Top London restaurants for wine to visit as restrictions ease

We’ve consulted the author of Wine List Confidential, Douglas Blyde, for his top restaurants that you can visit in London from this Saturday.

In England and Northern Ireland, this weekend marks a major milestone. Restaurants, pubs and bars can reopen for the first time since March, signalling the end of months of enforced closure. In Northern Ireland, venues open today (3 July) while in England, it’s 4 July.

But it’s by no means business as usual. Table service must be employed where possible, and contactless ordering, such as through an app, is encouraged. Tables must be spaced at least one-metre apart, with risk mitigation, and clear social distancing guidelines, access to hand-washing facilities and sanitiser must be provided.

Hospitality venues have also been asked to collect customer data and store it for 21 days in order to help officials track and trace potential outbreaks. UKHospitality and the British Beer and Pub Association have jointly released guidance on this, detailing what data venues should collect and how to store it. This can be read here.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has urged everyone visiting sites this weekend to act responsibly.

“Just as when we first locked down, we will only succeed in reopening if everyone works together,” he said. “Because we are not out of the woods yet. The virus is still with us and the spike in Leicester has shown that.”

While authorities are expressing caution, for hospitality workers it is the first step in a long road to recovery.

To celebrate the reopening of restaurants in England, we’ve rounded up some top picks from the drinks business‘ sister publication, Wine List Confidential. WLC is a guide to the best wine-focused restaurants in London, rating each venue out of 100 for its service, range, originality, price and list size.

Scroll through the list of restaurants due to open on 4 July and the days that follow as selected by guide author, Douglas Blyde.

Cabotte

Founded by two of London’s most well-known sommeliers (Xavier Rousset and Gearoid Devaney), Cabotte is an ode to Burgundy nestled in the City of London. Opened in 2016, it boasts a wine list featuring over 1,000 wines, the majority from Burgundy.

Below is an extract from Douglas Blyde’s review, written before lockdown: 

Founded by two Master Sommeliers, Cabotte is named after the small stone huts dotting Burgundy’s vineyards which offer workers refuge from the harsher elements. Located on Gresham Street, the restaurant itself offers City workers a happy haven from unsettled markets.

The minds behind are blues guitarist and charity marathon runner, Gearoid Devaney who is also the director of Flint Wines, and Xavier Rousset who became a Master Sommelier at just 26 years old. They met on a merchant-organised visit to producers, Dujac and Rousseau in 2000. “My first wine trip and Gearoid’s second,” recalls Rousset. “None of Gerard Basset’s head somms could go so off I went, bonding with Gearoid at 4 am at Le Galleon nightclub. On returning to the hotel, Gearoid assumed I knew Beaune inside out just because I was French and we promptly got lost, wandering around the ramparts…”

Formerly a Be At One cocktail bar, Cabotte has been skilfully reimagined in a way perhaps best described as polished rusticity, complete with textured plaster, a shiny vine sculpture and backlit mirrors. “We’ve both spent time in venues dressed as penguins but wanted a more relaxed vibe here,” says Devaney.

Best savoured from huge Zalto glasses, the comprehensive Burgundy-focused list includes 800 handpicked listings from the territory including the broad ranges gleaned from Cabotte’s partners.

Core by Clare Smyth

Notting Hill’s Core is the debut solo venture of Northern Irish chef Clare Smyth. Smyth previously worked alongside Gordon Ramsay for 13 years at his eponymous restaurant in Chelsea, where she became the first female British chef to helm a restaurant that was awarded three Michelin stars. Core, which opened in 2017, hasn’t done badly either. Going straight in with two stars in the Michelin Guide, diners are charmed by Smyth’s ability to elevate everyday ingredients, such as the carrot and potato.

Below is an extract from Douglas Blyde’s review, written before lockdown: 

At Core by Clare Smyth, head sommelier, Gareth Ferreira has performed carpentry to his inner sanctum-like cellar within which select guests may now enjoy a snifter of Justino’s 1999 Madeira from the barrel with seven-year-old Davidstow Cornish Cheddar while choosing dinner wines. Amid some 3,000 bottles are two notable empties, being Taylor’s Quinta do Vargellas 1984, contents of which filled the wine gums Smyth prepared for Harry and Meghan’s wedding reception, and the Latour 1996, “which we drank when we won two Michelin stars,” says Ferreira.

The holder of Wines of South Africa’s Sommelier Cup, Gareth Ferreira discovered a fascination for wine at the boutique Saxon Hotel in his native South Africa, furthered at Dubai’s “seven-star” Burj Al Arab, and then in London at 67 Pall Mall, which he helped open under the auspices of Scarborough-born Master Sommelier, Ronan Sayburn.

Representing nature and cooking pans, Ferreira’s list is bound in green and copper, with bookmarks to help diners keep pages open, “which is better than using a knife,” notes Ferreira, who has improved the contents almost beyond recognition since the venue opened in August 2017. This is illustrated with maps which Ferreira designed himself using a programme called Ortelius. As well as very fine wines, mandatory for a two Michelin-starred restaurant, he continues to patiently seek brilliant, accessibly-priced bottles, such as the “unbelievably good value” parcels of Coteaux Bourguignons Mes Gamays from a 0.32 acre site tended by Nicolas Faure, “who spent time at DRC and Jean-Louis Chave” and La Re-Nommée (Maison Lombard), “from the no man’s land of la Drôme in the Northern Rhône, which I’m incredibly fond of. Like drinking a Côte-Rôtie.”

Notable also is the collection of mature Bordeaux, particularly so gleaned from 1970. “A restaurant vintage, prices still good, and I’m never disappointed,” he says, singling out Figeac, “who are building one of Bordeaux’s finest cellars,” and Vieux Château Certan. Of the latter, he recalls, “One of my most memorable bottles was the 1970 tried at the château on a trip which also included Le Pin.”

Charles Heidsieck Brut Réserve is the house Champagne, supplemented with older cuvées such as the long discontinued Champagne Charlie from 1985. “We always list a tiny grower, such as Dhondt Grellet Extra Brut, too,” he says. “And there needs to be an English, like Gusbourne.”

Le Gavroche

Mayfair French stalwart Le Gavroche is a must for fans of the l’hexagone. Opened by the late Michel Roux and his brother Albert, it is now in the capable hands of Michel Roux Jr. The restaurant will reopen on 7 July, and will serve two tasting menus, including an eight-course option available for lunch or dinner, and a four-course menu, which is available in the evening. There will be a smaller menu of individually priced dishes, and the restaurant will continue to offer its famous set-price lunch menu during the week.

Below is an extract from Douglas Blyde’s review, written before lockdown: 

Michel and Albert Roux’s culinary French flag-bearer opened in 1967 on Lower Sloane Street and relocated in 1981 to Upper Brook Street without losing a day’s trading. It became the first restaurant in the UK to receive a Michelin star in 1974, garlanded with three stars in 1982; today, it holds two under the tenure of Albert’s son, Michel Roux Jr, who added a bijou chef’s table.

Le Gavroche has had a huge influence on the quality of food in London, giving rise to chefs, Monica Galetti, Rowley Leigh, Marco Pierre White, Marcus Wareing, Gordon Ramsay and Roux’s daughter, Emily who opened Caractère, Notting Hill with partner, Diego Ferrari who was Head Chef at Gavroche for three years.

Now in his third year at Le Gavroche, head sommelier, Rémi Cousin, began his career at Paris’ Le Meurice, moving to Hotel du Vin, York then Bristol, before joining The Fat Duck in 2008, where he worked for eight years.

Running to over 2,500 bins secreted wherever space allows, including the alcoves beneath the Mayfair pavement, the list predominantly holds a torch over ready-to-drink icons of L’Hexagone with well-picked incursions into Italy and Australia. Flights include Mas de Daumas Gassac, Grange des Pères, Hermitage Chave, Romanée-Conti and Taittinger Comtes de Champagne. Recently, Cousin increased the offer from “the very much under-rated regions” of Alsace for its grand crus, and the Loire.

At £76, the generally sold-out set lunch, inclusive of half a bottle of wine (beer is also available), mineral water, coffee and petits fours continues to offer benchmark value for a restaurant of this calibre, longevity and international repute, with vinous options including a Côtes du Roussillon Villages collaboration.

45 Jermyn St.

45 Jermyn St. is luxury department store Fortnum & Mason’s restaurant. The Piccadilly eatery has been keeping busy during lockdown, serving high-end dining by delivery, including £80 beef wellingtons with dauphinoise potatoes and green beans and a selection of wine and Champagne priced between £29 to £275.

Below is an extract from Douglas Blyde’s review, written before lockdown: 

David Nichter (formerly of Villandry, The Delaunay, and Alfred’s at Alfred Dunhill) oversees the dusty pink-hued wine list at 45 Jermyn St. as well as managing the restaurant; he also oversees the wine offer at the Hong Kong spinoff, Fortnum’s 181 at Victoria Dockside’s

Neither venue is automatically “fixed” to Fortnum & Mason’s buying strategy, hence the appearance of bottles from 266 Wines at Jermyn Street, an indie importer, “which has depth in Champagne, small French domains and some of the best up-and-coming wineries of northern Spain.” Indeed, the investors in 266 also run The Oystermen restaurant, Covent Garden, of which David is “a big fan” and “came in for their Christmas lunch.”

Although there is no actual sommelier at 45 Jermyn St., the front of house are trained to provide advice and tasting samples to compliment the trolleys featuring kindly priced caviar with freshly scrambled eggs, flambéed lobster spaghetti with artichokes and lemon verbena, a hugely aromatic flambéed beef wellington for two, and (check in advance that it is available) flambéed blackberry and lime Baked Alaska. Other dishes chosen from menus illustrated by Python-esque Dutch artist, Zeloot, may include a truffle toastie with Jacques Carillon Puligny-Montrachet during truffle season, which Nichter calls, “a match made in heaven,” and, with excellent grouse pie, Château Musar red 2002.

London Shell Co.

Floating restaurant concept London Shell Co. was founded in 2015 and launched aboard a restored cruising wide beam barge called The Price Regent in 2016. Lunch and dinner cruises are available, with the boat journeying down Regent’s Canal from Paddington to Camden and back while diners tuck into their food.

Below is an extract from Douglas Blyde’s review, written before lockdown: 

Given the popularity of their cruising vessel, The Prince Regent, siblings, Harry and Leah Lobek needed a bigger boat. Cue the launch of the larger vessel, The Grand Duchess, a static craft which previously acted as the marketing suite for Paddington penthouses. Given the absence of an engine, this vessel is capacious enough to feature a semi-private “Captain’s Table”.

Opening with John Masefield’s 1902 “Sea Fever”, the list aboard The Grand Duchess is themed around noble fish. Hence, under “A Pint of Prawns” expect reds “light enough for drinking but still plenty to make a meal of”, such as aromatic “Experimental Batch” EB42 Summer Lovin’ Pinot Meunier (Mac Forbes). And honouring the mighty “Turbot” expect “decadent wines to impress your friends…” such as thickly-textured Langhe Bianco (Solea Roagna). Other sections include “Mackerel”, starring an Australian Petit Manseng (Symphonia) described as “Savennières in style”, and “Departures”, where Austrian Beerenauslese (Umathum) is offered by-the-glass. “When you dine with us, you will most likely ask yourself if today is a Mackerel or a Turbot day?” says Lobek. “Tongue in cheek, the most important thing to us is that our wines have character and integrity.”

The Lobeks love the Loire, particularly, “bulletproof Chenin” and “chic” Melon de Bourgogne. “Vincent Caillé, Monnières-Saint Fiacre has me as happy as a clam at high tide,” says Lobek.

Dishes by head chef, Stuart Kilpatrick may include Devon crab and Guinness rarebit, and cod with curried mussels, cauliflower and kale. Blending Bacchus and Pinot Gris, house bubbles are produced in collaboration with Hampshire’s Hattingley Valley – a nifty fit with oysters. “In our opinion the best value English Sparkling Wine you can buy; winemaker, Emma Rice is smashing it every year.”

High Timber

Owned by Neleen Strauss, a South African native and passionate advocate of its wines, High Timber was founded in collaboration with Stellenbosch wine estate, Jordan. The restaurant, overlooking the River Thames and the Tate Modern, remains a go-to for rare and aged South African wine.

Below is an extract from Douglas Blyde’s review, written before lockdown: 

In response to a news item reporting that South African wine exports fell by 23% last year, vigorous, outspoken and humorous restaurateur, Neleen Strauss retorted, “ok, I’m on my way to work. Will work harder!”

Strauss is the mien host of the art-rich Thames-side High Timber restaurant, in collaboration with Gary and Cathy Jordan of the eponymous Stellenbosch estate, hence Jordan Chameleon white is the house pour. However, the selection is not limited to the full liquid history of Jordan alone, being a hearty embrace of the best of South Africa today. Bottles are showcased alongside souvenirs collected from vineyards such as rocks and the odd porcupine quill. These include lots from the Cape Winemakers Guild Auction and an immodest quantity of Kanonkop Paul Sauer 2015. Of the latter, Strauss says, “not the most expensive, but the first South African to get 100 points.” There are also some bottles from other territories, including renditions from Strauss’ favourite Champagne producer, Billecart-Salmon Champagne, a Grand Cru Alsace Riesling from Julien Schaal who also has impressive holdings in South Africa, and in magnum, Leflaive Chassagne-Montrachet. The list is updated list often, with at least one new producer showcased via a chalkboard each month.

Strauss regularly returns to South Africa, recently enjoying a memorable tasting at fellow Stellenbosch producer, Oldenburg. “I had to drive the ATV and almost went down one of the massive mountains!” she recalls.

Book in for regular producer dinners, such as the particularly raucous one hosted by Chenin Blanc fanatic, Ken Forrester. “What happens in the private room… History has taught me it’s safer for all involved not to write about Ken” admits Strauss, adding: “the most memorable event from last year was a slightly mad customer who started burning corks and gave each guest two black cork marks on their cheeks. Mobile phones got banned at speed!”

Folie

Opened in Soho in 2019, Folie draws inspiration from the Côte d’Azur. The opulent restaurant on Golden Square serves up southern French-influenced dishes to discerning diners.

Below is an extract from Douglas Blyde’s review, written before lockdown: 

Diagonal to Bob Bob Ricard on the Soho-Mayfair confluence that is Golden Square, and encompassing a former Gregg’s and part of a Pizza Express, Folie came to life to capture the glamour of the French Riviera. The first solo project from Guillaume Depoix, formerly operations manager of Boundary, Shoreditch and GM of Casa Cruz opened the same week as his child was born.

Depoix’s vision for the workably retro, brassy, carefully lit brasserie with curved corners and particularly good acoustics (helping keep the conversation alive alongside nighttime sets by the Parisien DJ) is realised by Studio KO, whose work includes Musée Yves Saint Laurent, Marrakech and London’s Chiltern Firehouse. Only the slightly cruise ship pattern carpet lets the otherwise immensely considered scheme down.

Harry Ballman, who is the holder of two degrees on normative democracy and legislative aspects of the EU and a fledgeling wine writer, admits to being surprised by “how bling the project turned out to be.” The couth chap comes from Wilton’s to take up his first head sommelier role and clearly relishes forming the identity of a wine list which has fast doubled in size from an initial brief of 100 bins. Mirroring the clientele, 75% of bins are French, with a specialisation on Provence, the Riviera and the Mediterranean including Bandol, Cassis and Corsica and “Bordeaux and Burgundy seldom found in London”, he notes, with the balance being a celebration of the “best of the rest” says Ballman, including Assyrtiko from the increasingly listed T-Oinos. Ballman mentions he originally wrote (using the usefully slim, custom Folie font) the producer first on his list, “which didn’t work in Soho,” he notes, hence listings now open with emboldened regions.

10 Greek Street.

Another Soho entry, 10 Greek Street opened its doors in 2012. The bustling, unfussy eatery serves up a daily changing menu and an evolving wine list, a formula that has worked well for the past eight years.

Below is an extract from Douglas Blyde’s review, written before lockdown: 

Restaurateur and brewer, Luke Wilson was born to literary parents: Charles Wilson, the marine without a degree who edited The Times, Independent and Daily Mail, and, “doyenne of the glossies”, Sally O’Sullivan, who ran Good Housekeeping, Ideal Home and Options. Prior to 10 Greek Street, the graduate of Biological Sciences worked at The Zetter and The Ambassador, and for importer, Liberty Wines, serving the City.

In recent years, inspired by a seventeenth-century brewery in Bamberg, Bavaria, Wilson has reaped much respect amid his peers and patrons for his line of Braybrooke beers, crafted at the former grain store of his family’s farm in Market Harborough. These include slightly tropical New Zealand Pils in homage to 10 Greek Street’s Kiwi head chef and investor in the project, Cameron Emirali, a lighter Session lager, chocolatey Keller lager, and deep Cold Brew lager scented with coffee roasted near the brewery. Seasonal specials include a smoked lager, “which goes very well with grilled or roasted meats,” he says. Look out, too, for the “Smash”, i.e. “single malt and single hop.”

Wines within the avocado-coloured dining room must be driven by purity of fruit and a sense of freshness to earn a place on Wilson’s core list, with Greek wines being a recent addition, endorsed by bar manager, George Symillides (formerly of Heist Bank). These “are included not just because of our address, but because they’re very good,” says Wilson.

Dishes by co-owner and chef, Cameron Emirali (previously of the RIP Wapping Project) may include the starter of salt cod and potato soup, then venison, fried potatoes, kale and plum for two, and orange financier and stem ginger ice cream to culminate.

Seabird

A new entry to WLC this year, rooftop restaurant Seabird combines Stateside cool with Iberian flair. Boasting what it deems to be London’s longest oyster list, the restaurant can be found on the fourteenth floor of The Hoxton’s Southwark hotel.

Below is an extract from Douglas Blyde’s review, written before lockdown: 

The glamorous Seabird was founded by Krystof Zizka and Joshua Boissy, the minds behind Brooklyn’s celebrated oyster bar and absinthe café, Maison Premiere. Reached via its own lift, the open-plan kitchen, bar counter, marble seafood display including oysters from the UK, France Holland and Portugal, a surprise foliage-adorned atrium and extensive terrace feels shiny and haven-like, even on a dull day.

Fourteen is Zizka’s lucky number. He draws from fourteen wine suppliers here on the fourteenth floor of the latest in the Hoxton hotel range, perks of which include free international calls for guests. He has been a wine buyer for fourteen years, with his first role in hospitality occurring at age fourteen, “later on to support my way through college while studying filmmaking.” He subsequently found himself working in the recording industry, “until finally owning my own place, Maison Premiere.”

Being based in New York, Zizka consulted Michael Sager (Sager + Wilde), Roman Pawar (Les Caves de Pyrène) and Rupert Taylor (Uncharted Wines) to help realise his vision “and answer my silly questions.” To harmonise with Seabird’s dishes, Zizka was “particularly excited to push towards Iberian producers.” Zizka describes one of the most satisfying listings. “We have a very special Canary Island Wine called Artifice (Borja Perez). Grown in volcanic soils, with citrus, honey, almond and oxidative characteristics, it’s definitely not a safe wine and takes you somewhere else. Perhaps because of the Brits love of sherry, many people love this food wine which goes with raw oysters, charcoal-grilled New Haven whole John Dory for two with mojo verde and lemon, and Iberico Pork Presa with celeriac, apple and king oyster mushrooms.”

The Laundry

Opened in Brixton last year, neighbourhood bistro and wine shop The Laundry has gone straight into the WLC guide. On opening, founder Melanie Brown said: “The Laundry is an exciting coming together of my diverse experience in hospitality over the last 20 years. Creating an understated environment, quality food and a playful, accessible wine list is testament to the integrity of this beautifully-restored Brixton landmark.”

Below is an extract from Douglas Blyde’s review, written before lockdown: 

Described as a “Model Wash House”, The Laundry is an all-day bistro and wine shop in an historic building brought to you by the sometimes cheeky founder of the New Zealand Cellar, Melanie Brown.

Underneath a stuck clock is a striking, Edwardian edifice home to a steam press laundry until 2014. Its clearly Parisian-inspired front terrace abuts cosmopolitan dining destination, Brixton market

Brown, who is also the founder of the New Zealand cellar online merchant, previously looked after the all New Zealand wine list at Marylebone’s pioneering fusion restaurant The Providores (RIP), saving both the tables from its Tapa room which now meet duck egg banquettes at The Laundry, as well as key team members some of whom appear spa fresh. The covetable, ornate cutlery was sourced at a Paris flea market meanwhile.

Brown advises, “anyone can come,” to enjoy morning croissants then bistro classics by chef German Alex Kokott, such as a notably crunchy Caesar salad with a similarly crisp glass of Sauvignon Blanc from the NEW PRESS range which Brown created with Marlborough winemaker, Ben Glover. These feature labels printed on a novel Edwardian mangle transformed into a letterpress, with the brand name paying homage to both New Zealand and the Newland Family who previously operated the laundry. “Not coastal, so not brutally aggressive in character,” says Brown. Other dishes include rich roast cod cassoulet with smoked mussels, partnered with sultry, earthy Langhe Nebbiolo (Giovanni Rossi) which Brown likens to “a classy millennial”, and a large, springy cookie with ice cream for sharing with excellent coffee care of Caravan roasters.