Jewel of a find

I've just about given up doing business lunches in fancy restaurants. It's too time consuming and disruptive to my hectic daily schedule of naps, email frenzies, more naps, watching Countdown on Channel 4 and organising my social diary.

When push comes to shove and seduction techniques prove irresistible, I might go to one of our office's staff canteens, L'Etranger on Gloucester Road for a quick munch - but only if someone else is paying, and always on the understanding that I can choose the wine.

I still prefer dining rather than lunching, though, and this rather upmarket, grown-up French-meets-Eastern restaurant has a natty little cocktail bar by the name of Opal in the basement, which is a perfect spot for post-prandial drinks. Generous licensing hours should suit the late-night denizens of South Kensington and its environs.

Once you get past the geezer on the door (more of him later) you descend into the basement and a bar of moulded caves that looks like it's straight from the set of The Flintstones. Curiously, the caves are daubed with black and white paint and resemble the colouring of a Friesian cow - I know, it sounds horrible, but somehow it works, and the caves provide intimacy and comfort.

The drinks list has a laudable collection of premium quality spirits including some rare and unusual finds. The Ron Zacapa 23-year-old Black Label is a wonderful rum (£12 for a 50ml shot), and the Middleton VR is a superior Irish whiskey (£22.50 for 50ml). The list of Armagnacs, liqueurs and Cognacs is virtually faultless.

The cocktail list, where prices start at a not-over-the-top price of £6.90, contains a reassuring number of old classics along with a welcoming range of bespoke creations for the bar. Try the SW Heaven, with cachaca (distilled cane, popular in Brazil), mango, lemongrass, lime and mango liqueur. The Mojito and the Daiquiri were among the best I've had in this town and these were prepared and served at our tables by a team of extremely friendly and excruciatingly good-looking staff.

Many spirits are available by the bottle, which is very much the way with young, posh and loaded people. But be warned: this is often an expensive way to drink. A 50ml shot of Stolichnaya Red vodka, for example, costs £5, a full 750ml bottle containing 15 shots costs £125 as opposed to £75 if you bought the 15 shots individually (although mixers are included in the price of a bottle).

It would take me several hundred visits to fully experience the total joy of the drinks offering at Opal, but I would be interested to discover the answer to the embarrassing question of why anyone would choose to put the bottled beers Budweiser and Michelob Ultra on the shelves when there are so many quality beers on the market.

The food consists of vegetarian, sushi or Oriental platters (£14, £19 or £21 respectively) designed for sharing, or smaller plates of dim sum. Main dishes from L'Etranger's kitchen are also available, but I recommend enjoying these in the restaurant proper.

As I left one evening the geezer on the door was explaining to two chaps that they couldn't go in because they weren't accepting single-sex groups. The two chaps seemed nice enough guys to me: young, polite and presentable, and they looked like they might have had stacks of cash in their pockets.