Inside London’s secret journalistic dining club

Libby Brodie joins journalist Adam Hay-Nicholls at his London dining club – and had some very good wine

This is the column that nearly didn’t happen. I often take wines with me when I travel and had packed a bottle of Mauricio Lorca Gran Reserva Malbec 2022 in my suitcase for a trip to the Maldives. I was there to review some wine lists and a resort’s rather exciting endeavours to age wine on the sea floor, so it had slipped my mind it was a dry country. That was, until we landed to be greeted with scary signs about the illegality of bringing alcohol into the country.

My suitcase arrived plastered with alarming red customs stickers and I was gently escorted off to deliver up the offending bottle. I had heard good things about that Malbec, so it was a shame to see it carried away behind airport security doors, but then, better the bottle than myself.

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Astounding acts of international scandal: inside London’s journalistic dining club

Back on British soil, thankfully journalistic raconteur Adam Hay-Nicholls came to my rescue with a cheering invitation to lunch with “The Society of Great Stomachs” and a kind offer to toast the confiscated bottle with another. A bottle of Luis Vieira IG Lisboa Reserva 2022 (Naked Wines £14.99 Angel Price £9.99) was duly popped into my handbag and opened a couple of days later at The Union Club in Soho.

Adam, whose writing centres around a Bond-esque lifestyle of designer watches, fast cars and luxury travel and whose Instagram bio reads “whoever said there’s no such thing as a free lunch wasn’t a journalist” founded this society because “after all those free lunches, it makes a nice change to pay and behave as we like and just have fun”.

Invitations to the dining club are extended to “interesting characters who like to eat” and I considered myself honoured to have been included in the convivial crew. Arriving early, I ordered a glass of red wine, warmed myself by one of their blazing fires and admired the haphazard, confusion of decoration and art framed on the burgundy and brick walls around me. The Union has an old-school, well-worn, Soho-before-smart-phones feel. A place to settle into for the day to evening.

Adam arrived late explaining he had been to a party at Kettner’s the night before and on walking home had passed an old flame’s art gallery, spotted her having a dinner party inside and crashed it – mine sweeping her guests’ drinks as he did so. “I think she was pretty pleased to see me,” he nodded contentedly and oddly. I suspect she was, Adam having the kind of rumbunctious charm that can get away with such things.

The guests rolled in, champagne was called for, the Evening Standard’s David Ellis ordered a martini with such exacting precision it could have been a scene from “When Harry Met Sally”. I poured out my proffered bottle of Luis Vieira, a deep smoky blend of Portuguese Touriga Nacional and Alicante Bouschet, to clinks and slurps from the group. Full-bodied, smooth, a hint of spice – it seemed a fitting table mate for such society.

Conversations tumbled across the table ranging from hilarious celebrity interactions to how to avoid gout to astounding acts of international scandal. Given it was a table of journos I’m surprised no one headlined their stories with “off the record” but as I want to be invited again, I won’t repeat them. Better to enjoy the wine and leave the tales to be absorbed into the walls. I have a feeling they are well used to them.

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