This is where you'll find the new wine bar on Southwark Road
Isn't there already a Lady of the Grapes wine bar in Covent Garden?
There is. Owner Carole Bryon is the lady in question. A WSET Level 4 Diploma holder, she opened her first London wine bar back in 2018, where the focus has always been to shine a light on female producers of organic and natural wines.
And where's this new one?
As the title suggests, you'll find the new bar in London Bridge. It's about a five-minute walk from London Bridge station, past Borough Market and into Southwark Street. You're looking for the Menier Chocolate Factory Building, which is right beside Flat Iron Square. It's a gorgeous Grade-II listed Victorian building, and the bar takes up two floors on the right-hand corner as you're looking at it.
Where should we meet friends for a drink first?
In this part of town you're not short of drinking holes, from the historic The George pub to the nearby (and excellent) Swift cocktail bar on Borough High Street. But the extremely handy thing about Carole's new place is that it boasts its own speakeasy-style bar downstairs called Forbidden Fruit.
It's an atmospheric, vaulted bar accessed through some steps in their terrace and serves up a tight range of cocktails and wines by the glass, along with an appealing-sounding range of toasties like ham hock, raclette and Dijon as well as cheese and charcuterie plates.
The Forbidden Fruit speakeasy bar downstairs
From the cocktail list we had a Elysian Spirit (£12) with Loxwood honey wine, elderflower liqueur and peach cordial, plus a Manzanilla (£9.50) from Andalucian biodynamic winemaker María José Romero.
What if we're after more of a sit-down meal?
At that point, you head upstairs to the light-filled restaurant with its open kitchen. It's a great space, and we applaud the wine theme, which extends to the wine-bottle light fittings.
Upstairs in the main restaurant.
Running things here is Head chef Matyáš Plzák, who was previously at Frog by Adam Handling, Frenchie and Mãos. His menu here is described as modern French bistro-style and it's a belter, full of dishes that sound enticing even though we were here at the fringes of the heatwave.
Fried courgette flowers with harissa mayo (£12) - beautifully seasoned in a wafer-thin batter.
Gougères filled with an Époisses béchamel (£8) - a cast-iron must-have; these choux were filled with molten, honking cheese, and we'd warn you to have a napkin on hand for any spillage.
Brioche au Pistou with pea salad, poached egg and Parmesan (£18) - this starter is apparently already one of the favourite dishes on the wine bar's lunch menu, and it was big enough for two to share.
Wiltshire lamb rump with sweetbread, aubergine and mint sauce (£39) - if there's a sweetbread on the menu, you know we're going to order it.
Gloucester Pork Chop with boudin noir and roasted apricots (£37) - a beautiful piece of pork, cooked to perfection and we loved that amazing boudin noir it came with.
Room for dessert?
The dessert menu here is so good it's going to repay multiple visits. We only managed one, but we badly need to return to try the Pari-Brest and Matyáš's madeleines.
Flan Parisien with strawberries and elderflower (£11) - apparently the kitchen staff foraged their own elderflowers for this syrup, but we were more fascinated with how the flan managed to retain structural integrity. Heavenly.
Clearly the wine list is going to be worth hitting up?
It is, and to be honest we put ourselves in Carole's hands, letting her pick a glass to go with each course. Standouts included the Dremont-Marroy Champagne “Le Triau" NV (£18/glass) and the Springfontein “Akua’ba” 2017 from Chablis-born but now South African-based winemaker Jeanne Vito (£12.50/glass).
Overall thoughts:
We're very much pro the current wave of excellent new French bistros that are opening their doors in London, and this new Lady of the Grapes really makes a mark on the food front. Matyáš has come up with a gorgeous menu up in the restaurant and on the basis of what we tried, we expect his toasties in the bar below are equally good. And Carole is a great front-woman for both the bar and restaurant, spreading her joy of good wine to everyone.
More about Lady of the Grapes SE1
Where is it? Menier Chocolate Factory, 53 Southwark St, London SE1 1RU
How to book? Book online or call 020 7836 4152
Find out more: Visit their website or follow them on Instagram @lady_of_the_grapes.
Hot Dinners dined as guests of Lady of the Grapes. Prices correct at time of publication.
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