After fourteen years of feeding London some of its most beloved Middle Eastern dishes, Sarit Packer and Itamar Srulovich are shaking things up. The duo behind Honey & Co. have never been ones to stand still, and their latest opening, Honey & Co. Great Portland, proves they still know exactly how to keep things interesting.
Opening on 13 April in the former Honey & Smoke site, this new chapter is not simply a relaunch but a complete rethink. Honey & Co. Great Portland is part wine bar, part deli, part intimate dining room, and for the first time in the group’s history, the wine came before the food. Instead of building a wine list to match the menu, Sarit and Itamar flipped the script, creating a space where the bottles lead and the dishes are designed to follow their lead.
By day, the Great Portland Street space hums as a deli, inviting passers-by in for lunch or something to take away. By night, it transforms into the kind of neighbourhood wine bar London does best, warm lighting, candlelit tables, burgundy walls and just enough buzz to make staying for one glass feel wildly optimistic. It is the sort of place where someone might pop in for a quick pre-theatre drink and accidentally still be there three hours later, happily working their way through a wine list they had no intention of exploring quite so thoroughly.
That wine list is the beating heart of the whole operation. Working with Keeling Andrew, one of London’s most respected importers, the Honey & Co. team have assembled a collection that is adventurous without being intimidating. There are bottles from Greece, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine and Italy, alongside unexpected finds from Georgia, Jura and California. A fresh pét-nat from Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley might sit alongside an amber Rkatsiteli from Georgia or a crisp Greek white that somehow becomes everyone’s new favourite by the second sip. This is a list designed for curious drinkers, the kind who like to order something they cannot pronounce and discover they love it.
Naturally, the food is far from an afterthought. The menu is built for grazing, sharing and stretching out the evening. It starts with irresistible nibbles like Kalamata olives, pickle plates and baba ganoush with crispy pitta, before moving into small plates that seem tailor-made for lingering over wine. There are mizithra filo cigars drizzled with honey, anchovies layered over aubergine agrodolce crostini, and chicken liver kamounia crostini that demand another pour.
Among the dishes already tipped as must-orders are tuna crudo with grated tomato and tahini, crispy pork with oregano and candied lemon, and lamb arayes, charred pitta stuffed with seasoned lamb and served with cooling yoghurt on the side. Skewers come hot from the grill, from pork tenderloin with cherry relish to charred prawns brightened with preserved lemon and fermented chilli. Larger plates keep things generous, with whole grilled fish, Greek-style lamb chops and crispy cauliflower rice scattered with amba, almonds and pickled chillies.
Dessert, in true Honey & Co. fashion, is every bit as considered as the courses before it. Their much-loved honey and feta cheesecake finds its perfect partner in a glass of Samos, while Dubai chocolate mousse is paired with Madeira for a finish that feels indulgent in all the right ways.
What makes Honey & Co. Great Portland especially exciting is that it feels like a restaurant group evolving in real time. Rather than clinging to what already works, Sarit and Itamar have chosen to create something that reflects exactly where they are now: confident, curious and ready to surprise people again. London may already know Honey & Co., but this latest opening gives the city an entirely new reason to fall for them all over again.
