We've been following the progress of this one for quite some time now, but there's finally a date in the diary for Ebi Wines to open its doors. This is going to be one of those extremely interesting wine bars you're going to want to know about. Why? Well, because the founder is Raku Oda a very well-respected sommelier and master of wine who was previously the sommelier at Heston's The Fat Duck in Bray.
For a year or so now, Raku's been having Ebi Wines pop-ups at the Islington hair studio Teto run by his wife Tomoko while he searches for somewhere permanent to open. But now he's finally got the keys to his own place. He's taking over the former Emmanuelle wine bar space on Rosebery Avenue as a wine bar and shop.
Other than the fact that the bar is named after the traditional Japanese word for the colour of grapes, we don't know much about what's being planned. It's a small space and they won't be taking bookings. But what we can tell you is that if you're in the EC1 area, this is going to be worth checking out.
