Route 38, can't help but love you. A little further up the road from Healthy Stuff, on Dalston Lane, just before Hackney Downs station, something just popped up out of the blue - Borough Wines's big cousin - L'Entrepôt.
I am a fan of the original wine-stop nestled in Wilton way - I used to go there for their much acclaimed house wine refills straight from the barrel tap - the only problem is that the place is really just a booze stop, no sitting, no food, nothing.Which, for a place with such character, seemed a bit of a shame. No more! They must have noticed that too. With L'Entrepôts round the corner, Borough Wines is now free to be itself and can redirect any out-chillers there.
L'Entrepôt does everything Borough Wines does (wine, wine, wine and tap wine), with the addition of tables and chairs to sit at, nice breakfasts in the morning, coffee, nibbles in the afternoon and some proper food in the evening. With the food, try not to look around too much: the staff eat things you are not allowed to order, things that look delicious and are not in the menu... like pasta, for example. I managed to look miserable enough about this that they gave me a sample dish, and boy it was beautiful. But I was told to keep schtum about it so don't go telling anyone, ok?
Another thing that's really stimulating here, both to work in the day and to appreciate the wine (or both together, even) is what they did with the space.
They talk about it on their blog where there's a 'before' picture, the warehouse is narrow and long and I frankly can't remember ever seeing it there, right next to the supermarket, under the railway bridge. They painted it all white and sprinkled nice, clever touches all over - the wooden floor is made of reclaimed school gyms flooring, the bar top of wine crates, the lights of bottles, the ceiling partition of old stained windows.
In the evening, this place is full of pretty dressed up people, dressed up properly, like grown ups and not like clapton urchins. Is this good? I don't know, but I like it so far. Try it!
