"Estate" calls to mind wealth: country house, expansive lands, extravagant wine cellar.
On the side, shredded Savoy cabbage is divinely buttery, and a 2005 (I couldn't afford anything from the 1980s) St Aubin Les Frionnes (£44.50) from the extravagant wine list is honest, soft and smoky.
friend who keeps a few in her purse, downing one in the cab as needed after particularly extravagant wine dinners, though the flavors — pfeffernuss, lemon rind, coffee sweetened with brown sugar — may have her reaching for a second.
But these are precious criticisms, because the central truth of The Yeatman is that, with its extraordinary site, superlative, gravely courteous service, extravagant commitment to wine and, psychologically sensitive style-pointers aside, very high-level of physical comfort, it provides an exceptional experience.
Business Premier class (£260, or $374) adds more extravagant meals with wine, plus, lounge access, concierge and taxi services, and up to three large pieces of luggage.
"Telman, you are our friend, our friend forever," shouts Mr Luzhkov into the microphone, standing underneath a huge chandelier and surrounded by tables piled high with extravagant food and wines.
I "discovered" it one evening when I didn't feel like a beer, a cocktail would be too strong and uncorking a bottle of wine seemed extravagant.
Sake, at No. 26, 852-2295-6010, mixes Japanese rice wine into extravagant cocktails like the Niigata Horizon, made with fresh guava and apple schnapps.
And Crystal, which recently began offering intimate $1,000-a-head dinners with hard-to-get wines and extravagant meals, says it sold out its first offering within hours of the onboard announcement.
Around 70 percent of the production is sent abroad, where consumers are willing to pay more than the French, who tend to consider anything more than €10, or about $12, for a bottle of wine to be extravagant.
I know a thing or two (well, maybe not that many) about Australian wine, but the extravagant, world-spanning list at the Flower Drum had plenty to teach me.
