Wine list of the week: Lucky Cat, Bishopsgate

Douglas Blyde reaches new heights as he heads almost 300 metres above the City of London to test one of Gordon Ramsay's new openings at 22 Bishopsgate. Five venues, three floors, one skyscraper. Gordon Ramsay’s latest conquest plays out nearly 300 metres above the City. Spanning floors 59-61 of 22 Bishopsgate are the Gordon Ramsay x Hexclad Academy, Bread Street Kitchen & Bar, the fourth and highest Lucky Cat with its rooftop terrace, and High – a 12-seat chef’s table risen from the three Michelin-starred Chelsea mothership. Guests are fired upwards at eight metres per second in Europe’s fastest lifts, then deposited into a glassy panorama stretching from Tower Bridge to Alexandra Palace. Drawing cues from Afroditi Krassa’s Mayfair original, albeit with weirder lights, design by Russell Sage Studio wisely avoids a fight with the view. “Like having your own London train set,” said fellow diner and food writer, Bill Knott. An exposed riveted beam lends engineered grit, while the signature lucky cats both multiply and disappear - from golden chopstick holders to glowering ceramic sentinels in the loos with views. As Ramsay told Jonathan Ross: “The cats are getting stolen… 477 last week.” The City of London Police, for their part, reported no such thefts. A textbook PR flourish. Reactions ranged from euphoric to eye-rolling. Country & Town House declared the terrace “something that makes you proud to be a Londoner” while City AM observed “one can look down at the Walkie Talkie, which, despite being famed for its views, looks puny.” A Google reviewer was less charmed: “I would be happier with a Tesco marinated half-cooked meal just heated up than what I have been eating at Lucky Cat.” Best, perhaps, to leave him to his microwave.

Drinks

Under group head sommelier, Giuseppe d’Aniello - RSRV Champagne ambassador and alumnus of London Edition - the wine list was shaped by outgoing head sommelier, Stefan Pasqual, with Dmitri Perlutchi now at the helm. Options by the glass begin with newborn Puglian Vermentino at (£8/125ml) - more lubricant than libation. Then things climb. Arlaud’s 2015 Chambolle-Musigny Les Sentiers appears via Coravin (£56), while Crown Range’s 2018 China Girl Pinot Noir from Central Otago - a Bowie-referencing southern curiosity - lands at £23. For those who like their bubbles in costume, 2006 Dom Pérignon Rosé Lady Gaga edition is yours for £128. Arranged by grape, the bottle list opens with André Brunel’s £38 Côtes du Rhône Cuvée Est-Ouest - aptly echoing the venue’s East-meets-West context. A few rungs up, Jim Barry’s Watervale Riesling is £52. At the summit: the legendary 1982 Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande (£2,700). Between those poles lies 2022 Nightjar from Blackbook (£109). Made in Battersea from Essex fruit, this is the work of Sergio Verillo, a former sommelier at precursor to Lucky Cat, Maze. A vertical of Seña stretches to 1998 (£487), while a magnum of 2020 Alvarinho from Gran Vicius clocks in at £246. But the bottle which best earns its place is Grace Winery’s 2020 Koshu Gris de Gris - £92 for something cerebral and aligned to a dining room described as “an Asian eating house with a sharing concept” by our waiter. This isn’t a list where you’ll stumble across ancient d’Yquem. Instead: 2016 Castelnau de Suduiraut (£16/100ml). Sake shows promise, though there is room for more options, should guests permit. The cheapest by the glass is Wakaze Junmai, brewed in Paris (£12/100ml) - curious, though a nod to London’s own Kanpai wouldn’t go amiss. At the pinnacle, a serving of £76 Dassai Future is made from Yamadanishiki rice polished to an improbable 8%, deploying ungraded togai rice, usually cast aside. Dassai, however, makes financial haste of waste. Negronis are chosen by the roll of a die, though fate’s blend of Italicus, Select and Malfy gin proved more fragrant than bitter. The Japanese whisky collection is crowned by the outstanding Shirakawa 1958, said, by distributor, Tomatin, to be the earliest known single vintage Japanese whisky bottled (£2,300/50ml).

Dishes

Pairings, described as “the most interesting things from the list,” were presented by Pompeii-born group head sommelier, Giuseppe d’Aniello and assistant head sommelier, Nicolas Gutiérrez. Rather than wine, proceedings began with a blue bottle of Sawa Sawa nigori – lightly sparkling, lees-forward, and brewed near Kyoto. Its cloudy hue eerily mirrored the Thames beyond the shrunken silhouette of Monument. Gently sweet with a flicker of fizz, it arrived alongside so-called Kyoto cucumbers dressed in rich sesame. Wine resumed with a selection from the visible Zanmai raw bar paired with Joh. Jos. Prüm’s grippingly mineral, faintly saline 2023 Graacher Himmelreich Kabinett. The raw section, deftly cut and precisely seasoned, was among the strongest cards played by the kitchen. Lucky Cat’s fine Riesling collection also including a silver-sealed 2021 Großes Gewächs Trocken from Schloss Johannisberg. So pleasurable was the Prüm, though, that Knott quipped, “you can have a vertical of Prüm and end up horizontal.” Back to sake: Hakkaisan Junmai Daiginjo Genshu, snow-aged for three years in a “Yukimuro”, emerged in a pristine white bottle resembling a vintage milk flask. Served both cool and warm to coax its treble, then bass notes, it was eerily composed. Then came 2022 Vorberg Pinot Bianco from Cantina Terlano, grown at up to 650m in Alto Adige – a high-altitude pour for a high-altitude table: 2022 at table 22 at 22 Bishopsgate. It brought faint marzipan notes to bonito and duck leg bao in Lucky Cat–branded buns (custom-designed for Instagram), and “GFC” (Gordon’s Fried Chicken) with sesame, miso and more spice than one might expect. From the robata, spiced lamb chops with chilli sauce and tofu cream (£42, rich for three ribs), an excellent whole sea bream, butterflied, with black vinegar, and a rather generous portion of grilled octopus, all served with a particularly satisfying egg fried rice, its “almost sexy yolk,” as Knott observed, stirred in raw and left to melt through the grains. With these, d’Aniello poured Vega Sicilia’s plush Alión from 2020, “a real challenge for the estate’s team,” apparently, though in the glass, it said “drink me.” To close: the signature Lucky Cat dessert – a maximalist London finale. A chocolate shell in the shape of the restaurant’s namesake cat collapsed under molten chocolate to reveal a Black Forest core: plush cherry-soaked cake, rich mousse, ice cream, and cherry sauce, all resting on a bed of chocolate crumble. With it came Hannya, a plum umeshu as dramatic as its label – a horned female demon, consumed by jealousy, transformed by betrayal. It began honeyed, but with capsicum heat which built into something thrilling. Also poured: Keigetsu’s organic yuzu sake – Orangina-scented and adored by sommeliers, liquid sunlight to close.

Last sip

D’Aniello takes pleasure in bringing producers to the City – through their bottles, and in person – fuelling not only the wine list, but the WSET-accredited training available to guests and team members, overseen by two full-time educators embedded in the Ramsay operation. Lucky Cat Bishopsgate - after Mayfair, Manchester, and Miami Beach – is big, busy, and built for those who seek playfulness alongside caviar, sushi, wagyu and exceptional egg fried rice. And for the gastronomically inclined, High – the 12-seat chef’s table - promises something sharper. Ever present, and still stolen despite CCTV, the maneki-neko – that beckoning cat – has once again brought Ramsay what it promises: luck, and perhaps something more prized in the Square Mile – sustained attention.

Best for

• Commanding views
• Riesling and Sake
• Chocolate cat dessert

Value: 92, Size: 93, Range: 94, Originality: 93, Experience: 95; Total: 93.4 22 Bishopsgate, London, EC2N 4BQ; luckycatbishopsgate@gordonramsay.com; 020 7592 1617; gordonramsayrestaurants.com