A Tale of Two Pichons

Last week I went to a dinner given by Neville Abraham, founder of the distinctive 1980s wine merchant Les Amis du Vin in London, which at one time employed both Clive Coates MW and Geoffrey Roberts of the eponymous travel award. I think he got his CBE, however, for his subsequent involvement in restaurants such as Chez Gérard, Scotts, Livebait, Chutney Mary, Wheelers, Le Café des Amis du Vin and Bertorelli’s. This dinner was for his friends in the wine trade. Nowadays he’s involved with Rowley Leigh’s Café Anglais, where the dinner took place in the private room, and wine importers...