5 Things You Need to Eat in London This WeekBy Alicia Grimshaw
Introducing: the best new restaurants in London this week. Another week, another opportunity to eat all the food. Here’s 5 new restaurants in London you need to check out this week:
1. For a New Bricks and Mortar Site: Gourmet Goat
What: After two years of successful trading outside at Borough Market, rising street food star Gourmet Goat has opened an impressive new fixed indoor unit on Rochester Walk. Renowned for serving top quality east Mediterranean dishes, showcasing kid goat sourced exclusively from British dairy farms, the husband and wife team have just been announced as one of only three finalists for “Best Street Food or Takeaway” in this year’s BBC Food and Farming Awards.
Why: Enjoy the family-run team’s infamous street food dishes including their tender slow roast kid goat shoulder and leg cooked with white wine, oregano, bay, thyme, garlic, lemon zest and extra virgin olive oil, and their equally popular grilled kid goat meat kofta – freshly made each day using lean kid goat mince. Both dishes come served with a choice of either authentic fluffy Greek pita or the duo’s signature East Med salad with organic wheat berries, plus homemade tangy tzatziki and sensational fresh green chilli salsa. Glorious.
Where: Gourmet Goat, Unit 27A Rochester Walk, London, SE1 9AF
Photo Credit: Melissa Thompson
What: Opening this week, Oree is a London-born French style boulangerie and kitchen, located on Fulham Road. Bringing a taste of the boulangeries and patisseries of rural France to West London, Orée bang out freshly baked viennoiserie, artisan bread and fine patisserie, alongside a selection of breakfast dishes, salads and coffees, to eat-in, or takeaway.
Why: The patisserie counter is where the real magic happens. Think: croissants, pains aux chocolats and escargot aux pistaches, all made with traditional sourdough as well as cannelés, financiers, and kugelhofs. More traditional British options, such as scones with jam and clotted cream, and cheesecake will also be available. For breakfast, enjoy chia pudding with seasonal fruits, white egg omelette, dairy-free coconut yoghurt with granola, waffles, and organic eggs Benedict. Orée serve 12 different types of bread, including rye, sourdough, buckwheat, nordic and Japanese, as well as a gluten-free option for all the coeliac queens.
Where: 275 – 277 Fulham Road, London, SW10 9NY
3. For a New Expansion: LIMA X Harrods
What: The owners of Michelin starred LIMA Fitzrovia and LIMA Floral have launched a Peruvian delicatessen within the world-famous Harrods Food Hall with an offering curated exclusively for the prestigious store. Bring on lunchtime.
Why: The deli menu offers a variety of Peruvian dishes designed to take-away for lunch and dinner on the go. Enjoy options including salmon and sea bream ceviche, potatoes huancaina (a traditional Peruvian dish from the town of Huancayo), beef or chicken empanadas and various anticuchos – a street-food dish originating from Peru during the pre-Columbian era. The range incorporates both traditional and contemporary Peruvian cooking, celebrating vibrant and innovative flavours reflecting the gastronomic expansion seen in Peru over recent years.
Where: 87-135 Brompton Rd, London SW1X 7XL
What: Chef Tom Hunt is rolling out a series of ‘Meet the Producer’ events at his seasonal British tapas restaurant Poco in Hackney. The series will begin with a Chocolate Feast with chocolate makers, Mast Brothers today (14th March).
Why: The ‘Meet the Producer’ series is about celebrating the producers who are at the heart of Poco’s approach to food. At each event executive chef Tom Hunt will team up with one of Poco’s artisanal producers to create a special menu, giving guests the opportunity to learn the story behind the suppliers and the ethics of the ingredients used at Poco. Tom and the head chocolate maker from the Mast Brothers factory in Shoreditch will introduce the new menu, with dishes including; cacao beer braised venison, pine, smoked chocolate, cider brandy with a hot chocolate shot, and olive oil chocolate cake, chocolate sorbet, frozen crème fraiche.
Where: 129 Pritchard’s Rd, London E2 9AP
Tickets here
Photo Credit: Tom Bowles
5. For a New Opening: Yumi Izakaya
What: Yumi Izakaya, a new Japanese restaurant and bar, has opened in London’s West End. Situated within The Piccadilly West End Hotel, the restaurant is inspired by Japan’s izakayas, roughly translated as a pub or a place designed for informal eating and drinking. Drop in for Japanese snacks and drinking food.
Why: The food menu opens with a selection of small plates, such as okonomiyaki Osaka style, daikon wrapped pork gyozas and chilli fried cauliflower. From an open robata grill comes a choice of skewers, as well as various cuts and parts of the chicken – free range herb fed chickens from Philmoor Grange Farm, Yorkshire – are on offer, including wings with sea salt and Tongarashi, heart with spring onion and ginger, and liver with tare sticky soy glaze and shichimi. Also available from the grill are bacon wrapped vegetable skewers such as asparagus and Shimeji mushroom, and larger plates of caramelised pork belly with a tempura egg and smoked duck and Udon soup. Come hungry.
Where: 67 Shaftesbury Avenue, W1D 6EX
One for luck..
What: Now that it’s the year of the Monkey, why not take a trip down to Royal China, London’s stalwart dim sum eatery, for an unrivalled meal with a loved one. Branches are all across town from Canary wharf to Fulham Road and a few in between.
Why: Why you ask, because what is better than Dim Sum? Nothing, nothing is better than dim sum, which is healthy and frankly offers more choice. The menu offers a varied range of plates including chicken and chive dumplings to honey glazed pork puffs, the freshest sea catchings with noodles in all shapes and sizes all topped off egg custard tarts and ice cold lychees. The only dragon you’ll want to chase is one next Chinese new year.
Where: We recommend trying the Fulham branch but frankly any a trip to any of the 8 branches will be a treat, book ahead though to avoid disappointment.