1 | Butter Chicken Wings @ Brigadiers
It’s a few years since Gymkhana changed London’s perception of Indian dining, and the team behind it continues to go from strength to strength. They’ve just ventured into the City to open Brigadiers and it’s one big party inside. Think deep red leather, stags heads on the walls, and sultry booths galore. With the World Cup starting this week, you’ll be grateful for their big screens, and their countless private rooms which you can book for more of a select party whilst watching the action.
The food provides a veritable feast – if you can choose what you even want from the menu, that is. It's jam-packed with flavours that you’ll be desperate to try. Make a beeline for the butter chicken wings, which will send you weak at the knees, and the dry tandoori masala rib-eye steak – the most satisfying thing at the end of a hard day. Otherwise, who can turn down a bone-marrow biryani? There are cocktails on tap, there is a whisky vending machine… you’ll have fun here, but it could be dangerous. Just saying.
1 – 5 Bloomberg Arcade, London, EC4N 8AR; brigadierslondon.com
2 | Aged Beef & Oyster Po’ Boy Burger @ Joe Allen
The burger at Joe Allen is perhaps the worst-kept but most-loved secret on the London dining scene. It’s an absolute favourite that just so happens not to be listed on the printed menu, and so there remains the most charming little frisson in the ordering of it (no matter how many times you do). Now, for the first time in the restaurant’s 40 years, the burger is officially on the menu. And donning various different guises at that, thanks to week-long collaborations with four top London chefs.
This week, Temper’s Neil Rankin is up, and he’s created an aged beef and oyster po’ boy burger, Louisiana-style, to really get into the spirit of this American bistro. From 18 June, you can try a Venetian take on it by Esquire’s Accidental Chef, Russell Norman. And then there’ll be a cheese feast from the Cheese Bar folk, finishing up with Rochelle Canteen’s incomparable Margo Henderson. This is comfort food with a twist, and you’ll have an unfailingly delightful time.
2 Burleigh Street, London, WC2E 7PX; joeallen.co.uk
3 | Apple Crumble Muffins @ Kiss the Hippo
West London’s coffee lovers have a new haven with this week’s opening of Kiss the Hippo, in Richmond. The Scandi-cool design belies the depth of passion that the team has for its blends, with their own – specially made – roaster upstairs and firm opinions about drip-brewed coffee. This creates quite the spectacle as your Americano gets made, and keen beans (sorry not sorry) will even be able to take classes in the upstairs workshop. Equally fashionable is its sustainability levels, making this the most eco coffee pitstop you’ll make.
Sustenance is painstakingly sourced from local producers, with both healthy and not-so-healthy options making this a week-round kind of place: bircher muesli with home-made almond butter and dried bananas, and coconut yogurt pots can do you during the week; cinnamon buns topped with white chocolate and apple crumble muffins make weekend treats. There is also a hot menu of eggs, avocado, and seriously loaded croissants.
50 George Street, Richmond, TW9 1HJ; kissthehippo.com
4 | Liquid Pleasures @ Social 24
On prime summer evenings, you need a view like that from City Social, Jason Atherton’s Michelin-starred restaurant. Conveniently, they are also showing the World Cup in their Social24 bar. Which is fortuitous, since the pointedly refreshing new cocktail menu is just what you’ll fancy now that things are heating up (every which way). Inspired by the buildings on the skyline around you, nothing is too fussy and you’ll happily recognise the ingredients listed, and yet it is all done a nice bit of flair. Opt for the Walkie Talkie if you need a gin fix in a violet hue or, for something sharper and a tad umami, The Thames tastes far better than you might have expected such liquid to (Icelandic vodka is blended with rosemary, watercress, apple, celery sugar and seaweed) – it’s a unique flavour. Bloody Mary fans should try The Globe, which offers a fierce tomato flavour in a totally clean glass of liquid - practically a meal in itself.
You really will need some food to wash it down with, so make the most of the neighbouring restaurant’s equally seasonal menu, with their signatures of Brixham crab with tangy grapefruit and pickled kohlrabi, or the tuna tataki with avocado and citrusy ponzu. But as the night draws in, don’t forget that tarte tatin for two to share – one of London’s treasures.
Tower 42, 25 Old Broad Street, London, EC2N 1HQ; citysociallondon.com
5 | Japanese Brunch @ Aqua Kyoto
You can only soak up your hangover with sourdough so many times before it gets boring so take your brunch game to the next level at Aqua Kyoto. The Ukiyo dishes fall under two separate menus: ‘Indulgence’ and ‘Purity’. The former is packed full of rich, decadent twists on Japanese classics, including okonomiyaki (pancakes) served with sticky honey-cured bacon, as well as chicken wings with spicy teriyaki sauce. ‘Purity’, on the other hand, won’t leave you with a weekend-blurring food coma: we’re talking crunchy tuna tacos crammed with yuzu, wasabi and herbs, and grilled king brown oyster mushroom yakitori.
You can choose two dishes from either menu, alongside delicious sides, subtle desserts and, if you shell out a little extra, a endless stream of Bellinis and Veuve Clicquot Champagne (though they can sort out an any bottomless booze you desire if you give them prior notice).
30 Argyll Street, London, W1B 3BR; aquakyoto.co.uk
6 | Bottomless World Cup Beer @ Gorgeous Brewery
Joke all you want, but World Cup fever is a serious condition. Your body needs booze, and stat – whether it’s to celebrate England’s successes or drown out their failures.
That’s where Saturdays at Gorgeous Brewery at The Bull pub comes in. They’ve launched a bottomless brunch menu for the first time, including an endless supply of their eight unique brews and beer-infused Bloody Marys.
To make sure you make it through a day full of matches in one pieces, you can soak the endless beer up with a classic full English (patriotic!), a huevos rancheros (patriótico!) or an eggs benedict (poached!)
Bottomless brunch £35pp. The Bull, 13 North Hill, Highgate, London, N6 4AB; gorgeousbrewery.co.uk
7 | Seafood Celebrations @ J Sheekey Atlantic Bar
The Sunday Times food editor Lisa Markwell is the latest chef to host a seafood supper club at the J Sheekey Atlantic Bar this Tuesday 3rd, all in celebration of the Covent Garden institution’s 10th anniversary.
She’ll be cooking alongside Executive Head Chef Andrew McLay to rustle up a delicious one-off, four course menu. Her signature dish? A ribboned salad of beetroot cured salmon, pickled summer vegetables and labneh.
But it’s not all about the food. The former student of Leiths School of Food and Wine will be opening up about her approach, methods and culinary philosophies (It’s also about washing everything back with one too many Plymouth Gin cocktails, of course).
Tickets £50 pp, J Sheekey Atlantic Bar, 28-32 St Martin's Ct, London WC2N 4AL, J Sheekey Atlantic Bar
