Feeding the Olympics. Hot Chicken Imminent. A Hit in Deptford & Critics.
Giles has yet another "best ever" experience at Cloth. Tim Hayward loves Morchella. Gavin Hanly predicts a Michelin star for Plates.
It was an excellent week for lunches at three epic places, and I need some bonus gym time. The food in all three was stellar. But it was the conversations that I most enjoyed. Through those chats, I got to hear perspectives on market conditions in my industry, learned a thing or two about AI deployment, picked up a couple of great anecdotes, and caught up with friends. Any of those lunches could just as easily have been a much shorter coffee or a chat on the phone. But lunch made it better. Gave us a reason to linger. Stretch out beyond the original reason for getting together. And so we did.
Here’s a question for you: What was your best Professional Lunch? Not for the food or the place — though that may certainly be a factor — but for what you got out of it. The difference it made to you. Hit reply and let me know.
Thanks for the warm response to my new partnership with One Question. We are now fully booked for the first lunch at LeRoy.
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How do you feed 15,000 hungry athletes? One bite at a time.
The Paris Olympics starts in ten days. So naturally attention is turning to the athletes and their journeys towards greatness. Also, what they are eating.
With 15,000 athletes to feed, it’s a huge job. And a complex one given the myriad of culinary traditions and specific performance-driven needs.
Eater is on the case, getting under the skin of the challenge with the senior executive and executive chef from Sodexo who are responsible for food in the athletes’ village. Turns out there will be a dining hall with 5 restaurants.
And the Aussies brought their own coffee shop. Obviously.
Breakthrough insight:
“There is no alcohol sold within the village. I’m sure some of the delegations will have cake or beers. But they’re going to be in Paris. And let’s remember the average age of the athletes is 24 years old. We don’t need to worry about them sourcing alcohol.”
Indeed.
Dave’s Hot Chicken Coming to UK
The Tik Tok sensation, now the fastest growing chain joint in the U.S., will open its first location in the UK in Q1 2025, reports Dine Out Magazine.
[Dave’s] specialises in jumbo Hot Chicken Sliders, Tenders and Bites, along with sides of house-made Kale Slaw, Mac & Cheese and crispy, seasoned French Fries. Offered at seven spice levels ranging from No Spice to Reaper™ (which requires a signed waiver for those who dare), each piece of hand-breaded chicken is spiced-to-order.
If you haven’t had “hot chicken” before, it’s a tradition in the upper part of the American south, and was probably invented but certainly commercialised in Nashville. It’s a great lunch option.
Hits & Misses
Mini-reviews of places that were either (a) good, but not quite good enough to do a full review and add to the Guide, (b) had a flaw or two, or (c) that I revisited following a prior review.
Hit: Marcella
Eating at Marcella wasn’t a very creative choice. We went to Artusi, its sister spot in Peckham a couple of weeks ago.
It’s the same concept as Artusi — menu on a blackboard. Relatively modest range of choices. But constantly changing and evolving.
The vibe in Deptford is not quite as hip as Peckham — obviously — but it’s still too cool for me. And on Saturday night, there was more of a date-night vibe. The couple at the next table, obviously a recent match on Bumble or Tinder lurched through conversation, but loved every bite of their dinner. (And a note to that guy: When she says, “Where are we going next?”, you need to have an answer better than “Dunno.”)
My starter was conchiglie — ear-shaped pasta — with merguez ragu. Oof. Amazing. Main was grilled pork neck. Spice profile more south Asian than Italian, but delicious. But the dish of the night was “spaghetti, peas, piattone beans, pecorino.” Wow. So green. Inviting. Miraculously light.
Their wine list was stellar, too. We had a Chinon, and although Cabernet Franc might seem like a strange pairing in an Italian place, it was perfect with all of our dishes.
Critics Update
✍🏻 indicates a review that you should read for the writing.
🍽️ indicates a place that sounds excellent and is probably worth a try.
✍🏻 🍽️ Jimi Famurewa (Standard) heads to Finsbury Park to visit Tollington’s, “a Spanish-accented overhaul of a derelict chippy.” … “It is both a justified candidate for opening of the year and a reminder of what a confident, singular and beguilingly weird restaurant city we have. The hype is mighty. But, my word, so is the cooking.”
🍽️ Giles Coren (Times) is the latest to try Cloth in Farrington. He uses it to reflect on the stellar quality of dining in London and the fantastic run of recent openings. Of Cloth, he says, “Another cracker then. But come back next week, I’ve got an even better one.” I visited Cloth this week, and will publish my own review soon.
🍽️ Tim Hayward (FT) checks out Morchella in Exmouth Market. “I think my mission is complete. This is how I want to eat forever. I’m leaving the dustbins and moving into Morchella.”
🍽️ Gavin Hanly (Hot Dinners) tries Plates in Shoreditch. “It was clear that it had ‘Michelin star’ written all over it and we fully expect it to get one early next year.”
🍽️ Hannah Twiggs (Independent) reviews Omer in Mayfair. “In a venue that bagged its first Michelin star earlier this year, you’d expect the food to be the star. But at Ormer, it’s the wines, curated by the ebullient Piotr, that steal the show.” Sounds right up my alley.
Nick Lander (jancisrobinson.com) heads to Knightsbridge for Nyonya cuisine at Nanyang Blossom. “Also known as Peranakan, it is a style of cooking that originated in the 15th century when China ‘opened up’ for the very first time.” He broadly enjoyed it, but wished better authenticity.
Tom Parker Bowles (Mail on Sunday) is the latest critic to buy the hype on the rebooted Julies in Notting Hill.
Marina O’Loughlin (independent critic) goes beyond the wine at Passione Vino in Shoreditch and discovers great food.
Charlotte Ivers (Sunday Times) tried Ardfern in Leith. William Sitwell (Telegraph) was at Lilac in Lyme Regis. Grace Dent (Guardian) was in Tunbridge Wells, wishing she had a miniature Dachshund. Jay Rayner (Observer) was away this week, and Emma Beddington filled in with a review from Harrogate.
Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed this week’s update. Lots of big reviews in the coming weeks, and a couple of finds in unexpected places. Please subscribe if you haven’t already and share Professional Lunch with friends and colleagues.