DINING OWL AWARDS: 4th – for friends; 4th – for wine list

When I visited: August 2012 and July 2014

Location: Las Vegas, in the Wynn hotel

Team: Sterling Buckley (Head Chef), Chloe Helfand (Head Sommelier)

Rating in the Michelin Guide: No rating

Dining Owl Hoot rating: 3/5

What to wear: Men – smart trousers and shirt; women – smart dress or smart skirt / trousers and top

Ambience: Sofas around low tables, with waterfall

Course of the meal: Beef carpaccio with arugula and truffle aioli

If I could change one thing: Slightly higher tables to match height of sofas

Review:

La Cave is just one of the many wonderful, innovative restaurants to grace the Las Vegas dining scene in recent years. Set in the impressive Wynn hotel (which also has two of Vegas’ best clubs, XS and Tryst), it is ideal for pre- or post-Cirque du Soleil or if you want a light meal before clubbing.

At dinnertime you can have flights of wine paired with each ‘sharing’ course, which makes it ideal for a date. The courses themselves are delicious and light, with a good mixture of meat, fish and vegetarian options. The menu is split into options ‘from the garden’, ‘from the sea’, ‘from the farm’, ‘from the oven’, ‘from the grill’ … I would recommend having at least one option from each category to experience the full complement of food on offer. The ‘From Patrick’ dessert options include a lovely chocolate risotto, but before you get to dessert, I would also advocate trying the diver sea scallops, chorizo, Italian and Andouille sausage flatbread, the beef carpaccio, the jerk marinated ahi tuna and the shaved asparagus.