10 Things You Need to Eat in London This WeekBy Alicia Grimshaw
We’re trying to keep up, really we are. Yet again the capital is awash with new openings, menus, and special dishes. From London’s first Filipino ice cream shop to a new vegan burger joint – here’s 10 things you need to eat in London this week. Ready, set, eat:
What: Calling all people who love discounted grub (which is all of us, right?). New Camden Market restaurant and bar Gabeto will be serving food at a 50% off soft launch price until Wednesday (5th July). The discount is valid in the first-floor restaurant only (ground floor bar is operating normally). Redeem the offer by calling reservations on 020 7424 0692 and book quoting ’soft launch offer’ when arranging your tables.
Why: Head Chef Lee Andrews, formerly of Chiltern Firehouse, has created a modern brasserie menu that mixes carefully sourced British ingredients with a hint of Latin flavours. On the laid-back ground floor, the day will begin at breakfast or brunch. And let’s not forget about their dedicated Bloody Mary menu.
Where: Camden Market, entry via Stables Gate, Chalk Farm Rd, Camden London NW1 8AH
2. For a New Wine Bar: Humble Grape
What: Humble Grape Islington is a neighbourhood wine bar and wine shop opening on Thursday (6th July). Following the success of Humble Grape, Battersea (2015) and Fleet Street (2016), this will mark the latest opening from founder, James Dawson. Now with a collection of over 400 wines directly imported, James and his team are dedicated to providing quality wines, that are single vineyard, largely organic, biodynamic and sustainably sourced.
Why: Humble Grape sources handcrafted wines direct from small, family-owned vineyards. Each wine has not only been selected due to quality and taste, but the story behind it. Executive Head Chef Kishen Raheja will continue the brand ethos and champion independent suppliers, to serve seasonal dishes using selected, quality ingredients. The menu will feature dishes such as diver caught scallops with Laverstock farm black pudding and crispy leeks; confit Orchard Farm pork belly with celeriac and apple remoulade; and burrata, served with purple sprouting broccoli, pumpkin seeds and basil oil.
Where: 11 Theberton Street, Islington, London N1 0QY
What: PizzaStorm based in Wandsworth Southside Centre, is an exciting concept and offers fast, fresh and most important custom made stone-baked pizzas in super quick time using a 900 degree oven. And the restaurant have just added salad into the mix. Leafy and delicious.
Why: The salads work the same as the pizza options – it’s all about build-your-own. Choose from mixed leaf, rocket, romaine or iceberg lettuce as the base and then as many toppings as your heart desires. Toppings include a selection of cheeses from mozzarella, gorgonzola and ricotta through to vegetables of slow roasted tomatoes, olives, artichokes and a wealth of meat including piri piri chicken, ham, tuna and BBQ pulled pork. And there’s a range of dressings for the final salad hurrah.
Where: 4 Garratt Ln, London SW18
4. For a New Takeaway Service: Duck & Waffle Local
What: Duck & Waffle Local (the new chef curated, duck-focused fast casual restaurant in Piccadilly) have just launched their takeaway service. If you’re in the mood for something other than your classic Sainos meal deal, the new takeaway menu is not only affordable, it’s a damn tasty delight too.
Why: There’s a lot of duck on the menu. And we mean a lot. Dishes include fried duck gizzards with English mustard; duck merguez flatbread topped with fried duck egg, harissa, yoghurt, pickles, coriander and mint; grilled duck breast satay served with spiced quinoa and lime; and the duck burger featuring crispy duck leg, crushed noodles, miso mayonnaise and spiced slaw. Not into duck? There’s plenty of meat-less dishes like the baked and pickled beets with harissa, bulgar wheat, yoghurt and seeds; baby spinach with quinoa, pickled strawberries and raw peas; and puy lentils with spinach, miso yoghurt and toasted buckwheat.
Where: 52 Haymarket, St. James’s, London SW1Y 4RP
5. For New Build-Your-Own Dishes: Chipotle
What: Chipotle has launched an online dietary options page that shows which ingredients are right for individual needs, so that everyone can build a specifically customised meal. Great if you’re vegan, gluten-free or looking to pump up the protein.
Why: The typical Chipotle service format allows more than 60,000 possible ingredient combinations, so the new online tool will help you find the right combination for your personal dietary needs, focusing on six diets: gluten-free, high protein, vegetarian, vegan, paleo and dairy-free. The tool highlights which ingredient combinations are best and which to avoid. There are even suggested meal options, in case you can’t quite make your mind up.
Where: Order online
What: Vegan food joint VBurger have just opened their flagship vegan burger bar in Camden Market. The bar offers hungry punters the finest vegan fare around – expect a simple but playful menu of fast, fun and moreish plant-based burgers.
Why: VBurger’s menu is concise, and features three vegan burgers – beetroot, falafel and seitan schnitzel. All burgers can be pimped up with vegan cheese, avocado and other plant based goods. Sides include skin-on fries, sweet potato wedges and coleslaw salad. Your sweet tooth can be tamed with delectable chocolate brownies, and date and cocoa energy balls.
Where: Camden Market, London NW1 8AF
7. For New Dishes and Drinks: NOPI
What: Ottolenghi and NOPI are known for their innovative use of vegetables – and the restaurant’s two new summery dishes bring veggies to the fore. On top of all the veg loving, the team have just launched their new summer wine list.
Why: The grilled Romano peppers with ricotta, tomatillo salsa and pineapple is essentially summer on a plate. And the new koji rainbow trout, labneh, yuzu kosho, watercress, macadamia is made with Yuzu kosho, a Japanese fermented paste made from chili peppers, yuzu peel and salt. The new drinks menu includes some lovely chilled reds, such as the Puszta,Claus Presisinger, Burgenland, Austria, 2015 and rose wine such as the brilliantly named ‘All-In’(Farnea, Colli Euganei, Veneto, Italy, 2016) which includes a whopping nine grape varieties and comes in a litre bottle. It’s effusive of Meditarrean summers and over-ripe figs. (Gorgeous, basically.)
Where: 21-22 Warwick St, Soho, London W1B 5NE
8. For New Flavours: Four Winters
What: The team of liquid nitrogen ice cream aficionados at Four Winters have created a new menu bursting with colourful summer serves. The menu features unique interpretations of British dessert favourites as well as a cracking vegan coconut sorbet and a red bell pepper variant for the more adventurous ice cream connoisseurs.
Why: The new menu includes Birthday Cake – vanilla ice cream is paired with sponge cake, a choice of strawberry or chocolate sauce and sprinkles for a fun colourful flare. To top off the celebration there’s even a birthday candle for you to make a wish. Following on the dessert theme, there’s the Key Lime Pie. Bold and tart limes are paired with sweet cream to create the perfect tangy treat. Spiced lotus cookies are mixed in for added sweetness and crunch, and the ice cream is topped off with a dollop of whipped cream and an extra sprinkle of lotus cookies.
Where: Locations here
9. For a New Monthly Box: Abel & Cole
What: It’s summer, and everyone is need of some recipe inspiration. The Abel & Cole team have put together a limited edition monthly selection Buyer’s Choice Box with a different theme each month. For July: a taste of the sea. All ingredients included in the box are certified organic – free from preservatives, chemicals, working with producers that practice ethical farming methods.
Why: July’s box is a taste of the British seaside and contains the following: blueberries, English raspberries, an English summer berry punnet, and raspberry and frangipane tarts. The savoury selection is cracking – think mackerel fillets, dressed crab, and wild sea purslane. There a bottle of Albury Esate Blanc de Blancs to wash it all down with.
10. For a New North London Spot: Dirty Ice Cream
What: Camden has become home to yet another new opening: Mamason Dirty Ice Cream. Dirty ice cream is an endearing nickname used to describe ice cream sold on the Filipino streets by family run street vendors. They produce affordable and natural ice cream by using an age-old churning method of ice and salt, a steel pot and a whole lot of elbow grease.
Why: Signture flavours include Ube (a Filipino local purple yam). Its natural vibrant colour and unique earthy taste combined with a rich and creamy underlying sweetness is something Filipinos cannot get enough of. And the Mamason bun is sure to be a summer hit – a Filipino baked pandesal (a traditional milk bun) is filled with cool ice cream then sealed and toasted. With every bite you’ll get an explosion of hot, cold, sweet and creamy blended flavours.
Where: 91 Kentish Town Rd, London NW1 8NY