If you're on top of your ES reading, you're sure to be well and truly up to date with the city's latest and greatest restaurant and bar openings. But what to talk about while you're sat in said places? Let us direct you with the people, ingredients and trends to know now, as well as the tech to keep an eye on, what food to buy on Facebook and the pop-ups to book next, with our big, fat ES Magazine food and drink list. Enjoy.
GET TO KNOW THESE FABULOUS FACES
BARNEY LAMPARD
After inkering with fermentation and brewing for some time, Lampard set out to do an admirable thing: create a non-bitter beer for his brew-averse mother and sister. He did just that and recently launched Tart, London’s first sour beer brewery, where he produces a brilliantly tangy ‘session sour’, with zero bitterness and plenty of tang. (@tartbeerco)
XIENG ZHOU
The brains behind Mamma Yu, Zhou teamed up with her mum, Jolene, to jar the spicy, fragrant Malaysian chilli oil recipes that have been passed down through generations of family hailing from a small fishing village in Sitiawan. Plastered with DIY Sharpie’d labels, the hit condiment is selling out on Delli in a flash and for good reason. (@xiensscran)
ZAYNAH DIN
With 143,000 Instagram followers, Din is hardly unknown. Known for her inventive takes on classic dishes, the cook’s brilliant, hotly anticipated debut book, Desified: Delicious Recipes for Ramadan, Eid & Every Day, is out in February. A celebration of south Asian flavours for every occasion, it’s certain to become an instant classic. (@zaynahsbakes)
ERIKA HAIGH
Keep an eye out for Haigh, the co-owner of the UK’s first independent sake bar, Moto, and founder of Japanese sake and spirit import business, Kamosu, who you’ll find educating the masses and working on countless collaboration projects all over the capital with restaurants such as La Fromagerie and Counter 71. (@_erikahaigh)
PUT THESE DATES IN YOUR DIARY
What could be better than crisp pizza? Padella crisp pizza. Well, maybe. Inspired by the pasta eatery’s best-loved dishes — think Dexter beef shin ragu and squid ink puttanesca — pre-order yours now here for pick up on 12 December.
Fondue is back on the menu with style at The Cheese Bar and The Cheese Barge, where each Thursday from 7 December a new chef will be curating their choice of big dippers. We’re looking forward to seeing what Tom Browne of Decatur whips up. (thecheesebar.com)
If you’re keen to sink your teeth into next-gen meat alternatives, keep an eye on the Fortnum & Mason Food and Drink Studio, which is hosting an event tasting protein substitutes, including Ivy Farm’s unreleased, lab-cultivated offering, in early 2024. (fortnumandmason.com)
CHASE THE WINE BAR
What’s trendier than a low-intervention wine bar? One you can’t pin down. Dirt, a ‘nomadic wine bar’, is changing the way you see wine ‘from its very roots’, says founder Mattia Bianchi, who hosts events around the world in collaboration with seasoned pros. The next one? Check out dirt.wine.
TRY THE UK’S BEST RESTAURANT… ON UBER EATS
Named No 1 at this year’s National Restaurant Awards, it’s no surprise that it’s impossible to get a table at chef Gareth Ward’s tiny, remote restaurant, Ynyshir, in Porth, Wales. Though if you’re desperate for a taste of the broody cook’s meticulously aged meats, ferments and Japanese cooking methods, a saving grace is here because he’s teaming up with Uber Eats to deliver a 10-course tasting menu of his greatest hits to those cwtching at home on 7 and 8 December. This festive one-off is priced at £200 for two with an optional £50 wine pairing, and you can expect to gobble a duck leg rillette sando, Charsiu pork ribs, an A5 rib-eye and much more. To tuck in, just visit the app.
SNUGGLE UP
Tasting menus are all well and good until you need a disco nap. Well, snooze on, because at Brazilian chef Rafael Cagali’s two-Michelin star restaurant Da Terra, the new private dining room comes with a bedroom. Sweet dreams.
To book, contact the Da Terra team on 020 7062 2052 (daterra.co.uk)
MEET THE GROCERS AND SHAKERS
Dram Bar, Soho’s most fabulous new cocktail bar/café/whisky purveyor/tasting room (complete with pool table and ready-to-drink cocktail vending machine), not only serves all the vibes but creates its fresh cocktails with hyper-seasonality in mind. Co-founder Chris Tanner keeps his grocer on speed dial, updating the inventive menu depending on what looks good daily, with a focus on using only the best British produce. Sorry, no Piña Coladas for you…
ENJOY OSCAR-WORTHY EATS
No, really. Elliott Grover, executive chef of Cut at 45 Park Lane, within The Dorchester, has crafted four of the dishes on Wolfgang Puck’s 30th Oscars menu, available to devour at Bar 45 from 23 Jan to 1 April. Bibs at the ready: on the menu there’s roast beef served with Wagyu fat-roasted Yorkshires, creamed horseradish and watercress, a squishy prawn cocktail roll with beluga caviar and Marie Rose sauce, a quirky ‘fish and chips’ of native lobster with spicy tartare sauce and triple cooked chips, and a steaming chicken pot pie with shaved black truffle. Ozempic, who?
EMBRACE THE TECH, NO?
A raft of innovations is saving both the planet and our taste buds
SOMETHING FOR NOTHING
According to start-up Solar Foods, ‘For the first time in history, humankind can produce food without burdening our home planet.’ A miracle? In a world where almost one in 10 people go to bed hungry each night, it certainly seems so. The company, which claims to be creating sustenance from ‘thin air’, has invented a ‘proprietary microbe’ which feeds on CO2 and hydrogen to create a high-protein food ingredient named Solein, which is already being used to create gelato in Singapore. Watch this space.
WHIP IT REAL GOOD
Instant frozen dessert and cocktail machine ColdSnap is getting anything but a frosty reception. Reportedly launching imminently, the at-home device promises to produce ice cream, frozen cocktails, shakes, lattes and smoothies from one of its recyclable aluminium cans in under 90 seconds. Although the selection of phase one flavours seems fairly limited (chocolate, vanilla, etc), the tequila-spiked Mexican hot chocolate ice cream should tide us over for now…
THE FAT VEGAN
Since 2020, biotech food start-up Hoxton Farms has been paving the way for better meat alternatives right here in London. The secret? Entirely vegan ‘cultivated fat’, grown from stem cells, which lends all the juicy, fatty, addictive goodness that carnivores experience with the real deal to the plant-based stuff. Currently focusing on mimicking the moreish qualities of pork belly fat, they’re in talks with supermarkets to create the perfect hybrid product, before moving on to exploring chicken and fish fat alternatives.
FORGET GROUP CHAT WOES
A ton of restaurant-centric apps have arrived on the scene this year and Appetite is one of the most promising. Built around arranging an evening out with friends, it features a social-media-style feed to post, react and connect with friends and food enthusiasts via content and a real-time forum for users to share recommendations. Moreover, there’s an AI chatbot named ‘Pierre Pomme’ to dish out personal restaurant suggestions, alongside a function which allows users to create group chats, synchronise calendars, vote on dining options and receive recommendations based on the preferences of the entire group.
TRY THE NEW KIDS ON THE CHOPPING BLOCK
Familiarise yourself with the ingredients causing a culinary stir
CALABASH NUTMEG
As found in Akara’s delectable new calabash nutmeg and lime cake, which is both warming and sprightly all at once, this spice (also known as African nutmeg and ehuru) is similar to the OG but with woodier undertones.
KRATIN LEAF
A go-to in Thai cuisine, Speedboat Bar founder Luke Farrell is now growing it himself and serving it with oysters, chilli jam and seafood sauce, to bring a taste of Thailand’s hawker centres and beach roads to town.
COCO BEANS
No, not the choccy kind. A cheeky sailor brought these small, plump legumes over to Paimpol, northern Brittany from Argentina in 1928. Generally used in cassoulets and stews, try them braised at Bambi.
WIND DRIED SAUSAGE
The Poon family have been crafting their firm, mildly sweet pork sausage (laced with Chinese rose liqueur and left to dry outdoors) for five decades. Now, it’s having its moment in the sun (sorry) as it’s available at home.
SNAKE FRUIT
Commonly known as salak, this spiky south-east Asian fellow gets its nickname from its scaly brown exterior. Inside, you’ll find a sweet, sour, citrussy flesh present in Kolae’s prawn, snake fruit and shrimp paste relish.
SPREAD THE PAMMY PSA
Food Network Canada has commissioned Pamela’s Cooking With Love, in which vegan superstar Anderson will be whisking up plant-based dishes for us to devour at home. We wait for the UK release date with bated breath…
GET TO KNOW... SUNE
With experience all over the globe and at institutions including Noma, Brawn, Akoko, Paskin Studio (of The Mulway, Evelyn’s Table, Palomar, etc), Lyles and Maos, it should come as no surprise that sommelier-author Honey Spencer and hospitality guru Charlie Sims’ debut project is one of the most exciting of the year. The picturesque spot Sune, that opened late last week nestled just off Cat & Mutton Bridge at the bottom of Broadway Market, sees the power couple focus on offering an eclectic list of sublime wine sourced from Spencer’s expansive contact list and crafting the warmest experience. Meanwhile, head chef Michael Robbins is on the pans serving refined, comforting fare starting with bread and freshly ground coffee each morning, followed by fruits de mer and charcuterie, hearty fresh pastas and za’atar-spiced lamb ribs. In a nutshell ?This is neighbourhood vibes done good.
Curious to see what 2024’s wine trends will bring? The woman of the hour, Honey Spencer, rounds them up for your sipping pleasure below
VOTE SKIN CONTACT
As the saying goes, ‘skin-contact wines aren’t just for Christmas, they’re for life’. Okay, I made that up, but I stand by it. Skin contact wines are as much — if not more — multidimensional and versatile than white or red, plus they support food unlike anything else. Orange wines provide an unmatched aromatic profile while delivering depths of texture and tannin support for every dish on a menu. At Sune, we’ve allocated an even split for white, red and skin contacts to allow our guests to experience all that this beguiling category has to offer. My go-tos are Mira’s skin contact Riesling from Moravia, Czech Republic (Basket Press Wines), 2018 Pinot Gris ‘Ageno’ by Elena Pantaleoni of La Stoppa in Italy’s Emilia-Romagna (Les Caves de Pyrene) and Chenin Blanc ‘Els Bassots’, by Joan Ramon of Escoda-Sanahuja from Spain’s DO Conca de Barberà appellation (Indigo Wine).
EMBRACE SMALLER POURS
The cost of wine has dramatically risen over the past few years. Owed to an ugly mix of aggressors such as violent duty rises (urgh, Brexit), a big leap in the price of glass (Russia vs Ukraine) and transport, it feels like the natural time to dovetail the new economic realities of wine with the gradual decline of British drinking culture. The younger generations have called it ‘drink less, drink better’, and so has the likes of Noble Rot, which offers 100ml, 75ml and even 25ml of certain fine wines in order to give their guests the opportunity to try some of the world’s best without the need to remortgage your home.
DISCOVER JURANÇON
Priced out of Burgundy and the Jura? Yep, us too. We’re drinking ‘Sec’ from Jurançon for a fraction of the price and are as happy as Larry. Embedded with the comforting depths of Burgundy woven with the Jura’s electrifying acidity, dry wines from south-west France’s Jurançon region are white wine’s sure bet of 2024, if only the supply remains. Producers to try: Domaine de Souche (Dynamic Vines) and Jean-Baptiste Semmartin (Vine Trail).
ENJOY A GLASS HALF FULL
In the words of Honey Spencer, now is the time to drink less but drink well. By now, you’ll know that there are several ways to enjoy a small serving of wine at home without cracking open an entire bottle, though it still seems to have its limitations. Yes, canned wine has cemented itself as an enjoyable, convenient serve, but the range is still limited. Then there’s the Coravin, a magical device which enables sommeliers and enthusiasts to extract a single glass from an entire bottle with ease, but isn’t always accessible or affordable. The solution? Wine by the Glass, created by the team behind the Coravin, a new brand which extracts 100ml serves from a vast array of excellent bottles and ships them to wherever we please. We’ve got our eyes on the Fleur Godart’s Putes Feministes 2020, one of our favourite orange wines of all time.
SHOP TILL YOU DROP
Searching for something like mamma used to make? Think outside the box, if you dare...
FACEBOOK MARKETPLACE
Offering everything from sourdough starters, scoby for kombucha and homemade ghee toShanina’s crispy chicken samosas, Yana’s elegant personalised meringue roulade, Sufia’s Bangladeshi chotpoti, Lila’s daily Algerian specials and Maria’s fluffy Romanian walnut sweet bread (cozonac). Anyone with an entrepreneurial bone in their body should be organising a Facebook food festival right now. Zuckerberg?
GUMTREE
So you’re too embarrassed to ask your local bakery to whisk up a birthday cake depicting Baby Shark duelling with Peppa Pig for your devil child’s third birthday? Fear not, live your wildest keyboard warrior fantasies from the comfort of your padded cell and commission someone to concoct it. But in all seriousness, Seemi’s christening cake for little Ann-Marie Margaret O’Donnell would likely have Marie Antoinette asking for a slice.
EBAY
It’s a minefield out there. Yes, you can get hold of Anne’s wholly innocent homemade Christmas chutney, bumper bags of Black Country pork scratchings, and just about any pick ’n’ mix sweet you can think of. However, there are also accounts such as ‘saving-and-investment-ltd’ flogging a bizarre mix of boxed wine, smoked sausage and Portuguese salt cod, while others are trying to shift a kilo of sweaty German sausage for £15. Yikes.
STRIP IT BACK
Listen up, huns! Your wildest dreams are have come true: a Magic Mike themed bar. However, there won’t be a bulging body part in sight. Permission, designed by Magic Mike Live designer Rachel O’Toole, promises ‘an intimate space to unwind in the heart of the West End’. We’ll be the judge of that. Now, where did I put my prosecco?
(magicmikelondon.co.uk/permission-lounge)
READ ALL ABOUT IT
You can now get your hands on Noma’s first ever magazine, Noma in Kyoto. An ode to the team’s time constructing its pop-up in the Japanese city, expect to find interviews, beautiful imagery and, crucially, local recommendations.
£30 (nomaprojects.com)
TUNE IN
If you’re lusting to know which bars and eateries to add to your hit list but don’t have a copy of ES to hand, download Molly Codyre’s, new weekly 15 minute podcast, Restaurant Recommendations With Foodism, where the magazine’s Deputy Editor will run through where to eat each week with the assistance of a special guest.
