Wine-focused restaurant Sapling to open this month in Dalston

Opening on Kingsland Road on 15 March, neighbourhood restaurant Sapling is owned by Bob Ritchie.

Dan Whine, who is the restaurant’s sommelier and general manager, takes his experience from stints at Conran Restaurants, D&D-owned Canary Wharf restaurant Plateau, and wine supplier Liberty Wines.

Seasonal menus will be designed by head chef Jon Beeharry, who held roles at Bistroteque and Hackney’s Market Café.

Available by the glass, a list of 36 wines will be mostly organic, biodynamic and sustainable. A larger list of over 100 wines will be available by the bottle.

The menus will feature dishes such as rock oysters with horseradish mignonette; seasonal pickled vegetables; smoked cod’s roe with gougere; pork terrine with white grape and watercress; Dexter beef tartare; Delica pumpkin with castelfranco and hazelnut dressing; and date pudding with pistachio crème anglaise.

A separate ‘larder’ menu will offer cured meats from independent producers, and a selection of cheese from Highbury cheese specialist La Fromagerie.

Interiors, by Ben Masterton-Smith from Transit Studio, will be neutral, featuring copper accents and a pastel colour scheme.

“Sapling has been five years in the making and it’s been an amazing journey. I started with weekly tutored tastings at the Berry Bros’ Pickering Cellar, which then evolved into wine schools in Beaune, multiple wine exams, nearly 2 years of searching for the right site and then leaving my previous career at the end of 2016 to make Sapling happen,” says founder Bob Ritchie.

“The team and I are very much looking forward to sharing the continuation of this journey with everyone in the area.”