Aperitif

No sooner have we wound our way through Aperitif's restaurant to the bar area at the back of a narrow, dimly lit terrace than we begin debating the pressing issues of the day.

With Frank Sinatra doing it his way in the background, Tamara starts with her hair, asking if she may have overindulged with the hot rollers the previous night.

Dan and I are not quite sure what hot rollers are, and don't have much hair anyway, so we studiously bury our heads in the menu.

However, our barman Huong is not so shy, telling Tamara he thinks her hair is perfect.

Aperitif's menu has an impressive collection of European wines that leaves us salivating and paralysed with indecision - but Huong springs to our rescue, directing us to the French Bourgogne pinot noir ($60) and the silky, smooth Italian Masi Campofiorin ($55), which he lets us sample.

We choose the French red, always good for loosening the tongue. It is served in stemless glasses that resemble miniature brandy balloons. It's rich, full-bodied and an ideal partner to the Manchego, Woodside Capricorn and Pont l'Eveque cheeses ($7 each) we order.

Talk moves from hair to the September 11 terrorist attacks. Dan pulls out a conspiracy theory involving the US Government faking the attack on the Pentagon that would impress agents Scully and Mulder. We aren't convinced. However, our sniggering is cut short by our ever-attentive barman who says: "Yeah, man, I saw that doco. It was really powerful."

Another X-Files mystery appears on the menu when we see that tea costs $7. Huong is at a loss to explain this exorbitant price - "I'm no expert on tea," he confesses - so we stick to alcohol.

The desserts are far more reasonably priced and good enough to make a grown man cry. The chocolate pudding ($12) is velvety, melting in the mouth, while the vanilla and mango mini-creme brulees ($12) are silkily smooth and subtly flavoured creations.

As the night wears on conversation inevitably turns to our current romances. However not even I'm indiscreet enough to reveal other people's pillow talk.