Wine Comes First: Honey & Co. Opens Its First Wine Bar on Great Portland Street
Sarit Packer and Itamar Srulovich flip the script — building the menu around the bottle, not the other way around.
For over a decade, Sarit Packer and Itamar Srulovich have built Honey & Co. into one of London’s most beloved names — a restaurant group defined by warm Levantine hospitality, bold flavours, and the kind of cooking that feels like home, even if you’ve never been to the Middle East. Now, the husband-and-wife duo are doing something they have never attempted before: putting the wine list first.
Honey & Co. Great Portland opened its doors on 13th April in the space formerly occupied by Honey & Smoke. But this is not simply a rebrand. It is a reorientation. A 40-cover wine bar, deli, and dining room where the food is written around the wine — a deliberate inversion of the usual playbook, and one that signals a new chapter for the group.
From Deli Counter to Dining Room
By day, the space operates as a deli: sandwiches, salads, and the group’s signature baked goods, with a glass of wine available should the mood strike. By night, it transforms into a dining room where skewers come off the grill, whole fish are salt-baked or grilled over charcoal, and the iconic honey and feta cheesecake is paired with a glass of Samos. The brief is flexibility — a quick lunch, a long evening, or something in between.
Crucially, this site now serves as the beating heart of the wine programme across the entire Honey & Co. group. An expanded list, developed here, will roll out across all sites in the coming months.
The List: Curiosity Rewarded
Working with Keeling Andrew, one of London’s most respected wine importers, the team have assembled a list that reads like a love letter to the Eastern Mediterranean and its diaspora. Bottles arrive from Greece, Italy, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine — and stretch further still into Jura, Georgia, and California.
What to Look For
- Fresh Pét-Nat from the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon
- Amber-hued Rkatsiteli from Georgia
- Crisp Greek whites and ouillé-style discoveries from Jura
- Unexpected finds from regions still under the radar
It is a list built for the curious drinker — the guest who wants to be surprised, not merely reassured. The through-line is authenticity: wines that speak of place, made by hands, not algorithms.
The food follows the wine’s lead — designed for sharing, grazing, and ordering as much or as little as required. The kitchen opens with Kalamata olives, a pickle plate, Moroccan sourdough with olive oil, and baba ganoush with crispy pitta. Small bites arrive individually priced: cheesy mizithra filo cigars with honey drizzle, anchovies on aubergine agrodolce crostini, and chicken liver kamounia crostini — plates that sit naturally alongside a first glass.
Must-haves include tuna crudo with grated tomato and tahini, crispy pork with oregano and candied lemon, lamb arayes (seasoned lamb-filled pitta, charred on the grill, served with yogurt), and fried artichoke with garlic, parsley, and lemon. Skewers are kissed by the flames: chicken liver with parsley, cumin, and garlic gremolata; pork tenderloin with blackened salt and cherry relish; and whole charred prawns with preserved lemon and fermented chilli relish.
Larger plates hold their own: whole fish (grilled or salt-baked), Greek-style lamb chops, and a crispy cauliflower rice with amba, flaked almonds, and pickled chillies. Daily specials keep the menu alive, shifting with whatever is best that week.
Dessert, by the Glass
The wine-first philosophy extends to the end of the meal. The honey and feta cheesecake is poured alongside Samos; the Dubai chocolate mousse comes with Madeira; seasonal fruit is matched with Muscat; and freshly baked cookies are served with a coffee liqueur. It is a rare thing — a dessert course that treats the bottle as an equal partner, not an afterthought.
“When we told our accountant what we were planning with Honey & Smoke, he couldn't understand why we'd walk away from something so successful. But we've never been driven by playing it safe. We want to bring something that excites us, that excites our guests, that reflects who we are right now. Not 10 years ago. Now.”
— Sarit Packer & Itamar Srulovich
That restlessness — that refusal to stand still — is what has always defined Honey & Co. Great Portland is not a departure. It is an evolution. A space where wine is not an accompaniment, but a co-author. And for London drinkers tired of the same predictable lists, it is a very welcome arrival.
Honey & Co. Great Portland
Great Portland Street, London
Open daily — deli by day, dining room by night
Reservations recommended for evening service
