1 | Deep Fried Dover Sole @ Hutong Shard
Frosty weather makes for striking skies, so get the best view this week by zooming up to Hutong, in the Shard, and celebrating Chinese New Year at the same time. Two birds, one stone. Or should that be pigs? Who knows. But the year of the swine is being honoured throughout February at this upmarket Chinese restaurant, with a special nine-course tasting menu option. The new year officially falls on Tuesday, so the restaurant is seeing it in on Monday with a ‘reunion dinner’, at which all guests can enjoy that epic menu of Sichuan pork ribs, deep fried Dover sole with chilli and lychee, scallop and prawn wantons with the chef’s famous chilli oil, and more. There’ll be lion dancers, noise-markers and horoscope readings, too.
4 – 25 February, £88 per person
Level 33, The Shard, 31 St Thomas Street, London, SE1 9RY; hutong.co.uk
2 | Fallow Deer Chop @ Gridiron
As you wave goodbye to this notion of Veganuary and resume (or simply rejoice in) your carnivorous habits, you will need the likes of Gridiron on your radar. Focussed on flame-grilling and located to the side of the Como Metropolitan hotel (you’ll just have to ignore that aspect), the restaurant opened before Christmas and boasts an almost priceless pedigree: the executive chef is Richard H Turner (of Hawksmoor, Blacklock and Pitt Cue, plus butchers Turner and George) and head chef Colin McSherry has The Fat Duck, Dinner by Heston Blumenthal and the Chiltern Firehouse under his belt. Oh, and Guardian wine critic Fiona Beckett has curated the wine list, so you’ll be grateful that Dry January has finally ceased.
The pleasingly succinct menu is, nonetheless, all pretty rich, so ensuring a green salad on the side will ease your palate. Otherwise, you may as well go to town (whether you’ve abstained this past month or not): pig’s head and black pudding croquettes; roasted scallop with salty bone marrow done XO-style; beautiful steaks cooked over fire. Our tips? Make sure to try one of the chops (they’re generously sized and succulently done), opt for cheesy Tunworth mash over chips, and finish with the delicate English honey tart.
19 Old Park Lane, London, W1K 1LB; gridironlondon.com
3 | Chicken Wings & Buckets of Beer @ Red Rooster Shoreditch
Be prepared for a sleepy start to next week, once Sunday night’s Super Bowl shindigs have run their course. It’s always more fun watching with others, so head to charmingly eccentric Harlem import Red Rooster, in The Curtain hotel, for buckets of beer and fried chicken wings, which will accompany the big-screen action beginning at 9pm. Those are included in your £25 ticket, but there will also be Jack Daniel’s cocktails, boozy ice cream and a menu of even more mouth-watering snacks like mac ‘n’ cheese bites, devilled eggs and that magnificent cornbread from inimitable head chef Marcus Samuelsson available. Kick-off is at 11.30pm for the UK and this place loves a party, so won’t kick you out until 4.30 in the morning. You can get through a lot of fried chicken in that time.
45 Curtain Road, London, EC2A 3PT; thecurtain.com
4 | Braised Lamb Neck @ Babbo *
Eating at Babbo is as slick and accomplished an experience as you’d expect from an upmarket Italian restaurant on Albermarle Street. But, refreshingly for a Mayfair joint, it’s not soulless or overdone; small but perfectly formed, it’s an ideal place to sequester yourself away for an indulgently long meal. The cooking is traditional with wonderfully pure flavours. Antipasti highlights include the beautifully creamy burrata, and the polpette di vitello – succulent veal meatballs, served in a rich tomato sauce. The veal escalope, flavoured with lemon and served with mixed vegetables, is the standout main, though a strong case could be made for the braised lamb neck (especially when served with truffled potatoes). But fortunately, for those who are indecisive (or, frankly, greedy) the waiters are more than happy to send out a shareable selection of dishes, with accompanying wines, no menu needed. Molto buono!
39 Albermarle Street, London, W1S 4JQ; babborestaurant.co.uk
5 | Call In Calçotada @ Brindisa **
You celebrate Calçotada, right? You know, the traditional Catalan winter festival held in tribute to the humble scallion? Of course you do! But are you celebrating it right?
If you ask us, you should get down to Brindisa Shoreditch and dive into the rustic feasting menu that runs until March. Calçots (Spanish green onions) are chargrilled over an open flame and covered in delicious homemade romesco sauce. It’s not just scallions, though: choose from white and black Butifarra sausages, grilled lamb cutlets and sautéed white bean stew.
As you’d expect from a festival that worships onions, the vegan and vegetarian options are just as mouth-watering , from the ‘Escalivada’ flame roasted vegetables, to the baked potatoes with ‘sanfaina’ tomato sauce, to an animal-friendly take on Crèma Catalana.
Calçotada feast £35pp and Vegan Calçotada feast £27pp
Brindisa Shoreditch, 152 Curtain Rd, EC2A 3AT, brindisakitchens.com
*Babbo words by Max Olesker
**Brindisa words by Nick Pope
