Caia: Fiend team head to Golborne Road for new neighbourhood wine and music bar

Good as Golborne: a render showing how the new venue will look

(Picture: Press Handout )

Two of the team behind chef Chris Denney’s acclaimed restaurant Fiend are to open a new venue just off Portobello, promising wine, music and a seasonal menu of dishes done on an open grill.

Rishabh Vir, who trained at Heston Blumenthal’s The Fat Duck and Soho favourite Kiln, is working with long-term business partner Tim Lang, best known for Street Feast and Dinerama, to launch Caia on Golborne Road this March. Rather than a tribute to the Chartered Alternative Investment Analysts, the name is a nod to Caia Caecilia, a Roman Goddess of fire, the hearth, healing and women.

The new venue, previously a Flat Iron, will be a split over two levels. The ground floor, which seats 60, will include a bar, open-theatre kitchen for 10 diners, with a 12-cover wine room at the rear of the room. Details on the food are vague, but Vir and Lang say they will serve — as per most new openings of note — locally-sourced, seasonally-changing dishes. Both meat and vegetables will be done over an open grill, and plates will rely on ferments, vinegars and preserves.

Wine will be overseen by IWSC judge Beth Brickenden, also one of the Fiend team. There will also be cocktails on offer, though details are likewise scant at this stage. Expect the list to stick to the classics; so far, Vir and Lang have only specified a Mi-To — a cocktail from 1860 that’s half Campari and half red vermouth, traditionally Cocchi Di Torino. Both halves are usually doubles or thereabouts.

Fiendish: Tim Lang and Rishabh Vir (Press Handout)

The basement will be home to a high-end record player and soundsystem, with a vinyl selection from Stranger Than Paradise Records founder Noreen McShane; music will span jazz, funk, tropical and disco. Besides the vinyl, Lang will host monthly live acoustic sessions, artist Q&As, guest DJs and listening parties.

Vir said of the opening: “We can’t wait to open the doors and start welcoming guests at Caia. It’s going to be a retreat from the here and now; high energy, fuelled by fire, great wine and killer DJs.”