Every restaurant needs its Instagrammable dish: the one thing on the menu that (hopefully) goes viral, sending follower numbers soaring and booking requests through the roof. Maybe it’s something decadent like a baked potato covered in gold leaf, or a mind boggling piece of architecture, like a 100-layer lasagna. At Fowl, the new chicken place by the content-loving lads behind popular anti-food-waste eatery Fallow, the menu features a chicken pie with a real roasted hen’s head erupting through the crust. Eyes, beak and all. Tough to chew, but good for the gram.
But something much simpler, much more low key has been courting diners’ lenses throughout the capital’s coolest spots. The humble flatbread, though stoic and universally adored, has rarely been the main event, muscled out by focaccia, sourdough pizza and other, sexier starches. But it’s been yassified, and now no small-plate concept (“we recommend 3-4 dishes per person”) is worth its salt without a flatty topped with something weird.
A Bistro Freddie, the zeitgeisty new spot in Shoreditch from the team behind Spitalfields’ much-loved Crispin, the flatbreads are topped with tarragon and garlic butter, chicken skin and slow-cooked snails. “We tried it on the menu and it was an instant hit,” says sous chef Frankie Clarke.
“Snails are a bistro staple, and we wanted to pay homage to that in any way we could, but maybe not in a traditional escargot,” he continues. “We knew we were going to have a flatbread of some description, but couldn’t decide on a topping for a while, so combined the two ideas.”
Clarke explains that flatbreads are traditionally unleavened (as the name suggests), but that at many restaurants, flatbread dough and pizza dough are now basically the same thing. The yeast or sourdough starter (leavening agents) give the bread an improved flavour, he says, as well as those charming air bubbles and a pillowy texture. “I guess it’s a way of un-Italian restaurants using a pizza without having to use the name.”
Further un-Italian restaurants include Strakers in Notting Hill and Maison Francois in St James, which both serve flatbreads topped with mussels and garlic butter. Straker, through his massive social media following, has somewhat claimed the dish as his own, though Maison Francois claims it has the “original and best” recipe.
Elsewhere, you’ll find flatbreads on the menu at Shoreditch nose-to-tail spot Manteca (clams), north-London neighbourhood bistro Jolene (taleggio), and Peckham favourite Levan (lamb tartare). Clarke suggests the rise of the flatbread could be due to the domestication of pizza ovens (like those by Gozney, Ooni, etc.), which has brought pizza-making culture into the mainstream. Or it could simply be down to a need to spice up a restaurant’s bread offering, which can often be pretty uninspiring. “But a flatbread is a really good opportunity to add seasonal, delicious ingredients at a reasonable cost.”
The flatbread trend may be on the verge of critical mass, but Straker recently doubled down by opening a flatbread-only spot alongside the likes of Bao, Tipan Tapan and Comida Mexa at Arcade, a new street food hall in Battersea. The menu, though low on variety, is big on flavour and big on gluten. Just don’t call it a pizza place.
