Take a wine flight to Eastern Europe

Going Out | Pubs, Bars and Nightlife
Find Sova — Slavic for owl — in Notting Hill , opposite the majestic Books for Cooks, round the corner from the ever-stirring Portobello Road.

There’s a parliament sitting on the shelves before the bar, among the vinyl (I spy a Cliff Richard record, curiously), fetească and pickled berries.

The room is painted a garden green and there are DJ decks positioned at the window end; light beams onto stunning marble.

A bartender from East Dulwich, jolly despite an unenviable commute, suggests wines from Ukraine , Croatia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Serbia, Romania, Armenia and so on.

Georgia too, the wine -making nation “of the moment”.

Or “of the mome”, as some appear to be saying these days.

I love an abbrev.

We drink Kolonist, a sparkling number from Ukraine.

The winery is found in the Danube Bessarabia, a coastal region with a Mediterranean climate and perched above the Black Sea.

It was once under the control of Ancient Greece, later the Ongle during the time of Great Bulgaria, then it was Ottoman.

Today it is Ukraine.

It must remain so.

Drink Kolonist, then, owlishly, and then have raw tuna with fennel and capers.

More to drink: a farmy Slovakian pet nat before Slovenian dika graševina, which is a fresh and appley white wine with notes of lemon and spring flowers; then a sprightly rkatsiteli, made in qvevri (clay pots) in Georgia, which incidentally I visited last month.

You should go to Sova for the Romanian wine facing extinction if nothing else.

Have it with the roast chicken, an elegant fowl.

For now, this bar is new, polished and a little contrived.

Wings need to flap here; feathers have yet to ruffle.

Tidy plumage is fine but birds need to sing.

This will come.

The opportunity to tour Eastern Europe ought not go overlooked.

Arrive with plenty of money — these lesser-known wines don’t come cheap — and look up to the stars above.

9 Blenheim Crescnt, W11 2EE, sova.london
396 York Way, N7, halfcut.world
Aidan Richardson is the best chef you haven’t heard of.

Become acquainted, because his cooking at Half Cut Market is brilliant.

If his pollock with spring veg and salted broth isn’t enough of a draw then the Camden restaurant is selling £5 glasses of rosé, at any time during April, whenever the temperature hits 16C or above.

Make a note and head in for Reserve de Gassac before roasted short-rib with jerk sauce.

And the best paris-brest in the world.

10 Argyle St, WC1H, @paperboyparis
One of the coolest locales in Paris, PaperBoy, a sandwich shop inspired by “the spirit of the 1990s”, is adored for its fish buns, fried chicken rolls and tuna tataki baps.

Breakfasts are beguiling too: the eggs Benedict is something to behold, as is the omelette bun.

The Parisian beacon is popping up in London in May, taking up residence at the Standard hotel in King’s Cross.

Anyone who enjoys posting stories on Instagram must visit, because this will be what we call “a moment”.

Strap in.