Gastro Gossip: Putting New Food On Your Radar
7 months ago
Glorious gluttonous goods
Hungry? You will be after reading this. We’ve gathered the latest and greatest snacks and tipples and restaurants you need to know about – you’re welcome, hedonists, these are the hottest new foods to try.
Get A Taste Of This: New Food To Try This Month
A Brew-Ti-Ful Tin
What’s better than sustainable coffee pods? Stylishly stashed sustainable coffee pods, certainly. Illustrator and tattoo artist Poppy Crewe has inked up a limited edition tin for Grind’s world-first home compostable caffeine hits. The cute illustrations celebrate the rise-and-grind of the natural composting process. Dreamy. grind.co.uk
Spill The Tea
Pop the kettle on and enjoy a deep dive into the history of tea, as told through the story of the Twinings tea company. Beautifully illustrated and absolutely captivating, make sure to pop the kettle on before hunkering down. £25, twinings.co.uk
TV Dinner
Who said a frozen meal needed to be boring or bland? Instead of slaving away mid-week over the stove, let the experts at Dovebrook Kitchen prep your dinner. Plus, it’s all vegan. Our favourite? The Perisan dried lime and herb stew. Bundles from £54, dovebrook.com
Sugar Crush
Nothing says ‘I love you’ like a classic box of chocolates – and Maison Pierre Marcolini’s new cœur à cœur collection of locked hearts are the perfect way to let them know how you feel. Little bites of affection. £11.90, available in the Marylebone Maison Pierre Marcolini boutique, Selfridges and Harrods. marcolini.co.uk
Cheat Meal
Veganuary may be long since over but some habits stick. Flirt with some artisanal vegan spins on the dairy-stuff – Julienne Bruno’s vegan burrella will have your senses fooled. From £4.50, juliennebruno.com
Flirty Tipple
Savoia’s sexy, rose-tinted aperitif sets a certain kind of mood. This bittersweet base won’t leave you heartbroken – it’s made from oak-aged masala fine wine from Sicily, alongside 20 botanicals including gentian root and bitter orange peel. From £22, casa-savoia.com
Teddy Bear’s Picnic
Celebrate the sunny weather with outdoor adventures. Make sure to take Pique’s picnic hampers range with you. It includes child-friendly treats (from £15) and indulgent jam-packaged spreads with paired drinks and chocolatey bites (from £60). piquefood.co.uk
Near The Bells Of Shoreditch
A new opening from the brains behind Townsend in Whitechapel is cause to ring the celebration bells. Nick Gilkinson’s latest venture, Maene, will transport European bistro culture to an old Victorian warehouse in Spitalfields. Expect lounging lunches and impromptu late-night meals. Open now, maenerestaurant.co.uk
Got The Juice
No nonsense juice which does what it says on the carton – this stylist and minimalistic squished fruit juice comes in a range of flavours, including apple, orange, pomegranate, cranberry, grapefruit, tomato, and pineapple. A cooler-than-cool picnic companion. Available in multipack of six as a monthly subscription for £15, eagerdrinks.com
Not Your Typical Off License
Fine wines and spirits merchants, Berry Bros. & Rudd, will open its first dedicated spirits shop next year at 63 Pall Mall. Expect the most curated and luxurious collection of tipples – from whisky to armagnac, aged kegs to the most freshly bottled beverages, it looks like we’ll be spoiled for choice. bbr.com
Hungry for it
Diet-related disease is now a bigger killer than smoking in the developed world. Ravenous by Leon founder Henry Dimbleby and journalist Jemima Lewis wants you to reconsider what you eat for the planet’s sake – and your own. £14.99, profilebooks.com
Wharf It Down
Plant-based dining (but not in a preachy way). Tuck into a whipped feta garden plate, or burnt aubergine muhammara borek, at the newest site by Mallow, just opened quayside in Canary Wharf. mallowlondon.com
It Takes Guts
The new Gut Health Booster Bundle by Allplants contains all the nutrients your gut microbiome is craving. Dishes range from its award-winning Miso + Tamari Tofu bowl to the spicy Smoky Soul Chilli. This bold B Corp brand incorporates wonky offcuts into a number of its perfectly portioned dishes to keep the planet happy, too, alongside your belly. £36.86 for seven meals and two smoothies, allplants.com
Wanton More Of These
The legendary Poon’s (famous for its wantons) has launched its first homeware range, and the new tea towels – detailed with hand-drawn Chinese vegetables from winter melons to water chestnuts – are a special treat from the cult-favourite restaurant. £16, poons-pantry.com
That’s A Wrap
Upping your wrapping game? Take inspiration from Champagne Drappier, who’ve collaborated with Japanese poet Ryoko Sekiguchi to create a special furoshiki-wrap for the iconic bottles. This reusable wrap features designs by Charline Drappier and poetry from Ryoko, while supporting artisans with disabilities in Angers, Western France. Repurpose this sunny pattern after as a scarf or handbag tie – or let it make a reappearance this Christmas… Available on request, champagne-drappier.com
Wild Side Of Cooking
Is game our solution to sustainable meat eating? Maybe. We’re potentially, er, game. But the real challenge with game isn’t in catching it – it’s in preparing it. Sauce by the Langham is running expert-led ‘Forest to Fork’ masterclasses to help you rustle up a dinner party showstopper. saucebylangham.com
Chit-CHAAT
Spice seekers rejoice. The Rosewood Hong Kong’s CHAAT restaurant travels to the UK for a three night pop-up, in celebration of the London outpost’s tenth birthday. The one Michelin-starred restaurant will bring a mouthwatering menu to the the Holborn Dining Room, celebrating homemade Indian classics alongside delicious street food. From 10-12 Oct, rosewoodhotels.com
Cocktail Party Catering
Mr Ryan Lyan – the bartender behind London’s best boozers, including world’s best bar Lyaness – wants to give you a 1:1 on making a proper tipple. His new cocktail book, Mr Lyan’s Cocktails At Home, is a hosting companion that’ll have you shaking up an impressive Manhattan in no time. Stock up your drinks cabinet (and bookshelf) immediately. Out 21 Sept. (White Lion Publishing, £20).
Bottoms Up – Catch That Last Drop
There are only 203 bottles of these 50-year-old, blended grain scotch whiskies. No 31 by The Last Drop is a complex blend with surprising fruity overtones that stem from decades maturing in a cool climate. A real bar trolley pleaser. £2,550, limited edition, lastdropdistillers.com
Got Beans
We’re waking up to the smell of Fortnum & Mason’s aromatic new coffee collection – and we’ll definitely be keeping and reusing the pretty illustrated house blend tins. These blends make an indulgent cup of joe, with the department store’s beans supplied by Huddesfield-based Dark Woods Coffee. £14.95, fortnumandmason.com
Grocery Run: Andreas of Chelsea Green Opens New Greengrocers
Your weekly restock just became a tiny bit more glam. Andreas of Chelsea Green, the produce haven beloved by the likes of Nigella, has opened an all-new extension, and now has rows upon rows of exceptional exotic fruit and veg, plus a veritable rainbow of juicy tomatoes. 6-8 Cale Street, SW13. andreasveg.co.uk
Romantic En-Tagliatelle-ment
Certainly not your ordinary cupboard bag-of-pasta. ATAVI is an all-new pasta brand debuting three types of tagliatelle in the coming months. The three flavours (sourdough, umami, and smoked) were created in partnership with Tickets-chef Albert Adrià, and pare back to the basics of pasta: wheat and water, with fermentation and smoking baked into the making-process to give each noodle an impressive depth. atavi.uk
The Bagel Counter At Fortnum & Mason
If you’re craving a lunchtime snack in the capital, then it’s well worth popping over to Fortnum & Mason’s food hall. While it’s a difficult task, try not to be tempted by all the yummy foods on display – instead, head on over to the store’s new bagel counter, where you can sink your teeth into six types of bagel, 11 cream cheese options (including Toffolossus coffee and jalapeño) and a number of other fillings to spice up your lunch. The toughest decision? Choosing your first flavour combination. fortnumandmason.com
This New Artwork Showcases The Power of Food Redistribution
Redistribution charity City Harvest has been working to reduce food insecurity for almost a decade, rescuing surplus food and redistributing it to those in need. Its new campaign aims to showcase the importance of this work, launched in partnership with artist Yanis Georges to tie in with its Autumn Food Report. Yanis has created a 3D animation, The Harmonious Rhythm of Generosity, to bring to life City Harvest’s findings on food redistribution.
Yanis said about the project: ‘My work has always been about combining data with the pulse of the real world. City Harvest has done an incredibly important job delivering the important findings from this report, so it’s a privilege to breathe life into the data, transforming it into a spectacle to inspire more people to get involved and see the full picture of food redistribution.’ You can check it out at an exhibition on 16 October at the Conduit Club in Covent Garden. cityharvest.org.uk
Featured image: Fortnum & Mason