Oranj
14 Bacon Street
London
UK
E1 6LF
Oranj is a warehouse wine bar in Shoreditch serving up guest chef residences and a menu of natural wine with low intervention, biodynamic and organic practices.
What’s the draw?
Despite having all the hallmarks of a Berlin club, Oranj is actually a wine bar specialising in the natural stuff, with a constant rotation of chef residencies to accompany its drops. It’s located in a warehouse with an industrial aesthetic that is on-brand for its Shoreditch location, complete with a corrugated metal roof, polished concrete floor and unmarked black garage door. Originally launched in lockdown as a wine delivery service, Oranj became so popular online that its founder Jasper Delamothe decided to turn it into a permanent venture – a pub for wine drinkers stocking the bottles sold on his website. The casual pub ethos certainly prevails, with its laid back, convivial atmosphere, NTS playlist thumping from the speakers and artwork on the walls by Babak Ganjei, which says things like ‘starter: fondue, main: sex on the carpet’. Perhaps a better spot to take a first date than your mum, but who’s judging?
What to eat?
In a world where most wine bars must diversify to survive, Oranj has truly cracked the formula with its constant rotation of guest chef residencies, which make a visit as much about the food as the wine. The current residency is one of Mexico City's best taquerias – Cariñito Tacos, serving up a short but saliva-inducing menu of tacos and small bites. One of Cariñito USPs (apart from the homemade tortillas) is its fusion of Mexican ingredients with flavours of South-East Asia to create a menu of never seen before tacos like sticky tamarind aubergine with Thai basil and fried shallots, cauliflower with pibil adobo, bean puree and xnipec and the must-order red curry butter cod tacos with aioli.
What to drink?
As Oranj’s philosophy is grounded in a desire to produce and drink natural wine with low intervention, biodynamic and organic practices, expect to get stuck into the natty stuff. With an extensive bottle list for the pros and a shorter by-the-glass list for those just getting started, you need not feel intimated about choosing your wine at Oranj. Even better, the staff are deeply knowledgeable and non-judgemental in helping you choose, so you won’t feel foolish for not knowing your Piquette from your pét-nat. The word on the street is that natural wines inflict less severe hangovers, and anecdotally after several glasses of the sensational 2021 vintage of Moz by Costadila (a natural prosecco), we can confirm the rumours are true.
