Sager + Wilde
Sager + Wilde review: the original Hackney Road wine bar is still the best place in East London to drink a serious glass on a weeknight. Walk-in friendly too.
Sager + Wilde, by the railway arches on Hackney Road, is what every other “wine bar” in London has tried to be since.
The room
Dim, narrow, a single long bar with back-lit shelves, a handful of tall tables along the wall. In summer the front doors fold open onto the pavement.
What to order
The list runs to around four hundred bottles, with a revolving glass-pour selection of about twenty. The food is small-plate-led and good.
The drinks list
The reason you came. The sommelier is happy to suggest and is not remotely precious.
What you will pay
Two glasses each and a plate to share: around £45 a head. Three glasses, two plates: £65.
The verdict
If you live in East London, this is a neighbourhood habit.
Nathaniel Ashford
Senior contributing editor
Nathaniel Ashford writes about bars, cocktails, pubs and the London neighbourhoods that hold them together. A former drinks-trade journalist, he now contributes a weekly cocktail column for Vivi and leads the Vivi Neighbourhoods series.
He knows more about vermouth than is strictly respectable. Based in Fitzrovia; generally found two doors down from wherever he is supposed to be.
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