Now open in Islington, The Dreamery is part ice cream parlour, part wine bar.
So, at long last, your inner child and your inner adult can both agree on a place.
It comes to us from the people behind Goodbye Horses, and in fact it literally IS behind Goodbye Horses, just down the street and across the road. And offbeat – some might even say weird – idea was spawned from the restaurant’s success. With too many walk-ins crowing the bar, this gives people a place to go and pass the time before their dinner, and a place to go and grab something sweet after their dinner. Weird, but ingenious.
The space itself is small, but oh-so-pretty. It’s mostly thanks to the statement ceiling, which illuminates the space with its colourful, folky, surreal-adjacent painting beaming down onto the steel bar, and reflecting off the mirrored walls to create a feeling of an infinity room blanketed by a celestial, kaleidoscope patchwork of imagery. It really does feel like a dreamery.
For those wanting an ice cream, they have a rotating selection going that plays the hits (mint choc chip, coffee, etc.) while also allowing itself room for experimentation, throwing out flavours like fig leaf, oolong & prune, or pear & verjus sorbet. They’re served in dainty little silver bowls, and we can confirm that they’re delicious, too.
As for the wine, it’s a different list from next door, although they do still use the same suppliers, and stick to the same ethos: natural, biodynamic, organic, small vineyards. You’ll find about a dozen or so bottles on the go at any time, and they’re not paired up with the ice cream by design, though they will still find the right match if you want.
Oh, and it may not be a fancy ‘listening bar’ with a vinyl player in the corner and top-shelf, bespoke speakers… but it does have an old fashioned tape cassette boom box playing hits from decades past.
Which should please your inner child.
NOTE: The Dreamery is open now, Wednesday to Sunday, 12-10pm. It’s walk-ins only. You can find out (a tiny bit) more at the Dreamery Insta.
The Dreamery | 20a Halliford St, N1 3HD
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