers, which provided me with enough\nfodder for an all-I-could-eat meaty buffet at home the following day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Award-winning steak house Hawksmoor<\/a>, which has received high praise from critics, might<\/em> be deemed the piece de resistance of my bijoux BYOB resto tour. However, I unwisely book it for Easter Monday, and roll in already stuffed after a weekend of eating Easter eggs in Wiltshire. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

My\ncompanion, Pauly-Pops, has spent the weekend in Brighton on a similarly sickly\ndiet, and he\u2019s forgotten he\u2019s meeting me for dinner. \u201cWhere is it again? I\u2019ve\nliterally just got in \u2013 it\u2019s lucky we left the beach when we did!\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And so it\u2019s in this ill-prepared state that we skip the starter and share a porterhouse steak with spinach, carrots and triple cooked chips. I\u2019ve brought a bottle of Refosk (a full-bodied Bordon red) from Twisted Cellar <\/a>which I fully expect we\u2019ll stampede through before destroying the wine list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I ask our waiter, Ed, if many people bring their own bottle to Hawksmoor. He tells me that the couple who were seated at our table before us brought five bottles between them<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, our stomach-stretching, liver-vandalising weekends mean we only just make it through the rather pleasant Refosk, and I can\u2019t even finish the sticky toffee pudding (which I whole-heartedly recommend). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\nask our waiter, Ed, if many people bring their own bottle to Hawksmoor. He\ntells me that the couple who were seated at our table before us brought five\nbottles between them, including a dessert wine. He also points to a table a few\nfeet away where a group of friends are making one of their monthly visits, and\napparently they routinely hand over half a dozen bottles on arrival. \u201cThe \u00a35\ncorkage on a Monday makes it much more affordable,\u201d says Ed, who adds that BYOB\nis available on other nights for a \u00a325 corkage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you like a nice bottle of wine (or six) it\u2019s definitely worth seeing if you can bring your own to dinner. But is it just a little bit naff<\/em>? I ask a doyen of the wine trade who\u2019s probably advised Prince Philip on what to pair with posh-person food. He assures me: \u201cI think it\u2019s an excellent idea!\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So\nhere\u2019s what I wish I\u2019d known earlier (aka Alex Turnbull\u2019s Top Tips):<\/p>\n\n\n\n