London Food And Drink News: 31 July 2014

Ben O' Norum
By Ben O' Norum Last edited 116 months ago
London Food And Drink News: 31 July 2014

A cocktail from the Shrub & Shutter team

Welcome to our weekly round-up of all that’s happening in London’s food and drink scene.

Inside this week: trains, movies and cocktail bars.

Brixton bar boom

Brixton’s food and drink scene continues to soar, with the opening of a new cocktail bar and another to follow. 384 launched quietly around a week ago on Coldharbour Lane, coming from the good people behind popular Brixton Market spot Seven. It serves sliders, ribs and bone marrow on toast among other dishes, alongside classic and creative cocktails.

At the end of August, Shrub & Shutter will open further down on the same road. It’s brought about by cocktail consultants Salts of the Earth who have previously worked with several booze brands as well as bar group Drake & Morgan. Snacks are promised alongside some fairly unique-sounding cocktails: a Pea Mary featuring bacon and mint is shown on its Twitter feed. The bar’s licence runs until 2.30am on Thursdays and 4am at weekends and also covers live music, so we’re expecting it to become a popular a late night haunt.

Talk of gentrification is inevitable, and Brixton Buzz does a good job of covering that here. With Spanish deli-come-bar Brindisa also recently launched moments away on Atlantic Road, the area is fast becoming a bit of a bar hub.

Marco movie

Ridley Scott will direct a biopic about the life of Marco Pierre White, it has been announced. It will be based on the chef’s autobiography The Devil in the Kitchen and set mainly in 1980s London. White, who is known for his rock star lifestyle and aggressive demeanor, trained Gordon Ramsay and is considered by many to be the first celebrity chef. He is still the youngest chef ever to have been awarded three Michelin stars. More recently he has been best known for appearances on TV shows such as Hell’s Kitchen and Kitchen Wars, though he still runs several restaurants around London and the world.

Fort-ifying St Pancras

Food writer Matthew Fort has been appointed ‘food curator’ for St. Pancras International station. He was previously food & drink editor for The Guardian and a judge on the BBC’s Great British Menu, and while we’re not sure exactly what his new role entails it spells good things for the transport hub’s food offering. As far as we can tell, it’s the first time a station has even had such a position.

New openings

This week saw Mark Hix launch a second branch of Hixter, his restaurant where diners are given the choice of chicken or steak. Set on Great Guildford Street in Southwark, it’s the prolific restaurateur and celebrity chef’s first opening south of the river. Italian burger chain Ham Holy Burger has launched in John Lewis on Oxford Street. And tomorrow sees the launch of Tim Anderson’s long-awaited month-long Nanban residency in Brixton’s Market House pub. The izakaya menu features ramen, udon and even some ackee and saltfish in honour of its location, plus there's an opening 50% off all weekend.

Coming soon

A second branch of Fulham gastropub The Butchers Hook will open in Hammersmith in August, ping-pong bar Bounce will expand on its Holborn site with a new opening in Shoreditch later this year, and Brighton-born Bill’s will launch another London site on Northcote Road in Battersea this summer. Meanwhile, St Paul’s based sous vide lunch spot Suchef has announced plans for two new sites in Faringdon and Aldgate in the next few months.

Also on the horizon for the later part of the year is a new launch called Bad Egg from chef Neil Rankin and the team who’ve brought us The Smokehouse, The Pig & Butcher and Princess of Shoreditch.

In other news…

It’s National Watermelon Day on Sunday. Enjoy that one...

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 hello@londonist.com. ‘Til next week…

Last Updated 31 July 2014