A neighbourhood wine bar with soul: Bado is coming to East Village

East Village is getting a new local. Bado, a neighbourhood cafe by day and natural wine bar by night, is set to open in E20, and the person behind it is one of us.

Heather has spent nearly two decades working in corporate and tech, but after a period of burnout she asked herself a fairly simple question: what do I actually love doing? The answer was hospitality. So that is what she is doing.

Bado (pronounced bay-doh) will be an intimate, low-key space, somewhere to drop in for a proper coffee in the morning and come back to for a glass of wine in the evening. No formal dining, no fuss. The vibe Heather is going for is drinks at a good friend's house: warm, a little lived-in, and always welcoming.

The wine list will be natural, and it sounds like she has thought about it seriously. Natural wine means minimal intervention, responsible farming, and none of the additives that go into most bottles on a supermarket shelf. The stories behind these producers are often as interesting as the wine itself. Heather talks about a lawyer-turned-vigneron tending her rows by hand, and an Italian couple celebrating their 60th harvest. That kind of thing.

The name comes from an old nickname, a personal shorthand for resilience and energy, which feels right for someone putting everything into an independent opening.

She has found a space in East Village and is close to signing a lease. A crowdfunding campaign is live to help cover the essentials: legal costs, bar build, and the first wine stock. If you want to be part of getting Bado off the ground, that link is worth a look.