Bianka, the sommelier's favourite guest

Is there such a thing as a flirtatious handbag? Bianka owns three, all found secondhand, all with clasps that close with a satisfying click, and she carries them with the same unhurried charm she brings to everything else. She is curvy and 165 cm, her light brown hair runs long with ends that summer has lit, and her hazel eyes turn greener by candlelight. Her look is soft evening elegance: a fitted dress in deep plum or black, a slim belt at the waist, heels she can actually walk in, a lipstick chosen to match the wine rather than the outfit.

In her early twenties, Bianka has the attentiveness of someone who has hosted a hundred dinner parties. She clocks whether you take milk in your coffee, remembers your home town and brings it up again, fondly, an hour later. Her English is gentle and low. Wine tasting is her serious hobby, the kind with spittoons and scribbled notes, and her private weekend pleasure is Italian cooking: a risotto stirred for exactly as long as it takes, a tomato sauce she refuses to rush. Vintage fashion completes the triangle, and she can usually guess the decade of a silk square from its rolled edge.

For a Mayfair evening she likes Cecconi's on Burlington Gardens, bright and Venetian in spirit, with the back of the Royal Academy just across the lane. She orders cicchetti for sharing, asks the sommelier what he is drinking himself and usually takes his advice. Afterwards comes a slow walk past the Burlington Arcade, gates closed but windows still glowing, before the short ride back to your hotel.

Bianka lives in Knightsbridge and is often booked a few minutes north at Park Lane and around Hyde Park Corner. Dinner dates are where she shines; find the four hour option on our rates page, then send Bella the name of your hotel.