My kinda place

If you don't like food and wine, taste and texture in food, restaurants and wine bars where food/wine are king then stop reading now; this piece is all about one of my favourite places in the Universe, perfect for my taste in almost every respect. The fact that it is owned by a friend who is now struggling to survive - and may not for much longer...- makes me go back whenever I can.

This is not a cheap place, nor is it the sort of place that does 'art-on-a-plate' cooking. The food here is sophisticated country northern Italian cooking, with a touch of the Mediterranean lightness and a superb wine list that hides (still, despite the economic conditions) loads of little gems, now mainly from less well-known areas at superb prices - I hesitate to call them cheap, as any bottle costing over £40 cannot by definition be called cheap, but bargains is certainly what they are in wine terms. The restaurant is called Sale Pepe, based in Athens, Greece, in a narrow street halfway up Lycabettus hill on the upper reaches of the affluent district of Kolonaki.

Sale Pepe is hard to get to on foot, as the hill is quite steep, and by car as parking is scarce; there is hardly any passing trade. In the years past it did a good trade and boasted by far the best wine list in Athens, probably in all of Greece, with amazing wines from all over the world, plenty of which were matured for a decent period, thus making them extremely attractive to drink. The owner is a wine enthusiast, knowledgeable, open to new vinous experiences and with a wine collection that was good, very good. In fact, while the food has always been good - and, sometimes, great - wine has always been the main attraction of the restaurant, and still is.

If you like trendy, vibrant places, where the fashionable crowd make appearances on a regular basis, you are not going to be pleased by Sale Pepe Athens - their branch in Mykonos may be a different proposition, but I do no know as I have never been, not being a fan of that beautiful but overdeveloped island - and what it has to offer. The restaurant in Athens instantly transports you back to northern Italy in its simple elegance, its love of food and wine served in proper crockery, glasses and cutlery to complement the experience, and is definitely not a temple to fashion, thankfully, either in the food or the customers. You come here to drink a decent wine or two first, and complement it with decent food second; if you do not drink wine Sale Pepe may seem overpriced and be hard to appreciate fully.

The owner (Ivan Ottaviani, yes, a real Italian from Emilia-Romagna) is fanatical about buying good raw materials, keeping the cooking authentic, if slightly rustic. This was not always the case here, as in the boom years he was able to pursue a more adventurous culinary route; eight years of a deadening recession has put paid to that. The food is not unambitious, though, and is full of taste, simple or complex depending on the dish, with textures to match. You will very rarely have a disappointing meal here, for Ivan is a good, professional host who knows his stuff in and out of the kitchen. Alas the style of his business does not seem popular at the moment as it can never be cheap cheap...

The wine list is, still, just spectacular, though, and very well cellared so that you can go back in time without fear: I had a superb bottle of 1990 La Corte from Castello di Querceto in Chianti, a delightful wine from a small single vineyard made from 100% Sangiovese, the local (Tuscan) red grape. Only gently starting to fade, full of colour with a rich nose of ripe red fruit and a complex, soft palate surprisingly still full of taste to beautifully complement the food (pasta with meat sauce). This is the sort of magical treat that you can still find on the Sale Pepe wine list!

The same list has younger wines for those of you who like their wines to be full of youthful vigour and as a sacrificial move - my taste is for older wines, reds especially - I tried a Chianti Classico Riserva 2012 from the same property, Castello di Querceto. This is mainly Sangiovese (90%+) topped up by local varieties Cannaiolo, Colorino, Mammolo and Ciliegiolo, the precise mixture depending on the vintage. To me this was classic decent young Chianti, slightly sour black cherry fruit with tannins now starting to soften a little bit, medium weight and crying out for food. Opening up in the glass it was a decent glass of Chianti, but less exciting than the older La Corte though perhaps it will acquire more complexity as it ages.

Any visit with Ivan is incomplete without a glass - or, on occasion, six - of grappa that is always interesting and often unusual; this time was no exception, as he produced a bottle of aged Berta grappa, Elisi, which was seductively soft but full of taste, and the perfect way to end a good Italian meal, with or without an espresso.

I love this little place and all it has to offer to the good denizens of Athens and to Athenian gastronomy, and Ivan is a good friend whom I am always pleased to see and share a glass of wine with. For my old man's taste, Sale Pepe represents a kind of perfection that is rapidly becoming extinct and this is something that I resent, as its sort is replaced by brash, loud places with indifferent food and ordinary wines. It will probably soon join the long list of extinct Athenian eateries - some of these were gorgeous and, like Sale Pepe, part of my preferred list of places to eat. When that day comes I shall be very sorry, very sorry indeed!