BottlO

For someone who is barely old enough to drink in his own bar, Stanne Deca sure is a dab hand! The not-yet-twenty-year-old didn’t think twice when the former owner of BottlO (where he worked as a student) asked him if he wanted to take over the reins. These days, you’ll find the same old terrazzo tile floors and cob walls, as well as the same old bistro chairs and candles, but now the stainless-steel shelves are filled with flavor-packed bottles that explode like dynamite! The night we went, among the scores of naturopathic labels, we opted for a Jura crémant from the Domaine Pignier (€9.50 a glass), and Foresta, a Campanian skin-contact wine by Antonio Gismondi (€7.20). Beers lovers aren’t left high and dry either, given the rotating selection of IPA beers, stouts and weisse-style wheat beers (Dok, Garage Beer Company, €3.80 to €8.70 for 330 ml), and more adventurous drinkers may be tempted by a Gotsa chacha, a Georgian pomace brandy (€8.50 a shot). Soak it all up with Nocellara del Belice olives, salted almonds, cheeses, canned fish and various shared plates, like a broad bean, asparagus and zucchini salad topped with a jammy egg (€14), or nusskäse and caramelized onions sandwiched between chunks of sourdough bread from Bakkersdochter (€11). BottlO is already reaching greater heights! // Lina Megalinia