Around the corner from two-Michelin-star restaurant Florilège is a small but edgy wine shop with an impressive variety of vino. The term ‘avant-garde’ comes to mind when one steps into the industrial interior, where bottles of natural wine are stacked in brightly coloured wire mesh racks that juxtapose the otherwise bare concrete walls.
Just as farm-to-table restaurants want diners to know where their produce comes from, No. 501 wants its patrons to get acquainted with the people who produce the wines stocked here. As a result, every bottle in the shop has a special story, whether it’s the fruity Pastafarian from the Unico Zelo microbrewery in Australia, or the creamy Chard à Canon chardonnay by the French artisanal winemaker Nicolas Arnou.
At the back of the shop, you can sit at the bar where, alongside glasses of wine, you can order from a weekly food menu of seasonal dishes created to pair with the bottles from the cellar.