10 William Street

The new bar from the Fratelli Paradiso peeps is rocking Paddington.

You’d think that an extra venue for the brothers Paradiso and business partner Marco Ambrosino would mean better chances of getting a seat, right? Sorry guys – 10 William Street is just as crammed as Fratelli Paradiso, if not more so. The best advice we can give is: go early, go midweek, and claim a seat at the bar.

There’s a huge range of wine on offer, all scrawled on a massive blackboard wall, and with a big emphasis on Italian varietals. No idea what you’re doing or where to start? Talk to Matt Young (ex-Aria) or Dave Meyers (ex-Bentley Bar and recently, the Riverview Hotel) – they’re both deeply ingrained in the ways of the grape and will help you find something you’ll want to drink.

You may have noticed the enormous jar of red wine sitting in the corner. This is a natural wine from the kooky fellas at Natural Selection Theory. Natural wine (YouTube ‘Let’s Drink Some Natural Fucking Wine’ for an amusing Q&A on the subject) is something well worth discovering and this inexpensive blend of mystery grapes is a very good place to start.

But given it’s an Italian-style bar, you might consider the noble Negroni – they’ll make you a cracking one without even blinking. The big strength here are the magical bar snacks – namely the salt beef brisket panino, possibly the most comforting sandwich on a bar menu right now. We dig the melted asiago on toast, too. Or how about some little mozzarella blobs mixed through a bowl of olives?

Just like Fratelli Paradiso, the room’s dark, and, on our visit, part of the floor is uneven. They may have fixed this now, but if they haven’t, watch out for the dip in the floor near the bar. Time Out took quite the tumble (handsome stranger, if you’re reading this, thanks for catching me and not complaining too much when I trod on your foot and clung onto you for dear life).

This is a great bar. But given how busy it is already, the chances of us ever getting in are pretty slim – especially as we’ve just let you lot know about it. Maybe if we press our noses against the window hard enough they’ll take pity and send out a brisket panino.