New venture: co-founders Luke Wasserman, Toby Neill and Johnnie Crowe, and a dish at the restaurant
(Picture: Handout)The team behind two of London’s best neighbourhood restaurants, Nest in Hackney and Fulham’s Fenn, will launch a new venture this September, bringing a 15-course menu to central London.
Restaurant St Barts — founded by Johnnie Crowe, Luke Wasserman and Toby Neill, with Kate Austen on board as head chef — will explore modern British cuisine with a focus on “hyper-seasonal” produce from small-scale farmers and conservationists. Dishes will use no more than two key ingredients.
Dinner at the Smithfield restaurant will begin in the bar area, with canapés such as Yorkshire beef salami and Welsh wagyu bellini with Exmoor caviar. Then, guests will move onto a chef’s counter by the open, wood-fired kitchen, with dishes including red mullet terrine with salted kohlrabi.
Into the main dining space — which will be lit largely by candlelight and the illuminations of a nearby church as the evening goes on — diners will be served the likes of native blue lobster with fermented red peppers and British XO sauce, and poached cod with preserved Wiltshire truffle, before Hackney honey and lavender dessert, or a British cheese board, to finish.
An optional wine pairing will also be available, with a list populated by bottles from low-intervention producers, and a six-course version of the menu to run weekday lunchtimes.
“Restaurant St Barts represents a new chapter for myself, Luke and Toby,” said executive head chef Johnnie Crowe. “It’s the restaurant we’ve always dreamed of opening, but only now with the experience of operating two restaurants do we feel really ready.
“Over the last seven years we’ve met and worked with some of the most incredible suppliers from across the UK, and Restaurant St Barts will be our opportunity to showcase them under the one roof. We want to create an experience that focuses on respect — towards the natural environment, the incredible produce that comes from it, and everyone involved in the process.”
