Welcome to our weekly round-up of all that’s happening in London’s food and drink scene.
Inside this week: hotels, airports and booze.
Southbank sips, Bankside bites
Details have been announced of the food and drink line-up for a new luxury hotel next to Blackfriars bridge. Mondrian London hotel will open this summer close to where the Southbank becomes Bankside, and bring with it new bar Dandelyan and an as yet unnamed restaurant. The bar will be headed up by leading mixologist Ryan Chetiyawardana of White Lyan on Hoxton Street (where no fruit, ice or other perishables are used the cocktails), while well-known New York chef Seamus Mullen will lead the kitchen. Expect modern, molecular cocktails and food that fuses British and American flavours.
Airport eating
Yesterday saw the launch of Heathrow’s shiny new T2 (and you’d hope so for £2.5 billion) and, with it, Heston Blumenthal’s The Perfectionists’ Café. The restaurant will serve quickly prepared dishes based on Blumenthal’s In Search of Perfection TV series, including fish & chips complete with an atomiser spray to recreate the smell of a chippie, wood-fired pizzas and liquid nitrogen ice-cream. Only problem is, you’ll need to book a flight in order to try it out.
Gin galore
This weekend sees gin specialists The Gin Foundry (which brought us the genius Ginvent calendar) host Junipalooza, a two-day event dedicated to our favourite juniper-flavoured spirit. Held at Factory 7 in Shoreditch, it brings together 46 different gins for sampling along with masterclasses, guided tastings and two cocktail bars. Tickets cost £20 and include five free gin samples (that’s 20mls of gin, either neat or with tonic) as well as entry. It runs from midday to 6pm each day. Tickets and details here.
Negroni month
In other gin-related news, a summer season of sensational cocktail ‘festivals’ kicks off at Bunga Bunga this month, with the classic Negroni taking centre stage throughout the whole of June. Between Tuesdays and Thursdays, there will be six Negronis, at £6 a pop starting from — you’ve guessed it — 6pm. Berlusconi not included.
Raise a toast(ie)
Cocktail bar Love’s Company on the Old Street roundabout is undergoing a makeover, creating a new drinking, dining and gallery space. As part of the process, for 10 weeks from 13 June it will embark on an epic mission to determine who makes the best toastie in London, led by Ottolenghi chef Ramael Scully. Ten of London’s top chefs will be invited to take part and serve up their toasties for a week at a time, while there’ll also be a changing line-up of bartenders, DJs and artists. You’ll be able to just pop in for a bite to help decide the toastie with the mostie, and you can keep up to date with the details and line-up on the venue’s twitter feed.
New openings
Yard Sale Pizza has opened on Lower Clapton Road, serving wood-fired pizzas to eat-in, take away or get delivered (coming soon). Toppings include The PSB, with purple sprouting broccoli, pine nuts, garlic and olive oil, and That Tuna One, with fresh raw tuna and an anchovy and caper paste. It’s also been announced that a new Wahaca (number 15!) is due to open on Great Portland Street later this summer, and that Bombay café Dishoom will launch its third venue in King’s Cross, right next to Granary Square, in November. It follows the original in Covent Garden and a second branch in Shoreditch.
Talk to us
We still want your help to keep these weekly food & drink news round-ups as relevant, up-to-date, and interesting as possible. Got any top tips, local gems or foodie news? Tried one of the new restaurants we mentioned? Leave a comment below or hit us up at [email protected]. ‘Til next week…
Written by Ben Norum and Janan Jay.
