PROFILE BY BEST RESTAURANTS
You want champagne for breakfast? This is your place; though you won't get bacon and eggs here. The Gertrude St Enoteca is a small and lively meeting and drinking place, with a handful of small tables in an area that is largely taken up by a bar. Behind the bar and the rows of bottles is a blackboard that usually features literary quotations and sometimes recipes. It's small, cosy and full of personality.
Enoteca is the Italian word for wine-store, and this is a serious one. There's much to contemplate here, particularly if you want to purchase a drop or two. If you're staying then sit back and have a glass of something delicious – a bottle of bubbles or a solid Italian red. Accompany it with a plate of salami, prosciutto and Italian pickles, or some vitello tonnato and Spanish ham. The food choices are limited by minimal kitchen facilities, although chef and food writer Brigitte uses the upstairs kitchen to good effect for cakes and food hampers. They start at $110 and are great for gifts or picnics, filled with gourmet and home-made items like honey, olive oil, bread, cheese, grapes, Shiraz jelly, tea and even recipes.
Rita Erlich