Provisions Food & Wine is modestly named, but this isn’t your local offy, or even the Waitrose wine section.
It’s something far more special and – dare we say – European.
Up on Holloway Road, in the shadow of the Emirates Stadium, Provisions Food & Wine is a bottle shop and delicatessen by day and lively pintxo bar, Topa, by night. On the shelves is a hand-picked selection of mostly organic & biodynamic produce from artisan suppliers across Europe, chosen by founder Hugo Meyer Esquerré.
Heritage is important to Provisions, and their products are carefully chosen to express the distinct smells and flavours from an eclectic mix of regions, stretching from the Swiss alps to the Greek Coast. Orange, red and white wines are available by the glass, as well as bottles with a small corkage and an alluringly mysterious selection of ‘odd and weird’ wines. The food menu is in a constant state of flux, with rolling cheese plates, cured meats and ‘feast boards’ composed of raw milk cheese and antipasti. There is something religious about Provisions. The smell of fresh cheese floats from the open door like choral music, and people come in off the street to pay quick homage to the team’s wine recommendations of the previous night.
Peruse the wine shelves home to over 200 wines; the smokey, cured meats speckled with white fermentation; and the abundance of cheese, diverse in textures and smells, and it’ll be like taking a pilgrimage through the history of European food culture, all condensed into Provisions’ time-capsule interior. It’s a space alive and sociable; exactly how good food should be enjoyed. There are stools that look onto Holloway Road where you can enjoy your smoked sardines and Chardonnay as London puts on a show.
The team are genuinely passionate about their products, serving everyone from regular wine connoisseurs to off-the-street laymen with a tailored approach designed to guide you through the subtleties of pairing wine and food.
Provisions is a sensory refuge away from the inner-city. And if you can’t tell a Cinsault from a Sancerre, and the prospect of a ‘skin-contact’ wine creeps you out… there aren’t much better places to get studying.
Words by Euan Dawtrey
NOTE: Provisions Food & Wine is open for shopping Wed-Sun, and the Topa pintxo bar runs from Thursday – Saturday. You can book that by emailing [email protected], or find out more at their website HERE.
Provisions Holloway | 167 Holloway Road, London, N7 8LX
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