The twelve best places to eat this spring
A new opening for Carmel and Ottolenghi, tea at Cliveden House, a salt beef pop up in a surprising location and and much, much more
Louisa Walters is Features Editor at the Jewish News and specialises in food and travel writing
The famous flatbreads come to Fitzrovia! Brothers Josh and Paul Katz, together with Mattia Bianchi, the trio behind Berber & Q and Shawarma Bar, have opened a second outpost of their much-loved Eastern Mediterranean Queen’s Park restaurant Carmel, this time in the west end. We’ve come to expect the small plates sharing concept from this team but now they are in a much bigger venue as the new restaurant has 95 covers.
Dishes such as lamb tartare with amba, pickled cucumber, challah and za’atar, or sea bream with honey, lemon butter and fennel play out next to unique pasta combos such as ricotta agnolotti with confit tomato, wild oregano and lemon, plus of course ‘those’ flatbreads topped with lamb prosciutto, anchovy and chilli butter, or cod’s roe with potato, rosemary and bottarga. Among the desserts is a tahini and honey tart. Just wow. At weekends there’s brunch with tasty egg dishes, wine plays a key role and there’s a semi-private dining area that seats 30.
Now that Ottolenghi has opened at Bicester Village the shopping haven is a foodies’ paradise. The legendary salads, larger plates and those epic pastries are all there for breakfast, lunch and dinner infused with Middle Eastern flavours plus we’ve been promised a few Bicester ‘exclusives’. This ninth opening for the much-loved chef is the largest Ottolenghi in the group, plus there’s a lovely big terrace which will make summer trips to the outlet centre even more desirable. There’s wine, cookbooks, tableware and packaged goods to take home (or consume in the car!).
There’s only a week or so left (less if you’re KLP) to catch Wilde’s, the Jew(ish) deli pop-up that everyone has been talking about at the Rose & Crown pub in Kentish Town. Chef Ollie Gratter is serving up salt beef Reuben sandwiches, latkes, frickles (fried pickles) as well as ‘furikake’ salmon bagels with a Japanese twist, turkey challah sandwiches and chocolate babka. He’s there until 28 April on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings, Thursday and Friday lunch and dinner, Saturday and Sunday all day.
New York-inspired deli food is here longer-term at Freddie’s in Belsize Park. Jack and Amelia Graham have named the restaurant after their baby son and are serving up salt beef sandwiches, smoked fish platters, bagels, a Bloody Mary shakshuka, schnitzel, latkes, cholent and Jack’s 96-year-old grandmother’s chicken soup. With cheesecake and honey cake among the dessert options you may feel like you’re in grandma’s front room but this is a bright, spacious, modern unit with outdoor seating for warmer days.
Cacao Tree in Borehamwood has just launched a daily breakfast/ brunch menu. In true Cacao style Kusham Marthelis has created dishes bursting with tempting flavours and interesting combinations. Summer Beauty features roasted sweet potato with poached eggs, smoked salmon, avocado and pomegranate, while Blond Lady is grilled sourdough with spinach, poached eggs, paprika and parsnip crisps. There is an epic shakshuka, a full English with chicken and apricot sausages and for those with a sweet tooth brioche French toast with cinnamon and maple syrup.
If you fancy a drive out of town now that the days are longer, you’ll find that a cup of tea is infused with a whole new flavour when it’s taken in the Great Hall of a home in Berkshire originally built in 1666 by the 2nd Duke of Buckingham for his mistress. Cliveden House is now a magnificent hotel sent in nearly 400 acres of National Trust grounds. It is famously the former home of the fabulously wealthy Astor family who shipped in accoutrements from their other homes all over the world to enhance it, many of which remain in situ today including floor-to-ceiling fireplaces and the intricate panelling in one of the dining rooms.
Despite the grandeur, afternoon tea is a relaxed affair with chatty staff talking you through the various delicacies, among them a 24-carat gold pickled egg representing the Octagon Chapel where William Waldorf rests, and an artistic fruit cake showcasing the ceiling mural that’s on the grand staircase portraying the Duchess of Sutherland’s four children as the seasons of the year. As for the brew itself, the Classic Tregothnan is the first ever tea produced on British soil, in Cornwall, and is the perfect accompaniment to finger sandwiches and scones with cream, jam or lemon curd but this is the sort of place where when they say would you like to start with a glass of champagne you feel it would be rude not to.
The unstoppable Honey & Co has opened a bakery pop-up across the road from their newest restaurant on Lamb’s Conduit Street. Sandwiches, breads, babka, burek and more are displayed on the counter while the shelves are filles with cookies, snacks and store cupboard essentials. Kapara in Soho is now open seven days a week so you can have a Tel Aviv fantasy every day, and at weekends you can enjoy sister restaurant Bala Baya’s brunch menu there too.
Karma Bread in Hampstead, famous for its bread, has launched a carb-free launch option in the form of Skinny Queen – poached eggs on wilted spinach with roast veg, cumin and dill. For those not scared of carbs there’s also a pretzel challah dog sabich, Yemenite tuna salad pretzel dog sandwich and Karma Royale. Lilienblum in Shoreditch has a new spring menu and there’s something different coming to the dinner menu at Miznon in Notting Hill.
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