London Food And Drink News: 30 July 2015

By Londonist Last edited 103 months ago
London Food And Drink News: 30 July 2015
Bosslady: Hong Kong style in Peckham

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

Inside this week: priceless menus and oodles of noodles

Noodles #1: Tai Po pop-up

The team behind Forza Win are launching a new pop-up noodle bar called Bosslady, inspired by a restaurant in Hong Kong’s Tai Po region. It will specialise in beef brisket noodles — ngau lam mein — with sides including choi sum and fish skin ‘scratchings’. The pop-ups will run every Sunday at Forza Win’s Peckham base for six weeks from Sunday 9 August (£8 a ticket), with the plan being to launch in a permanent site of its own after that.

Noodles #2: Pestle power

Two of the team behind Soho’s Thai barbecue restaurant Smoking Goat are pairing up to open a new noodle-based restaurant, starting as a pop-up. Pestle is being launched by the restaurant’s former head chef Seb Holmes and front of house manager Thom Lawson, kicking off with two nights at The Winemaker’s Club in Farringdon on 26 and 27 August. The focus will be on fermented rice noodles (made in a similar way to sourdough) and curries, along with a few snacks and sides.

An eggcellent idea?

Whether you deem it a stroke of genius or downright obscene, there’s something pretty remarkable about the latest offering from Yeah Burger! — a hybrid burger monster where the bun is replaced with a scotch egg. They’ve done it before, with the wonderfully named one-off Scotch Ness Monster, but this time round they have a whole menu of scotch egg burgers, available at their residencies at Strongroom Bar & Kitchen in Shoreditch and and The Star of Kings in King’s Cross. There’s even a veggie one. They’re available for two weeks only from 7-22 August.

Moneyless menu

Michelin-starred restaurant Galvin at Windows is scrapping prices and asking diners to ‘pay what they like’ for dinners during August — and possibly beyond. Up to 12 diners each night will be able to order a special five-course menu (you can see it here) and pay as little (or as much) as they feel it’s worth. Given the restaurant currently charges £70 for its three-course Menu Prestige, it will be interesting to see what people stump up for this five-course version. The offer will continue for as long as the restaurant sees it feasible, so if diners pay too little for the restaurant to break even, it will be cancelled.

Down in the USA

Brad McDonald’s all-American Marylebone restaurant The Lockhart is launching a downstairs bar, Showdown, in collaboration with Matt Whiley, aka The Talented Mr Fox — the man behind the drinks at Bethnal Green’s Peg + Patriot. Showdown will serve suitably US-themed cocktails, with ingredients including milk-washed moonshine, rye whisky and doughnut-infused vodka. There will also be an ice tea cocktail on tap along with a number of pre-bottled cocktails. A list of bar snacks will include devilled eggs and catfish goujons along with heartier serves of fried chicken, beef ribs and shrimp and grits.

New openings

This week has seen the arrival of British-focused Salt & Honey near Paddington from the people behind Fulham’s Manuka Kitchen. Gelupo at Vico — the ice cream element of the new Cambridge Circus restaurant from the team behind Bocca di Lupo — will arrive this weekend ahead of the main attraction.

Next week will mark the arrival of two Scandi spots – all-day coffee, sandwich and juice shop Lundenwic at Aldwych, and particularly intriguing-sounding Nordic smokehouse Rök on Curtain Road in Shoreditch. And Barbican visitors will have an improved food offering thanks to the opening there of burger and spit-roast chicken restaurant Bonfire on 5 August.

We round-up London’s biggest food and drink news stories and the latest new and upcoming restaurant openings in this handy digest every Thursday afternoon. See our previous editions.

Also see:

The Best Food And Drink In London — recommendations of where to enjoy the capital’s top food and drink, categorised by cuisine, food type and more.

Last Updated 17 August 2015