Pig's Head & Rabbit

A treat. Arbutus with Ayo was an alliterative joy. For those of you who have been living on Mars for the last eighteen months, Arbutus is an award winning London restaurant that shocked many by winning a Michein star in its first year despite its unpretentious style and food. And for those of you who have never met him, Ayo is the best dressed HR professional ever to pour over the Sunday Times best companies list.

The food was very good. I knew what I was eating before I got there. As long as they were on the menu - and they usually are - it would be Pigs Head followed by Rabbit. The Pigs Head arrives as a deep oblong block. A perfectly ordered geometric shape containing a messy mosaic of porky goodness. The head is slow cooked then picked, shaped and finally, roasted. The crisp, brown outer hiding melting fat and sweet, juicy meat. Porcine heaven. If you have never eaten Pig's Head - or just the cheek, or Ox cheek, or tete de veau - then you must.

The rabbit dish is a modern London classic. The slightly roasted saddle comes stuffed with the kidney, with a 'shepherds pie' made from slow cooked shoulder served in an individual casserole on the side. The hint of offal adding richness and depth to the soft, subtle white meat of the saddle. The side dish pie adding an all important degree of fun as well as a more rabbity element to the dish. It really is very good.

We drank exceptionally well too - Paillard NPU 1990, Giaconda Roussanne 2004 and Ornelleia 1999. All utterly delicious - thank you, Ayo - dining out with such fine wines is a rare exception to the norm.

On this occasion Arbutus was excellent, but it is not perfect. It has won many of its plaudits for the way it serves its wine. All (or nearly all) are available by the glass, carafe or bottle. It is a great idea. When we first visited we ran through half the list between four of us, tasting 8 or 9 250ml carafes over the evening. But there is little point having such innovative wine service, if the wines themselves do not match up. The pricey gems from the top of the list we drank on Thursday apart, too much of the list is just boring. The owners may know how to sell wine. They need to learn how to buy it.