1 | Golden Week Menu: Hakkasan x Street XO
From Monday and for the next month, a very special menu will be available at the super-swish Hakkasan restaurants, blending their signature Cantonese cuisine with that of Spanish culinary wild child Dabiz Muñoz. A quirky combo, right? But you can be assured of a top notch experience here, and the sweet and sour flavour combinations of these two cooking styles are a treat unlike anything you'll find elsewhere. So the hot and sour noodle soup comes with a foie gras foam on top; the Peking duck comes in a beetroot pancake with a big thwack of lychee and rose; lamb dumplings come with chocolate and mint; and the hybrid of Spanish tortillas and dim sum provides a satisfying waft of truffle, served with a quail's egg on top. It's one of those things that feels like it shouldn't work but just absolutely does – and no surprise since the two chefs in charge can boast four Michelin stars between them.
Pre-booking essential; £88 per person; 25 September – 22 October
Hakkasan Mayfair & Hanway Place; hakkasan.com
2 | Brand New Breakfasts: Magpie
Magpie is the new restaurant from the duo behind Hackney's Pidgin, which is a small but mighty bistro that earned a Michelin star last year. Snuck behind Regent's Street on the ever-improving Heddon Street, Magpie is similarly charming and yet, being bigger, has room for the food trolley the owners always dreamed of. It also does wine and cocktails on tap (dangerous). This week, they started a breakfast service and – joy of joys – there is not a hint of avocado to be seen on the tiny menu. Note: if you're slow at choosing what to go for, this is the perfect solution for you. Healthy juices and turmeric drinks sit alongside a delicious home-made granola bowl served with fresh fruit and yoghurt, and freshly-made pastries. But the real crowd-pleaser is the hoisin pork belly sandwich on fermented potato bread, with chilli and mushroom. Hangovers have a new friend.
10 Heddon Street, London, W1B 4BX; magpie-london.com
3 | Fine Dining in Tower Bridge: Tom Simmons
Chef Tom Simmons got to the quarter-finals of Masterchef: The Professionals and has just opened his first London restaurant alongside his girlfriend Lois, who runs the front of house. It is in Tower Bridge, which is one of those up-and-coming areas that one just wishes could get there faster. But it is always a relief to have a charming – and good – little restaurant to fall back on after a romantic walk along the river. So pay them a visit for food which has got the likes of Pierre Koffman (a living god of the restaurant world) coming back for more. True to his roots, Simmons is championing Welsh produce and recipes where possible, so it would be rude not to kick off with the cockle popcorn and lava bread mayo. His meat options stand out a mile, with pigeon and beetroot, lamb rump, and venison loin all full of satisfying, succulent flavour.
2 Still Walk, London, SE1 2RA; tom-simmons.co.uk
4 | Fashionable Snacks: Burberry's 'Here We Are'
London Fashion Week may well have finished, but the Burberry exhibition at Clerkenwell's Old Sessions House is still going strong, featuring a photographic display curated by Christopher Bailey, Lucy Kumara Moore and Alasdair McLellan plus this season's runway collection. Alongside it is a pop-up of the Burberry café, Thomas's, which celebrates British produce in the form of cakes, salads and light bites – some taken from the Regent's Street original and others created especially for this venture. Get in there early, stock up on some lobster Benedict and then have a cultural Saturday.
Old Sessions House, 22 Clerkenwell Green,London, EC1R 0NA; uk.burberry.com
5 | BOOK AHEAD: Quo Vadis Negroni Championship 2.0
When Soho bolthole Quo Vadis throws a party, you know you're in for trouble. But when it hosts a Negroni competition, things are about to get terrifyingly real. After last year's inaugural event, the gauntlet is once again being thrown down to barmen who feel they can come up with a winning Negroni variation, and you can buy tickets to sample each of the entrees, plus a welcome drink and food served by the incomparable Jeremy Lee (more likely than not, a toasted smoked eel finger sandwich will be involved). Tickets cost £35and have only just come on-sale for the event, which is on 25th October – book now to avoid disappointment.
26 – 29 Dean Street, London, W1D 3LL; eventbrite.co.uk
