Say hello to Goodbye Horses, an absolute stud of a wine bar.
You’ll find it up near Angel, where it rolled out its welcome mat for the first time a couple of weeks ago, and it’s one of those places that feels like a genuine labour of love. From the moment you step inside, you feel the ambiance wrap itself around you in a glow of flickering candlelight, giddy chatter, fragrant aromas, and the warm crackle of vinyl. Basically it’s like walking into a hug, but with better booze.
It comes to us from restaurateurs Alex Young & George De Vos, who both cover the front of house, and they’ve hired chef Jack Coggins (fresh from a stint at the hyper-creative Papi) and wine director Nathalie Nelles (formerly of grape palace P Franco) to sate everyone’s appetites. The names on those CVs set a high bar, but the team each glide over it in style.
They’ve parked the place on a very quiet, leafy little residential side street between Islington & De Beauvoir. There’s no sign outside, and no obvious doorway either, and it feels like you could easily saunter straight past it if there weren’t a huge red arrow on your phone’s map insisting you’re standing right outside it. Inside, it’s an inviting blend of sturdy benches, candlelit tables, and a two-tier bar (with space for standing and space for sitting) with a colourful ribbon of painted canvas running above it. You’ll also likely notice the shelves, stacked with roughly 4,000 vinyl records, abutting it all.
The menu is a pleasingly concise affair, filled with creative flair. Glittering, silver-sheened sardines melt into a bed of fluffy Japanese milk toast. A plateful of rich oxtail ragout rice feels almost like a risotto, and comes peppered with satisfyingly crunchy burnt ends. The langoustine & prawn dolmas are so succulent you’ll be chasing that flavour long after the last bite. And when you see something as simple as a ‘cheese toastie’ on the menu at a place like this, you absolutely know it’s going to be amazing, and – if you can believe it – it is indeed amazing.
The wine is pretty much all organic and biodynamic, with plenty available by the glass, and their resident wine wizard will happily guide you to something that fits your palate & price-point. They have beers too (no cocktails though) and even something called a ‘drinking vinegar’, but it’s the grape hooch you’re here for.
The place is currently open during the day as a coffee shop while the chefs do their prep work, and there are plans to open an ice cream joint across the road too.
So they’ll be …neigh-bours?
NOTE: Goodbye Horses is open now, from Wednesday – Sunday. You can find out more, and make a booking at the Goodbye Horses website.
Goodbye Horses | 21 Halliford St, N1 3HB
Want to meet the neighbours? Here are the best restaurants in Islington…