Feel the heat: chefs Ed Jennings and Ben Allen
(Picture: Justin DeSouza)Two former Brat chefs are opening a new “culinary-led” pub and dining room in Kentish Town, debuting a menu of “locally sourced, seasonal dishes” cooked over flames on a custom grill. It is expected to welcome diners from March.
In charge at The Parakeet will be Ben Allen, who with sous chef Ed Jennings will cook from an ever-changing blackboard, pairing dishes with low intervention, natural wines.
Signature dishes will include poached oysters with pickled elderflowers; braised leeks with pecorino and smoked mushrooms; and wood-roasted rabbit, kohlrabi and curry leaves.
Sharing plates will be “built around locally sourced ox cheek and bream,” the duo said, hinting at their time at Brat, a Michelin-starred restaurant that helped steer open-fire cooking into the London mainstream.
“We’re hugely excited to be able to put our own creative stamp on the menu here at The Parakeet with our seasonal menus,” said Allen.
“Each season has its own unique benefits, spring is exciting with new shoots like wild garlic, the short asparagus season is a favourite. We both love autumnal flavours with comforting cold weather food and the challenge of being creative with limited variety in winter and the abundance of summer.”
The Parakeet, which will seat 60, will occupy the space vacated by The Oxford Tavern, a Victorian landmark on Kentish Town Road; the move represents something of a homecoming for Allen, a north Londoner. Alongside the dining room will be a “pub room, which will feature its own separate food and drinks menu for spontaneous locals stopping by.”
Outside the kitchen, the project is the work of Steve Ball and Riz Shaikh, co-founders of The Columbo Group, which is behind the Blues Kitchen, the Jazz Cafe and popular club Phonox. Both live in North London and said they wanted to bring the best of London food to their neighbourhood.
Ball said: “We live locally in Highgate and Camden, and with The Parakeet, we want to build something that gives back to our neighbourhood, and that fits the description of somewhere we’d want to hang out with our family and friends.
“It’s great to have Ben Allen on board as head chef — he’s someone we really admire, and we can’t wait for visitors (and ourselves) to sit down and have a taste of the seasonal menu he’s created.”
