Oranj
Jasper Delamothe started Oranj as a lockdown wine delivery list, and it now pours off a nine-metre bar wrapped in antique zinc.
Why go
The wine is the constant and the kitchen is not. Delamothe buys low-intervention, biodynamic and organic bottles, described by The Nudge as floral pet nats and juicy chilled reds,
and the food comes from guest chef residencies that turn over every few weeks (The Nudge). Past residents include Yuto Fujimoto, who cooked at Kadeau in Copenhagen and Ernst in Berlin, and Ha's Dac Biet, a Vietnamese pop-up out of New York. A permanent head chef now works alongside them: Elies Salva, Mallorcan, previously at Barrafina, Westerns Laundry, Sessions Arts Club and Black Axe Mangal, which reads as a menu built around fire, offal and vegetables rather than a bistro repertoire. The bar opened in 2022 on Bacon Street and moved on 16 July 2025 to Dray Walk at the Truman Brewery, five minutes away, picking up a terrace, two private rooms and beer on tap (Hot Dinners).
Order this / avoid
- Order: a pet nat by the glass and whatever the residency is cooking. A 2025 review of the Dray Walk site picked the Funambul Brut Nature from Enter Vinyes, and praised
big hunks of bread served with burnt apple butter
plus charred leeks.4 - Avoid: turning up for a dish someone told you about. The menu changes with the chef, and the same review found the gnocchi "sadly a bit overdone" even while calling the sauce mega.
What locals & experts say
- Time Out (Leonie Cooper, 4 April 2023, five stars):
a Shoreditch warehouse wine bar
withseriously good kitchen residencies,
in a room that feelsas if someone has turned their garage into a makeshift party venue.
Written about the old Bacon Street site.1 - London the Inside (2025, on the new site):
There are surprisingly few natural wine bars down Shoreditch way, so the new Oranj location is welcome news indeed,
with the grilled trout calledspot on.
4 - The Infatuation (on the original room):
the feel of a gallery opening, guest list-only, NTS-soundtracked supper club.
That site is now marked permanently closed.5 - Local rec: a local put this on Jeff's list as a new wine bar. REAL.
Good to know
- Address changed: the bar is at 15 Dray Walk E1 6QR, not the old 14 Bacon Street pin. Check your map before you walk.
- Timing: afternoons into the late evening. The Nudge lists Tuesday to Saturday; Hot Dinners reported a Sunday lunch launching at the new site. Exact hours are not published on any source that could be read, so call ahead.
- Booking: recommended, by email to bookings@oranj.co.uk. Two private rooms for a group, and a terrace if the weather holds.
- Dietary: no allergen, gluten-free, celiac or vegan statement is published, and the residency model means the menu changes hands often, so ask on the day.
- Location: Dray Walk runs off Brick Lane through the Truman Brewery, next to Rough Trade East.
Craft signals (a chef-residency programme over a built list)
Two signals. The kitchen runs on rotating chef residencies, which is a programme rather than a run of one-off guest slots, and Time Out's five stars in 2023 went to the wine and the residencies together rather than to one of them. The second is the list itself: Delamothe built it before he built the bar, starting as a lockdown delivery operation in 2020, so the low-intervention buying predates the room. The residency model is also the honest warning, since the food is a moving target by design.
Jeff's take (his words)
- Note: "Local rec, new wine bar" REAL.
- Rec via: a local on his list. REAL.
Verdict
should-visit — Go out of your way if you drink natural wine. Delamothe built the list before he built the bar, starting as a lockdown delivery service in 2020 and opening the room in 2022, and Time Out gave it five stars in 2023 for the wine and the kitchen residencies together. The rotating-chef model means the food is a moving target, proven by a 2025 review that loved the trout and called the gnocchi overdone. The nine-metre zinc bar, the terrace and the low-intervention list are the durable part; the menu is not.