OMBRA

Ombra is a take on a Venetian bacaro - we're a Hackney canalside joint you can visit regularly for a drink and a bite without spending a fortune.

OMBRA Bar & Restaurant

Ombra - Venetian slang for a glass of wine - actually means shade.

It dates from the days when the merchants in Piazza St Marco sold their wine by the glass and would follow the shadow of the campanile to keep their wares cool.

http://ombrabar.restaurant

Ombra, E2 - review | London Evening Standard

ES Food Newsletter Ombra, a Venetian bacaro run by Italian architect-turned-chef Andrea Michelon, opened shortly after the Mare Street riots in a former art gallery next to the Regent's Canal.

It's a long way from the Rialto, but this watery part of Hackney is home to an increasing number of arty types - and Ombra has already become a popular lunch destination.

In the evenings, with its glass front revealing a lively young crowd, brightly topped tables and antique decanters, it serves as its own advertisement.

At the wooden bar an authentic Venetian genially introduced a group of bearded east Londoners to the spritz - a mouthpuckeringly bitter cocktail, popular on the Veneto.

The bacaro is a sort of Venetian take on the gastropub - a wine bar where the cichetti (posh bar snacks) got out of hand.

Bert's Barges, Hackney, east London: hotel review | Travel | The ...

A stylishly decorated barge on the Regent’s Canal, close to Hackney’s contemporary art galleries and nightlife, makes a refreshingly different, if pricey, option for a stay in London The coot’s nest was very east London.

The brainchild of Lee Thornley, owner of Bert & May, a bespoke tile company based on Vyner Street, the “hotel” is essentially a one-bedroom houseboat – though Lee (Bert is his nickname) has plans to add six more barges here, and more later in London’s Little Venice, as well as York and Bristol, some with two bedrooms.

“I wanted to create London’s first barge hotel,” said Lee.

You could stay in and cook – perhaps invite friends for dinner or even order takeaways – but the area is awash with great places to eat and drink, so we wandered up Vyner Street, past shuttered galleries and neon signs saying things like “Trapped in Freedom”, in search of food.

But for anyone who can swallow the price tag and fancies a spot of pseudo-bohemian boat life, Bert’s Barges is a fun and refreshing alternative to your average London hotel stay.

Ombra | Restaurants in Bethnal Green, London

Housed in a former art gallery (which before that was commercial premises) on the corner of Mare Street and Vyner Street, Ombra aims to bring the easygoing atmosphere and casual food/drink mix of a Venetian bacaro to Bethnal Green.

Gallery-goers from Vyner Street will no doubt find it a useful place to socialise after a private view, but we can't recommend it on the strength of its food alone.