On Lexington Street, Bodega Rita’s Bottle Shop opens tomorrow and will sell natural, low intervention, and biodynamic wines, a range of deli items, Christmas hampers, pre-mixed cocktails and gifts.
Missy Flynn and Gabriel Pryce joke that they are essentially squatting in their own restaurant: “We were unsure whether to do anything this side of Christmas and had to tread carefully in terms of timing, but it felt like a shame to stay hidden,” says Flynn.
“We’ve brought all our fixtures from Bodega Rita’s Kings Cross out of storage, so Bodega Rita’s will be temporarily ‘popping up’ between now and the official restaurant opening in 2021.
One of the first to the party in terms of trendy East London pop-ups, Rita’s was founded in 2012 above Dalston nightclub Birthdays.
The brand graduated to a larger stand-alone restaurant in 2013. After closing Rita’s in 2016, the pair travelled and researched extensively and took on a number of residencies and projects before opening Bodega Rita’s in December 2018 in Coal Drops Yard.
Earlier this year, the pair closed the tiny site saying that the pandemic had made it impossible for them to trade safely and profitably.
“Hospitality is part of who we are so we are of course so eager to be able to welcome everyone into our new restaurant and for me to start cooking again,” says Pryce.
“For now, we’ll be opening the doors for a few weeks in the lead up to Christmas and it feels great to be able to share some beautiful wines, bubbles, mulled wine and a few deli bits over the festive season.”
Rita’s Soho is expected to open early in early 2021.