Hackney Coterie

The guys behind the upcoming Hackney Coterie are very keen to point out that what they’re doing at their wine bar is not strictly natural.

They’re happy with any kind of wine.

Just as long as it’s good.

It’s the kind of relaxed, non-dogmatic, quality-focused approach which made Lyon’s Seafood (their first restaurant, in Crouch End) such a success. This sophomore effort has seen them take over and refurbish the old L’Entrepot space, formerly run by Borough Wines. The venue is pretty huge, they’re calling it a ‘warehouse brasserie’ which also serves as a wine bar, a deli, a bottle shop, and an intimate events space, too.

The food here takes the form of a six-course set menu (catering for meat-eaters, pescatarians and veggies). Hovering around the £40 mark, it offers dishes like fish crackling with smoked tofu dip; ‘a thousand’ layered Szechuan potatoes with black tea mayo; spiced mangal monkfish with dashi custard and fermented celeriac barbara with malted cream. But of course the beauty is that it changes all the time as head chef Dom (ex-Hide and Scully) tries experimental new things.

On the drinks front, they’re offering everything from low intervention, to organic, biodynamic, and, yes, natural wine. Their only real stipulations are that it needs to be good, decent value, and from a small vineyard. And this being Hackney, obviously there are craft beers and cocktails, and even a little sake too (sommelier Kelvin McCabe is also a Kikisake-Shi Master of Sake, as it happens). And if you find something you like along that three metre-long wine cabinet wall? You can walk away with a bottle too.

It’s only natural.

NOTE: Hackney Coterie is open for dinner Wed-Sat, plus lunch Fri & Sun.  You can find out more, and make a booking at their website right HERE.

Hackney Coterie | 230 Dalston Lane, E8 1LA

Looking for a nightcap spot? Head Behind This Wall