What's more pop up than a pop up? How about an airstream kitchen parked here and there in Central London for a couple of weeks?
Jun Tanaka, Executive Chef at Pearl Restaurant, and Mark Jankel, chef and founder of The Food Initiative, have hired an airstream, kitted it out with a kitchen and are hitting the streets in October to serve on-the-go gourmet meals during the London Restaurant Festival. All produce and beverages will be sourced directly from sustainable and organic UK farms and producers and Jun and Mark will be in the airstream everyday.
Londonist managed a cheeky sneak tasting of what's to be on offer and were genuinely impressed. Locally sourced elements such as cob nuts and Old Winchester cheese added a lovely dimension to ample portions of items such as artichoke soup with home-made Brioche, home smoked salmon, braised featherblade of beef with celeriac mash, roasted butternut squash salad and blackberry cheesecake. Priced between £4.50 and £6.50, the meals (in bio-degradable packaging) will be well worth considering.
Even more impressive to us was discovering that Jun and Mark had actually put their own personal money into this project and that proceeds from the sales will go to charity group, Action Against Hunger.
Jun and Mark's “Street Kitchen” will launch on the 4th of October at Covent Garden, will visit “two other landmark London locations” and finish at the London Restaurant Festival's closing ceremony at Old Spitalfields Market on the 18th of October. For updates, check @foodinitiative and @chefjun on Twitter. More about the London Restaurant Festival can be viewed at www.visitlondon.com/londonrestaurantfestival.
