Jenny Phung is popping up at TOLA in Peckham with her concept Ling Ling’s (she’s also 1/3 of the team behind Satsu, in residency at The Gun). She’s cooking up an ever-changing Asian-inspired menu featuring dishes like chicken & Thai basil wontons, sesame noodles, Taiwanese fried chicken, and spring rolls with house tonkatsu.
FEEDING THE CURIOUS SINCE 2010
POP-UPS
From winter wonderlands to one-day only immersive experiences and the coolest restaurants, never miss one of these one-off wonders ever again. This is our up-to-the-minute guide to the best London pop ups to check out.
TACOS PADRE SUMMER EVENING POP-UP
After a successful evening pop-up series last summer, Nick Fitzgerald is bringing it back to Tacos Padre for 2021. Running Thursdays – Saturdays on the fully covered terrace outside the Borough Market stall, the pop-up sees Nick cook up a full dinner menu, featuring dishes like crab tostada with guajillo & tamarind, sweet potato flauta, Baja-style fish tacos, Iberico presa al pastor with burnt habanero pickled pineapple, grilled lamb with pasilla mixe, and churros with cascabel cajeta alongside frozen and mezcal margs, natural wines and beers from Mexico and London.
WHOLE BEAST AT KANPAI
Unit 2A, 2 133 Copeland Rd, Peckham, SE15 3SN
The team at sake brewery Kanpai has expanded their taproom by turning the hut opposite the brewery into a kitchen space and Whole Beast, the live fire nose-to-tail concept run by Sam Bryant and Alicja Specjalna has taken up residency. The pair have created a umami-led menu designed to pair well with sake, with dishes like crispy fried rice with green chilli hot sauce; smoked chicken wings with coronation kewpie; BBQ mushrooms with pearl barley, sake & miso; smoked lamb curry with peshwari naan; massaman potatoes with crispy onions & geeen sauce; and Clwb Tropicana soft serve with burnt pineapple caramel & Bounty. Whole Beast is cooking Wednesdays – Sundays and you don’t need to book, so just rock up and grab a table.
ELLIOT'S ELL FRESCO POP-UP
Elliot’s is bringing back its pop-up terrace opposite the Borough Market restaurant, where can feast on the likes of Cantabrian anchovy toast; Isle of Mull cheese puffs; potato flatbread with Irish trout roe and sour cream chive butter; tuna crudo; langoustines with ginger and white pepper; and pizzas like taleggio, sage and brown butter and epic mortadella, olive, and pistachio.
SHO FOO DOH AT FILLY BROOK
392 Grove Green Road, London, UK
You may have seen Sho Foo Doh, the Japanese street food brand run by Fumio Tanga, pop-up at markets and pubs across town and now it’s taken over the kitchen (Weds-Sun) at bar and arts space Filly Brook in Leytonstone. Sho Foo Doh specialises in Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki, with pork belly, kimchi & cheddar and squid & prawns among the varieties, and the residency menu also includes dishes like sesame panko-crusted cauliflower with mirin & soy, charred hispi with miso butter, baked katsu curried rice with bechamel & cheddar, gochujang tuna & avo tacos, and chilli miso aubergine rice. It’s izakaya food so it’s perfect to be eaten with a few bevs.
GORDOS PIZZERIA AT DALSTON ROOF PARK
You can get high in Dalston this summer as Dalston Roof Park is open for the season. The bars are pouring natty wines and 40FT beers, and local pizzeria Gordos is taking care of the food with Neapolitan style pies – after climbing all those stairs to get to the top, you defo deserve a slice or three. And remember it’s walk-ins only.
Photo credit: Root + Bone
A BETTER FEELING | WHEN SPACE SITS STILL
A Better Feeling, the brand founded by Xander Ghost that’s best known for its eyewear, has made its retail debut with a pop-up in Selfridges. The installation, designed in collaboration with artist Richard Hughes, is based on the idea of a contemporary relic and a place where elements are in flux. It features large sculpted rocks made from recycled polystyrene and natural resins, with A Better Feeling products – both eyewear and the brand’s new wax candles – embedded into them.
ZERO-LIVING
Zero-Living, the sustainably conscious website founded by Natalie Denyer, is popping up IRL with a store in Mayfair. The shop stocks local and UK-based plastic-free, vegan, organic, recycled and Fairtrade products across homeware, beauty, fashion, cleaning and more with brands like Homework, Aff & Jam, ede, Colt & Willow, The Modern Style and Ash & Plum.
MUSEUM OF YOUTH CULTURE
3 Carnaby Street, London, UK
The Museum of Youth Culture is popping up on Carnaby Street with a shop, gallery and events space. The pop-up will feature the Reconstructed Teenage Bedroom installation filled with posters and zines, a Rusty Pin Badge Collection, a whole load of rave flyers and teenage photograph submissions the Museum has had for its Grown Up Britain project.
STREETEAT
The Underbelly team, best known for its festival on the South Bank, is popping up in Wimbledon Park with StreetEat. The pop-up will feature food traders like Seawise, It’s A Wrap, Pabellon, Cripes it’s Crepes, Simply Falafel and Kurbside Kitchen, alongside open-air bars, socially distanced seating and free live music on the StreetEat stage.
SKYLIGHT CANALSIDE FEATURING KERB
Skylight is known for its epic rooftop space but this spring and summer it’s teaming up with KERB and taking over the quayside area at Tobacco Dock too. There’ll be picnic tables and parasols along the canal and two new food trucks will park up on Saturdays every month, kicking off with Fundi Pizza and Tongue ‘n Cheek and as well as the food you’ll also be able to enjoy Skylight’s lawn games.
MACALLAN MANOR HOUSE
A bit of the Scottish Highlands is coming to Holborn as Rosewood London opens The Macallan Manor House in the courtyard. Inspired by a riverside boathouse, the ceiling will be filled with flowers with fishing nets and foliage throughout the rest of the space and wildlfowers and heathers outside. As well as Macallan whisky cocktails you’ll be able to tuck into dishes like griddled prawns with garlic butter, lamb rump with Jersey Royals & spring vegetables, and Paris-Brest with salted caramel & praline from the Holborn Dining Room team.
