Basket Press Wines is your favourite restaurant’s favourite wine importer. Its founders Jiri Majerik and Zainab Majerikova have spent the past decade sourcing natural wines across Central and Eastern Europe, finding under-the-radar, family-run vineyards which use pioneering organic practices. Having built an impressive portfolio of winemakers, the pair supply some of London’s top tables, including Brat, Morchella and Noble Rot. Now, with Basket Press bottles being poured across the city, the time has come for them to open their own wine bar.
Carefully hand-painted above the entrance to their new place is the name Six Seconds. “It’s the time it takes after embracing someone for oxytocin to start flowing and your nervous system to calm down,” Majerikova tells Broadsheet. Hoping to recreate that feeling for guests, she says, “We simply want to take people on a journey of food and drink and give them a memorable evening.”
Sandwiched between shopfronts on Dalston’s bustling Kingsland Road, Six Seconds is a cosy 25-cover space decorated with humble wooden furniture, ceramics by independent potters, beeswax candles and linen curtains covering the windows. A curved bar commands the room, with shelves of wine bottles to one side and a handful of street-side tables out front.
The wine bar functions as a shop during the day and welcomes rotating chef residencies in the evenings. Underpinned by many years in the industry, Majerik and Majerikova have a keen eye for emerging chef talent; the pair previously hosted a regular evening takeover at Quince Bakery, where they collaborated with chefs such as Ling Ling’s Jenny Phung and 107 Wine Bar’s Julie Hetyei. Alongside each guest menu, there is a selection of house snacks, including sobrasada toast with bee pollen and Majeríková’s house-made curry leaf cashews.
With the kitchen constantly evolving, it’s important for “the food and wine to be in conversation with one another,” she says. Aiming to make wine more approachable, they have built the wine list around sections such as Mineral, Complex and Vibrant, rather than grapes or regions. They’ve also introduced palhete/ryšák-style wine, made by co-fermenting red and white grapes. Guests are encouraged to explore, learn and try something new, with wine maps that help tell the stories of the producers. Meanwhile, Majerik has curated a list of classic, beautifully presented cocktails. “We always joke that we can never find anywhere with both good wine and good cocktails,” Majerikova says.
“When people come to the door, you have to treat them like guests in your home,” Majerikova says. Drawing on the bestselling book Unreasonable Hospitality by legendary restaurateur Will Guidara, she sums up their vision for Six Seconds: “Service can be black and white, but it’s hospitality that’s colourful”.
Six Seconds
378 Kingsland Road, E84AA
Hours:
Tue to Thu 4pm–10pm
Fri & Sat 2pm–10.30pm
