Diary of a Sommelier: Festive nugget

I'm absolutely the first to condemn anyone jumping the Christmas gun in late November but this really is a nugget. If you want a sweet spot to glug a mulled wine over the coming weeks look no further than Covent Garden Piazza. In particular at one of their alfresco gig evenings.

Although forever over-ridden with tourists it's always been one of my favourite, festive London spots. I popped down last Monday to see the London Contemporary Orchestra play in the turning on of the Piazza's Christmas lights. Both were hauntingly beautiful. So get your warmest woolies on and get down there.

Light At The End?

So fresh from a week off work for my WSET exams I was a little worried. After reading about the woes facing restaurants post-crunch I was unsure as to whether there would still be work for me out there. I was particularly un-nerved by the pictures of empty restaurants across the capital. That is unless these pictures were taken between three and five o'clock on a Monday afternoon. No, of course not. The press would never be so misrepresentative. Would they?

I work in several restaurants in my group and have a very varied clientele from one to the next. When you're floating over a room full of diners you really do get a sense for the mood in the place. Certainly the most interesting to observe over the past few months has been our City site. The days after the markets started to freefall and the big headlines were hitting the shelves were certainly the most surprising.

You'd be forgiven for thinking, as we did, that we'd be in for a bit of a slump. On the contrary the atmosphere was that of a blow out party. City boys were ordering champagne and fine wines across the board. It was as if they were saying "Well we've had our fun but the party's over now. Lets go out with a bang". The following few weeks did see everyone suffering a prolonged hangover and being somewhat more frugal but now the restaurant is back up to full speed. Indeed even breaking previous years records. I fear the rags may have to get up very early to get a picture of this place empty.

We also recently opened a new site in Smithfield's that has been storming and breaking opening records. All in all this begs me to think that we should really stop paying any attention to the media in things financially related and instead take a peek at the traffic jams around Westfield Shopping Centre. Is there light at the end of our credit-crunch tunnel? What tunnel?

• Harpers Says...