Italian pasta group Lina Stores will open a “hidden” aperitivo bar beneath its historic Soho deli come autumn, serving cocktails, wines and Italian snacks.
Guests will enter Bar Lina through the original door, past shelves stocked with pastas, olives, cured meats and other Italian staples, and descend down a green staircase. No fixed date for opening has been announced, though the Standard understands it will come sometime soon.
Below the pasta kitchen and shop, which dates back to 1944, the space has been “transformed into an intimate, candle-lit aperitivo bar,” press material said, with interiors of monochrome and dark red, in Sixties Italian style.
Drinkers should expect moody lighting, velvet banquettes, and a drinks menu offering twists on classic cocktails.
The Syracuse martini, pictured below, will come with a twist of Sicilian tomato, while basil gimlets, Negronis, and a lengthy spritz list will also feature. The wine list will — no surprises — be centred on Italian producers, with independent, low intervention growers from lesser-known regions a focus.
The food menu will be concise, with cured meats, cheeses, and antipasti alongside small plates such as beef crudo, truffle crostini, and fried gnudi.
Come evening, the upstairs deli — currently only open in the daytime and for lunch — will also take on a new form, operating as a 12-cover wine bar, while produce will continue to be available late into the evening.
Lina Stores head chef Masha Rener said: “Bar Lina is a real reflection of the vibrant bar scene in Italy and Soho, a reminder of that late-night Negroni, or second glass of wine with friends old and new.
“It feels incredibly special to breathe new life into our original delicatessen and to continue the history of Lina Stores within Soho.”
