sova, a wine and vinyl bar, opens in Notting Hill

There’s a new opening in Notting Hill this week — sova, a wine and vinyl bar just off Portobello Road.

Photo Credit: Rebecca Hope

Inside, the space is compact and softly lit, with bottles lining the walls and records playing through the evening. There’s a mix of counter seating and small tables, along with a terrace out front that should come into its own as the weather turns.

Photo Credit: Rebecca Hope

The wine list centres on Central and Eastern Europe, moving from Georgia and Ukraine through to Armenia and the Balkans. It opens with sparkling wines — including pét-nats and a Ukrainian Brut — before shifting into skin-contact bottles and more textural whites. Georgian wines feature prominently, alongside Slovenian Malvasia and Hungarian Riesling, while the reds lean towards fresher styles, some served lightly chilled.

In the kitchen, Moldovan chef Denis Calmis has put together a concise menu of dishes with subtle Slavic influence. Beef tartare on Borodinsky bread, roasted peppers with dill, and duck with plum sit comfortably alongside the wines — dishes that work as well for a quick bite at the bar as they do over a longer evening.

Photo Credit: Rebecca Hope

Music runs through it all. Vinyl sets and guest DJs shape the atmosphere as the night takes hold.

The name sova, meaning owl in several Slavic languages, reflects that sense of ease — somewhere to sit, stay a while, and explore at your own pace.

From the team behind ZIMA, the bar takes over their former Notting Hill site. It’s early days, but it already feels like the kind of place you’d come back to.

sova
9 Blenheim Crescent, London W11
www.sova.london