Dining Out 061: Quality Wines

Lunch in Farringdon.

It is insane to me that in all my time doing this newsletter, I have never written an entry about Quality Wines in Farringdon.

This is firstly because, while I have written about many, many restaurants where I have squealed or clapped or done something else annoying due to my enjoyment of the food, Quality Wines is the only restaurant where I have ever sat at the table and literally cried because what I was eating tasted so good. The dish in question (scallop in a molten little pool of golden Cafe de Paris butter) still returns to the Quality Wines menu from time to time, but I have not had it again since that fateful night - an occasion when I also ordered, and ate in full, two desserts - I think because I want the moment to remain crystallised and perfect and unique in my mind, all curry powder and overwhelm.

It is secondly surprising to me that I’ve never done one of these on Quality Wines because I’m always telling absolutely everybody to go there. It is one of the three restaurants I always wheel out when people ask for recommendations, whether they are from out of town or trying to take their partner somewhere nice, or they just want a meal which will be, reliably, at least a nine out of ten (my other picks in this vein, if you care, are Brutto and Juliet’s Quality Foods). Quality Wines is just always good, but more than that, in my opinion, it has become an era-defining and almost quintessential London restaurant. This is a result of a combination of factors, including but not limited to:

• its spotlighting of sharing plates (like it or not, this is the style that has defined the last decade in How We Eat)

• an extensive wine list, suitable for its demographic, who started getting old during the advent of the whole natural wine thing

• the fact that both cool critics (Vittles) and traditional ones consistently rate it

• its knack for viral dishes, which, again, whatever your thoughts on the matter, is an important part of how a restaurant sells itself in 2026 (“is the mortadella panino in the room with us now?”)

• its brilliantly applied pan-European influences in a city whose restaurants have become obsessed with attempting to recreate the dining experiences of many other European countries, particularly Spain and Portugal, to varying success.

Anyway, sorry. While the above is probably useful context, the point of this is for me to tell you what eating at Quality Wines is actually like, I know. Forgive me. I last visited just over a month or so ago*, with Imogen and Elise, to get my mitts on the set lunch menu - available on a Saturday if you can believe such a thing (usually these deals tend to just run Monday to Friday) - which costs £27 and is therefore a bloody bargain.

Loads of places are at the set lunch game at the minute and I think that is good news. It helps to get bums on seats at a hard time for restaurants, and also offers an accessible way for people to try out places which might otherwise be a bit inaccessible price-wise. Considering that the Quality Wines lunch I am writing about here happened in January, everything except for like, a fucking slice of toast was a bit inaccessible to me price-wise, but if there’s any restaurant I’ll throw a few bits on Vinted for, it’s this one.

To take full advantage of the parameters of this particular set lunch deal, Imo, Elise and I of course went at the weekend. Here I am on the bus on the way there:

It was probably the first Saturday of the year where there was even a crack of sunshine, and this made for perfect Quality Wines conditions, given the floor to ceiling windows which make you feel cosy and smug when they fog up at night, and like you’re on holiday in San Sebastian when it’s bright out.

The restaurant is a collective favourite of mine and my friends’ just because we’ve been there loads of times together over the years - so much so that a game we play in our group chat when we are all bored involves one person screenshotting and sharing the Quality Wines set menu from Instagram, and asking everyone else what they would eat in that moment (it is a relief to have friends who put up with me, yes). Perhaps, then, you might humour me, by playing that game with me now. Look at my photo of the menu, think about what you’d go with, and then I’ll take you through my choices and rationale:

(I cut off the desserts but it was Portakalopita or cannoli in pistachio, chocolate or cherry flavour)

OK, do you have your answers? Good. Sound off in the comments. Here’s how I did it:

Nibble: Gilda

I have a disease where I can’t look past a gilda on a menu, so I was forced through no fault of my own to get one. The Quality Wines gilda features a big juicy anchovy and an even juicier olive and it is the perfect thing to get yourself warmed up with. A plump and ample runner’s lunge for the tastebuds.**

First course: Caponata

I love veggies and I am very wont to get a veggie starter a lot of the time. I always enjoy caponata for its freshness and lightness, but this one had a gobby sweet-and-sour zing that properly announced itself with every mouthful, and as someone who always gets the mixed popcorn at the cinema (#WeExist), I always really rate that particular combination.

Second course: Tagliatelle

Obviously I got the pasta. If you didn’t hypothetically get the pasta, you’re mental. This tagliatelle was made in house, so it had that delicate-but-firm feel that you only get with fresh pasta, while the Boscaiola sauce was meaty and super deep and earthy with sausage and mushrooms. Kind of a perfect dish for the first month of the year - warm and comforting at a time when warmth and comfort are known to be in short supply. Also the portion was massive and despite the low price I was really full.

Third course: Portakalopita

One of the many unfortunate things about me, however, is that regardless of my hunger level, I will very rarely be given a choice of desserts and not pick the biggest one, and this was the case here. Luckily, while it may have been a little larger than a cannoli, Quality Wines’ version of a Portakalopita - a Greek cake, drenched to the point of a Get Your Own Back gunging in orange syrup - was as light as a fibreglass feather, with such a soft-but-sturdy crumb. Accompanied by a well-judged bit of creme fraiche (which it really needed due to the sweetness of it all), it was a characteristically balanced but fun addition at the end of the meal.

While I may not have shed tears on this occasion (probably for the best because if I did that all the time I’d be staring down the barrel of a ban, which would be perfectly understandable), any trip to Quality Wines is, for me, a good reminder of why there’s so much to be gained from going to your favourite places with your favourite people again and again.

Obviously, I live in London and there is always something cool and new to be seen and queued up for and eaten, but more admirable than novelty is longevity. For years now, I’ve loved going to Quality Wines with my mates - like I say, for me, it’s a place that encompasses so much about what is particular to eating in London, and why that is a good and fun thing to do. For the low, low price of £27, it’s worth going to try for yourself - and if you’ve been before, it’s worth going again.

* I know my reviews used to be more reactive but a) I’ve been away for ages and I’m working to a backlog b) I’ve decided that Dining Out is now no longer constricted by the man-made dimensional factor of “time” and it’s my newsletter so leave me alone.

** No idea why I turned into Jackie Collins with my adjective choice in that last sentence.

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Dining Out is written by Lauren O’Neill. Weekly articles are free to read every Sunday, and you can follow me on Instagram here, but if you’d like to see more, you can subscribe for £5 pcm or £50 annually to get extra content a few times a month.

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