[title]
Calling all audiophiles! Listening bars have been slowly popping up around the capital in the last few years with venues like Jumbi in Peckham – which celebrates the sounds of the Afro-Caribbean diaspora – and Spiritland in King’s Cross. And now there's another one – with a twist.
The Olfa Club in Walthamstow’s St James’s Street neighbourhood is a Japanese-inspired listening bar that boasts a tightly curated wine list and a high-spec music system, as well as a curious focus on mineral water.
The bar serves wine exclusively by the glass from an ever changing list, with over 40 options available from big reds and vintage champagnes to fizzy oranges. Prices start from a fiver and go up to £100.
As you sip your vino, you’ll be serenaded by a hi-fi system with top-end studio monitors. Olfa supplies a wide range of in house vinyls for guests to choose from across jazz, hip-hop and electronic music. But if that doesn’t tickle your fancy, you can bring your own record for a needle drop.
Olfa comes from the couple behind much-loved café Long & Short, which is just down the road in CRATE. The listening bar carries over those coffee credentials, with more than 30 coffee blends and a specialist ‘vault’ freezer, where rare coffee beans such as Panama Geisha, Sidra and Eugenioides are stored at –24C to preserve peak flavour.
Then there’s the water. Each customer is given a complimentary carafe of pure water and a pipette of mineral concentrate to sample drops of agua from around the world. One mineral drop apparently resembles the ground water of a volcano in Italy.
Olfa’s food menu is currently centred around snacks, but there are bigger plans afoot. A rotating resident chef programme is in the works, with Eastern Platters, a home-style Supper Club based in London, taking over the kitchen to serve Malaysian-inspired dishes.
Inside, expect ’70s tables and chairs, warm lighting and exposed brick walls – classic east London listening bar type stuff. And, in keeping with its under-the-radar vibe, there’s no official website. Instead, the bar operates via a WhatsApp community, where it shares details of upcoming events. You can find out more on the official Instagram page, too.
Olfa Club, 46 St James St, E17 7PE.
Check out Time Out’s list of the best eats in Walthamstow.
Get the latest and greatest from the Big Smoke – from news and reviews to events and trends. Just follow our Time Out London WhatsApp channel.
Stay in the loop: sign up to our free Time Out London newsletter for the best of the city, straight to your inbox.