When I originally saw the name of this new establishment I thought it somewhat downbeat. Not just one negative word, but two. After a very pleasant evening at the preview night, I am pleased to say that the old rule of grammar applies, and two negatives do indeed make a positive.
My first impression on entering was that the premises very much resemble a wine cave, although the cliché touches of barrels for tables, and bare brick, have been avoided. There is also a mezzanine so, if it looks full, still give it a try . This is obviously a place to sit, relax and enjoy quality time. Because of the attentiveness of the staff, it also struck me as somewhere a solitary customer would be made to feel equally at ease as those in a couple or group.
The evening began with a complementary glass of Crémant de Loire, my favourite form of sparkling wine – after Champagne that is. The grape varieties are sometimes the same but they are not grown in the Champagne region. It is made in the same way as its expensive sibling, with secondary fermentation taking place in the bottle in order to give it fizz, rather than in a metal tank like Prosecco, an absence of which I noticed on perusing the full wine list while writing this piece. Extra Brownie points.
The reasons I didn’t have a comprehensive look at the wine list on the night were twofold; first, there are over 50 choices and second, one of the main reasons to visit, is that you don’t need to wade through the carte to find what you want. A whole new world of taste is waiting to be discovered, and not at random thanks to technology.
The intricacies of choosing via the tablet are explained to a discerning customer!
The idea is that you are provided with a tablet computer, on loan, obviously, from which you make a series of choices, beginning with colour. That takes you to through other stages where you select sweet/medium/dry, full bodied/medium/light, etc until you are presented with a selection matching the chosen criteria. It’s a bit like Tinder for wine, in that, when you have input your preferences, you get to choose your match for the night, or possibly beyond if you are compatible. It only works one-way, however, which is a shame as I think it is the only place I would be able to get a date nowadays by saying I was dry, fruity, full bodied and of an older vintage. Swipe left!
I am normally a red man as I usually only drink wine with a meal, and, being a carnivore, that is my go to. Tonight, however, I was with two good friends who are not averse to a glass or two of white, whilst just chilling. I decided to switch allegiances – of wine, rather than friends – and we took a second, more traditional, option and I asked them to chose something they already liked from the menu. We were splashing out on a bottle, or, as it turned out, two, so having three fingers frantically prodding the tablet screen seemed the recipe for disaster. After a short discussion we opted for a German Riesling, but were told that, as the wine bar had not yet fully opened, it had only just been consigned to the chiller and would not be at a suitable temperature for a little while yet.
Our new best friend
This gave us the opportunity to explore a third avenue and ask the lady serving us, Polly Sands, who happened to be a co-owner, what she would suggest as being a suitable alternative. She came up with an Austrian Gruner Veltiner, not something with which any of us was familiar, so we took a leap of faith. It turned out to be a wonderful choice, and, indeed had similar characteristics to our initial pick. I googled it the following day and, indeed, it was recommended as a Riesling alternative.
I have always taken the view that anywhere can look good when everything is going well, it is how they handle problems that sets the better places apart from the duffers. Here we had a great example of the integrity shown by Ms Sands, who could easily have sold us a bottle costing twice the price of the one we wanted, but her recommendation was substantially cheaper than the Riesling.
Green Thai Tofu Dog
The night was further improved by a succession of small plates with samples of the food which will be on offer when the kitchen is in full swing. The actual dishes will be somewhat larger, so the mini-mes gave us a chance to sample a broad selection. It’s a hard life.
Brisket Bao
The kitchen is being run by BaoBros23, who will be serving up a selection of Bao and Snacks. On looking at the menu, the samples we had, differed somewhat from those listed, but I noticed from a press release that some of them will feature on a tasting menu to be introduced in April. Keep your eyes open for that.
Now, back to that name. There are two explanations as to why the bar is called NoNo, the first is that it stands for No Fear, No Judgement, intended to convey the ethos of being somewhere as welcoming to the wine virgin as to the connoisseur. This is put into practice by a great group of enthusiastic – and patient – staff, who are happy to guide visitors through the process of choosing their perfect glass, thus putting an end to just being asked if you want Malbec or Merlot when ordering a glass of red.
The second, weirder tale, is that there is an obscure American sitcom called Community, in which wine is known as Nono Juice. I googled that as well – it has been axed!
If you have swiped right and found the one for you, then you can end the night on a high note by whisking your new love back to your place, courtesy of a bottle shop stocked with a good selection of drinks to take away.
Don’t worry should wine not be your thing, there is a range of spirits, beers, soft drinks and ‘no and low’ alcohol drinks. Shouldn’t that be NoNo and LowLow?
NoNo Wine Bar is the latest venture from Barrique Fine Wines and is situated in Granary Wharf. It is open Monday to Thursday 4pm – 11pm, Friday and Saturday Noon – Midnight and Sunday Noon – 10pm.
For more details please go to https://nonowinebar.com/#offering
Should you become bored with your new BFF, don’t worry, there are plenty more bottles in the tablet.
Tyke It To The Limit 