Last month was an absolute monster. After all of the travels in July and August, I decided to reacquaint myself with London’s food and drinks scene, and probably bit off more than I could chew (literally). 900 edited photos later (why do I do this to myself?), it’s time for another Eats, Sips & Snaps. For completeness, I’ve chucked in a couple of photos from longer articles that are already up on the site too.
The month kicked off with a super fun Saturday with Ella at Kew Gardens (read more here), followed by a smoky Sunday at Meatopia with Ali & Stew (more snaps here). That weekend ended with some country dancing and beers outside Italo Deli for the Bonnington Squared Festival. Regular readers will know I’ve always been a huge Italo fan, but I’ve been even more impressed with the food there since Emily Dobbs (known for her Sri Lankan cooking) took over in the kitchen.
The following Tuesday, a much needed catch up with parents was the perfect excuse for us to finally head to Tom Sellers’ Restaurant Story – I don’t have many photos to show for it, but rest assured it was wonderful, beef dripping candle and all. And whilst in Bermondsey, it’s hard to resist dropping in on the Anspach & Hobday team for a couple of beers. The Pale Ale was tasting particularly fine, and was pleasingly transparent – can we stop this whole DIPA haze craze now please? The next day, Mary and I had a pretty serious red wine session at the new Bottles in Old Spitalfields Market, and on the Friday night I gathered the London Cheap Eats team together at my regular haunt Park Road Kitchen for a fantastic night of pork belly, rotisserie chicken, pecan pie and booze. Still with me?
The second week was fairly quiet until Saturday when we had a magical group lunch at the Coal Office – one of London’s most exciting new restaurants that I’ll write about in more depth soon. It’s a collaboration between The Palomar’s Assaf Granit and designer Tom Dixon who has an awesome studio downstairs too. Book now – you won’t regret it. Whilst in the area, we stopped in at Spiritland, an all day cafe / bar / restaurant / recording studio / shop, before spending some quality time in the awesome King’s Cross Tunnel.
Getting out of our comfort zone a little, Lauren and I went along to an enjoyable evening called Tasting Asturias at Hispaniawhere we sampled ciders Bodegas Mayador, Grupo El Gaitero, Trabanco, and Llagar Castañon. Look out for their natural cider pouring technique below! A trip to the region beckons. Two days later, it was back to session beers with the MTL-MVP Tim, starting with some Kernel and neon lights outside Craft Beer Co St.Mary Axe, followed by small batch Brewdog beers at their huge new Tower Bridge site.
Another serious Saturday kicked off with a second trip to Coal Office with the family, followed by a mega bar crawl around Hackney and Dalston with Ella, Will and Cate. We mostly stuck around Bohemia Place in Hackney Central, ticking off The Experiment (Pressure Drop & Verdant’s collaborative taproom), ABQ (a bizarre and rather sad collection of Breaking Bad-themed booze experiences), St.John at Hackney (a beautiful new brewery and bar with tasty Ela Kebabs), and Deviant & Dandy (another taproom that needs a return visit for proper investigation). It’s a promising street, but there are some misfires. We’ll definitely be back though, especially for the lovely vegan pizzeria Saint that’s sadly hidden at the back of ABQ. Our final stop in Hackney Central was Scout, Matt Whiley’s award-winning cocktail bar that has just moved site from Great Eastern Street. You can get a better idea of the space from my London Cocktail Week photos here. Still feeling fresh, we made it over to Sapling in Dalston, a bloody lovely wine bar and kitchen where we may or may not have had a lock-in. That was quite a day.
Right, we’re almost there! With London Cocktail Week looming, you’d think we might have eased up a little. NOPE. Tuesday night saw me behind the bar for once, introducing Craigellachie’s 21yo limited edition bottle at the Weird & Wonderful Whiskies event at 5CC Harrild & Sons – more on that here. And since Winemakers was round the corner, Ella and I checked off another outstanding wine bar on our hitlist. Last but not least, Maxi Riedel and Max Venning revealed Riedel’s exciting new cocktail glassware in variety of cocktails on a Wednesday evening at Bar Three (full post here), and Mary and I ended the night (and the month) at Pizza Pilgrims’ new spot by Tower 42 – shout out to the kitchen, bar and floor staff there for turning out an insane number of pizzas and drinks to a huge crowd. Records must have been broken.
Breath, it’s over. There’s no way you read all of that, but hopefully you spotted a couple of places you like the look of! Are you enjoying these Eats, Sips & Snaps round-ups? Do you want to see something featured on MTL? Let me know by emailing me at matt@mattthelist.com, or by leaving me a comment on instagram.com/mattthelist!
