Pop Up
Following the closure of his restaurants at Birch in Croydon, Lee Westcott is back in South London, popping up at Robin Gill’s Brixton wine bar Bottle + Rye. The six-week stint is a space for him to try out some dishes as he looks for a permanent pub space in East London, and the French/Southern Med-inspired menu he’s cooking up sounds good. You can expect dishes like oysters with fermented wild garlic, grilled asparagus with purple sprouting broccoli and seaweed hollandaise, aged sirloin steak tartare with crispy potato, Cornish bouillabaisse with baguette and rouille, breast of lamb with spring veg and salsa verde, and Yorkshire rhubarb choux bun, and there’s also a £40 set menu option available too.
Fancy playing a round of crazy golf, catching a movie, hitting some bullseyes or shaking it out with a dance class? Well you can do it all at Roof East. Yes the Stratford rooftop is jam-packed with activities, including Rooftop Film Club, Sluggers batting cages, Birdies crazy golf, Arrows archery, Glitter Bowls lawn games, giant jenga, cornhole and table tennis. You can stay well fed and watered with the roof’s five bars and street food from the likes of Chick ‘n’ Sours, Piddaji and Cheeky Burger, and of course, you’ve got those mega views over the Stratford to enjoy.
BLACK CACTUS AT EXALE TAP
Enjoy a summer of beer and BBQ at Exale Tap as the Walthamstow taproom plays host to smoked meat specialists Black Cactus and their 500 gallon pit smoker. The menu, showcasing produce from the UK’s best meat suppliers, will be changing regularly but you can expect the likes of Texas-style BBQ trays, dry-aged ex-dairy cow smoked burgers, chimichurri brisket rolls, and char siu pork belly banh mi (and yes, there will be veggie dishes on offer too). Get your BBQ and Exale brew fix Thurs – Sun.
Ixta Belfrage, chef and award-winning author of Mezcla: Recipes to Excite, is going to be taking over the kitchen at The Standard’s Isla for three months this spring. The all-day restaurant will be serving up an exclusive flavour-packed menu inspired by the recipes in Ixta’s hit cookbook and the culinary traditions of Italy, Brazil and Mexico, with the star of the show being a fan-favourite, her king prawn lasagne. Other highlights will include guava roast duck tacos with chipotle crema; crisped sticky rice stuffed aubergine; a moqueca fish slider on curried coconut brioche; sea bream and yellow tomato aguachile; and honey-roasted cashew ice cream choco-taco.
VINTAGE POSTER MARKET
The Projekt Mkt Vintage Poster Market is back in town with a two-day pop-up at the Gipsy Hill Taproom in South London. Six independent vintage poster dealers will be selling their wares, with everything from music and film classics to Soviet-era Communist posters to the Polish School of Posters pieces up for grabs, there’s something for everyone and for every budget. It’s FREE to get in there and shop, and KERB+ will be supplying street food alongside beers from the brewery.
And our INSIDERS can get 10% OFF the Projekt 26 stall at the Vintage Poster Market, head to your INSIDERS dashboard to find out how. Not an INSIDER yet? You can sign up here.Londoners have gone crazy for Anya Hindmarch’s unusual ice creams, including flavours like Branston Pickle and Heinz Tomato Ketchup, and now the designer is bringing them to us in scented candle form. Anya Mart, the latest pop-up shop at the Anya Hindmarch Village in Knightsbridge, is stocked with candles smelling like Fanta, Imperial Leather, Coco Pops, Heinz Baked Beans and more. The shop, a playful nod to the corner shops of yesteryear, is pleasingly retro inside – it’s giving high-end Supermarket Sweep vibes – and is also filled with charms, purses, bags, PJs, and slippers from the Anya Brands collection.
SPAGO AT 45 PARK LANE
Beverly Hills fave and celeb magnet Spago, founded by Wolfgang Puck, is coming back across the pond to the capital for a pop-up this March. The restaurant will be taking over Puck’s London restaurant CUT at 45 Park Lane for three days, with Byron Puck and Tetsu Yahagi coming over to collaborate with 45 Park Lane’s Elliot Grover on a five-course dinner menu. Dishes will include lobster and asparagus salad with yuzu miso vinaigrette; bacon-wrapped monkfish with broad beans and chanterelle mushrooms; uovo in raviolo with French black truffles; grilled New York steak with braised beef cheeks, wild ramps and ricotta-nettle gnocchi; and tiramisu.
Chef Eric Wan (of Dinner by Heston) runs modern Vietnamese pop-up Lá Lốt, inspired by his Chinese/Vietnamese background and his mother’s birthplace of Chợ Lớn in Saigon, where he puts a twist on traditional ingredients and street food dishes. He’s taking over High Ground in Angel for two nights this March, with four-course menu including dishes like chicken, sweet basil & peanut salad; beef, star anise & lemongrass with jasmine rice; and Vietnamese coffee tiramisu. And you can add on paired wines from the High Ground team, who’ll be pouring Austrian and European bottles. You can book a table by buying a £20 ticket here, which’ll be taken off your bill at the end.
HOKO X WUN'S TEA ROOM WONTON NOODLES POP-UP
Wun’s Tea Room & Bar (from the team behind Bun House in Chinatown and the Pleasant Lady stall in Old Spitalfields Market) has been closed since last summer, but it’s coming back this February and March for a collab with Hong Kong milk tea and French toast experts HOKO. The pop-up will see the Soho spot transformed into a wonton noodles shop where you can grab bowls of the HK speciality, as well as HOKO favourites. There’ll be several wonton noodles options on the menu, each of which will be served with hand-wrapped wontons filled with pork and shrimp. Plus, there’ll be plates of char siu BBQ pork rice, lo mein and HOKO’s classic French toast, as well as plenty of tea to sip on.
CHARITY SUPER.MKT AT FENWICK'S
After popping up in Brent Cross last year, pre-loved fashion concept store Charity Super.Mkt (which started life as a section at the Classic Car Boot Sale) is coming back to the capital for another pop-up. This time it’s taking over the ground floor Fenwick’s on Bond Street before the site gets redeveloped into offices following the department store’s closure. The multi-charity store, which includes British Heart Foundation, Shelter and Traid, will be making use of hangers and fittings from Fenwick, and there’ll even be some designer donations on the rails too. Since it started Charity Super.Mkt has raised over £1.6 million for charity and saved 53 tonnes of clothes from going to landfill, so swing by the pop-up and help them continue the good work.
After saying a sad goodbye to its former home on Scala Street in Fitzrovia last January, Pollock’s Toy Museum is coming back to London – this time, in pop-up form. The (now, mini) museum will be moving into a space in Croydon’s Whitgift Centre in January for a six-month residency and it’ll be bringing plenty of whimsical toys, games, dolls and theatres along with it. There’ll also be a display of toys made in a local factory, A Barton, exclusive to the Croydon pop-up. They’re open on Saturdays from 10am until 4pm and entry is free (plus, there’ll be special toy theatre shows on Sat 20th January to mark the opening), but donations are welcome and will go towards saving the collection and supporting the museum’s hunt for a new permanent home.
LOUIS VUITTON LOVERS AT THE SELFRIDGES CORNER SHOP
After showing his debut men’s spring-summer 2024 collection for Louis Vuitton on the Pont Neuf during Paris Fashion Week in June 2023, LV’s Menswear Creative Director Pharrell Williams is bringing it to London. For five weeks this winter, LOUIS VUITTON LOVERS will take over The Corner Shop at Selfridges, so you’ll be able to experience a bit of that Parisian magic as well as shop from a curated edit of clothing and accessories from the SS24 collection, including tailoring, leather jackets, retro sportswear and pieces featuring Williams’ pixelated Damoflage print, his take on the iconic LV Damier chessboard pattern. You’ll need to make an appointment if you want to get inside, which you can book here.
Brighton’s first fully dry bar is coming to London for a limited time only with a pop-up in Hoxton this January. Torstig (which means “thirsty” in Danish) has already been revolutionising the world of alcohol-free cocktails in its native city, but now the capital’s getting a taste of the action as the bar will be bringing its menu of signature serves to Kingsland Road for two weeks. Each tipple has been inspired by a classic cocktail, so you’ll know what to order based on your usual order. For example, go for the Tumbol if you like Negronis, the Orso if you like Old Fashioneds or the Agerup if you like Margaritas. There’ll also be a selection of ‘mood-altering’ serves, made with Three Spirit and Wild Eve, which use ingredients such as guayusa, schisandra, cacao, lion’s mane and terpenes for something either uplifting or to help you wind down. And, if you’re not in the mood for a mixed drink, there’ll also be Guinness 0.0 on tap, as well as a wide range of cans and bottles such as Brulo CBD IPA and LOAH’s Lime, Peach and Blood Orange 0.5% beers.
Max Mara’s iconic Teddy Bear Coat is turning ten and to celebrate, the brand has brought its Fluffy Residence to London. After previously popping up in Chengdu and Milan, the installation has now landed in Covent Garden, and as the name suggests, it’s a cocoon of softness just like the famous coat. Everything inside the residence is made out of the camel-coloured Teddy fabric, from the food on the dining table to the presents underneath the Christmas tree to the giant teddy bear headboard above the bed. Of course there are Teddy coats in the wardrobe and there’s also a magic mirror inside the house where you can generate your Teddy alter ego. So if you’re looking for a calming respite from the festive chaos, step inside the Fluffy Residence – you can just walk in or you can book a slot here for fast access.
JAY WOLMAN AT 107
In case you missed the news, P.Franco has closed, reopened and is now called 107. But, while the name is different, the ethos is still very much the same: a stellar wine selection and pop-ups from some of the world’s most exciting chefs. And for their next residency, they’re bringing Jay Wolman – of Diner, LaLou, Marlow & Sons, MIMI and Intermission – onboard. We don’t know exactly what’ll be on the menu just yet, but from the sneak peeks they’ve given us on Instagram, it looks like we can expect very good things.
RENAISSANCE X FLANNELS POP-UP
FLANNELS is rolling out the chrome horse once again as its Beyoncé-inspired pop-up is back. FLANNELS launched its first Renaissance experience back in the summer to coincide with the pop icon’s major tour. Now, with the release of Renaissance: A Film By Beyoncé, they’re going for round two. Expect to see the FLANNELS flagship’s exterior and basement transformed into a multimedia showcase celebrating the tour and film with never-before-seen footage where you’ll be able to shop FLANNELS’s 16-piece Renaissance merch collection. Plus, Reneigh, Beyoncé’s now world-famous disco ball-come-horse will be greeting guests at the entrance.
DREAMERS POP-UP MARKET
Yoga, movement and strength studio Waking Dreams is putting on a pop-up market this Christmas, filled with products from a curated selection of East London brands. As well as being plenty to browse, you’ll have the chance to print your own merch at the Print Club London stall, get some tooth gems, rent Christmas party dresses, join in on micro workshops and sip on hot drinks from DIRTEA. Plus, there’ll be live vinyl DJs and live performances from Drag King and HÄUS OF DONS founder Daisy Doris May. And, while you’re shopping for gifts, why not buy something for someone experiencing homelessness or displaced by war at the market’s own Choose Love shop?
THE HAPPY ENDINGS PUDDING HATCH
Not content with making the best ice cream sandwiches in the land, Happy Endings is warming us up this winter with their Pudding Hatch at Pavilion in Victoria Park. Expect steamy sticky toffee and hot chocolate pudding topped with custard or a scoop of their famous ice cream (with flavours such as vegan mint stracciatella, golden syrup, malted milk or classic vegan vanilla). And if it’s a bit too nippy out there, you can grab some pud to take away and warm up at home. The hatch is open all weekend (Fri – Sun) for the rest of the winter, we’ll see you there.