Shop Cuvée
Take a bottle off the shop shelf on the ground floor and carry it down to a table in Cave Cuvée underneath.1
Why go
The building does two jobs. Hot Dinners on the split: the main ground floor being a natural wine shop like the one in Highbury, but things change when you head downstairs. There, you'll find Cave Cuvée, a Paris-inspired underground wine bar. You'll be able to grab a bottle from the shelves in the shop and head downstairs with it.
1
The people behind it came out of Three Sheets in Dalston by way of Top Cuvée in Highbury, and Three Sheets still supplies the cocktails, so the list downstairs is not only wine.21
Food is small plates: dry aged beef tartare, a terrine du jour, locally sourced cured meats and cheeses.2
Order this / avoid
- Order: a bottle from the shop, then take it down. That is the whole point of the layout.1
- Order: the tartare and a terrine to go with it.2
- Avoid: searching for Top Cuvée and ending up in Highbury. That is a separate restaurant on Blackstock Road.
What locals & experts say
- The Nudge, on the basement:
It's set inside a good old fashioned basement space on Bethnal Green Road, and it's serving an extremely grown up selection of natural wines.
2 - The Nudge, on the people: the team came from Top Cuvée in Highbury, which came from Three Sheets in Dalston,
which, all told, means that this place has some of the finest booze talent in the city behind it.
2 - Nobody has written about the current wine list. Both sources here are from 2021.
Good to know
- Where: 250A Bethnal Green Road E2 0AA. Bethnal Green and Shoreditch High Street are both walkable.
- The names: Shop Cuvée is the ground floor, Cave Cuvée the basement. Jeff's pin still says Top Cuvée Shoreditch.
- Not the same place: Top Cuvée is at 177b Blackstock Road in Highbury.
- Layout: bottleshop as you walk in, pared-back basement with wooden tables and stools, a small bar at one end and an alcove at the back.2
Verdict
should-visit — Buy the bottle upstairs, drink it downstairs. The ground floor is a natural wine shop on the Highbury model and the basement is Cave Cuvée, which The Nudge describes as a good old fashioned basement serving an extremely grown up selection of natural wines, with a tiny bar at one end and an alcove at the back. Carrying a shop bottle to a table is the part that matters, because it puts the whole shelf inside reach instead of a bar list. The team came out of Three Sheets in Dalston and Three Sheets still does the cocktails, so the non-wine side is not an afterthought. Eating is small plates, dry aged beef tartare, a terrine du jour, cured meats and cheeses. It holds a rung below the top because the newest thing anybody has published about the buying is from 2021.