Le Regret in Leytonstone exudes a warm buzz and familiarity that’s rare at a newly opened venue in London. There’s a cheery welcome from behind the bar, you’re quickly poured a drink and soon you’re chatting to strangers at the next table. Snacks starring seasonal produce sail out of the kitchen as corks are pulled behind the long timber bar.
The bijou neighbourhood wine bar took over the space that housed bar and store Dina Wines, before it closed in April. Le Regret owners, Katy Severson and Jean-Martin Louw, wanted to fill the wine void that Dina left but were also keen to offer something more for locals. They now serve coffee in the mornings from Wednesday to Sunday, with pastries from Ancient Lights Bakery in Forest Gate.
The wine list leans towards post-natty natural wines, eschewing the funk that often characterised the first popular wave of natural wine. That means bottles from top producers like Romuald Valot, Mai & Kenji Hodgson and Remi Poujol, all from France, and all with £12 corkage to drink in house, as well as plenty of by-the-glass options.
Only a few years ago, Louw was a lawyer with a keen interest in wine. To learn more about what he was drinking, he took time off to travel to Germany and harvest grapes. Experiencing the wine-making process inspired him to open his own venue.
Severson, a US expat from Colorado, runs the kitchen. She spent her early career at the now-closed Spotted Pig, a legendary gastropub in New York City, which instilled in her the value of seasonal cooking. “We shopped at the market every day,” she says, and became a devotee to farm-to-table cooking. Jobs in private cheffing and pop-ups followed before she moved to the UK three and a half years ago to work at farm-restaurant Coombeshead Farm.
In her new kitchen, she works almost exclusively with regenerative grocer Shrub Provisions. Her menu is informed by seasonality and underappreciated cuts of meat. An ox-tongue bun has become a signature, with thick chunks of tongue that have been cured and braised until they develop a spongy consistency and an intense, salt-beef-like flavour. It’s a significant bar snack. Other dishes are low touch and focused on letting produce do the talking: fresh peas on charred sourdough, splashed with extra virgin olive oil; a bun stuffed with lightly battered broccoli.
Lime bike’s radius doesn’t quite reach this far out, creating an artificial moat and distancing it from the saturated East London wine bar scene. Severson and Louw, who are Leytonstone locals themselves, are intent on making Le Regret a community hub. “Last week we had people sat at the end of the bar,” says Louw. “They were mates by the time they left.”
Le Regret
289 High Road Leytonstone, London E11 4HH
Hours:
Wed & Thu 8am–2pm, 5pm–8.30pm
Fri 8am–2pm, 5pm–late
Sat 10am–late
Sun 10am–8pm