1 | Go For A Slap-Up Dinner: The Coach
Dating back to 1790, The Coach is a fine example of an inner-city pub: the warm glow of its golden lanterns positively screams out to you from the main road, compelling you towards its urban oasis, and inside it is warm and cosy, with an art deco-style upstairs dining room and a great garden out back. In its new incarnation, food comes curtesy of former Racine chef Henry Harris, who looks set to take over London’s gastropub scene. And that is no derogatory term, for this is a pub and it has serious gastronomical clout: comfortable menu classics like pork rillettes and onglet steak with chips sit alongside meltingly buttery calves brains, the inimitably smoky offal sausage Andouille de Vire (served with goat’s cheese toasted on brioche), and succulent roast rabbit. Meat eaters can start doing their happy dance now, and if you don’t work near enough to call this your local, you’ll be genuinely considering an office move.
26-28 Ray Street, London, EC1R 3DJ; thecoachclerkenwell.co.uk
2 | Dive Into A Whisky-Fuelled Speakeasy: Spice & Rye
If this has been a rough week, you've still got until Saturday to drown your sorrows the whisky way thanks to Glenmorangie's rather special pop-up bar, Spice & Rye. Spice is the inspiration behind the brand’s new limited edition single malt (named Spìos), which is the first Glenmorangie ever to have been matured solely in American ex-rye whiskey casks. So what does that mean for you? A 1920s-themed Fitzrovia bar open for one week only, designed to transport you to New York during Prohibition with an entrance via an apothecary shop leading to a jazz-fuelled cocktail den offering Glenmorangie concoctions. Snazzy, huh? And for the purists amongst you, simple flights of the whisky will also be available so that you can taste your way through the range with the pros.
20-24 March; 14 Percy Street, London, W1T 1DR; tickets cost £10 and are available here.
3 | Make A Night Of It: Coda At Royal Albert Hall
Dining at The Royal Albert Hall hasn't always been the most enlivening of prospects, but its culinary prowess is on the up thanks to Michelin-starred French chef Eric Chavot, who is giving the main restaurant, Coda, a reboot. So if you're headed to a show then nab a table for dinner beforehand, allowing you to thwart the crowds battling for a spot at the bar. Instead, you'll head into this calmer, happier space where they now serve a satisfying menu of French classics like dainty steak tartare, a whole roast sole generously doused in brown butter and lemon, and an apple tart to please the sweetest of sweet teeth (plus inject some energy so that you are alert for the show).
Royal Albert Hall, Kensington Gore, London, SW7 2AP; royalalberthall.com
4 | Treat Yourself To Middle-Eastern Croissants: Pophams X #CookForSyria
It may only have opened at the beginning of the year, but Pophams Bakery in Islington has quickly gained a reputation for its truly delicious, verging on genius, pastries. We're thinking about that maple-bacon croissant in particular... And their newest invention has just gone on-sale: a baklava-inspired croissant created in a joint effort with the Cook For Syria team. It's available for one month only and all proceeds go to Unicef's NextGen London appeal, so take this as not just an excuse, but a charitable reason to go and gorge on the almond, walnut, rose and pistachio sweet treat. It costs £3.20 and can be yours until 13th April.
19 Prebend Street, London, N1 8PF; pophamsbakery.com
5 | Book Ahead: ‘Dinner With Friends’ At Red Rooster Shoreditch
A new monthly gathering has begun at one of the coolest hangouts to have hit Shoreditch within the last year: Red Rooster at The Curtain hotel. Here, as in his Harlem restaurant, chef Marcus Samuelsson serves an inimitable menu of dishes inspired by his American, Ethiopian and Nordic background. (Take note for your next brunch date: if you haven’t tried that mountain of fried chicken and waffles otherwise known as the Bird Royale Feast then, honestly, you haven’t lived). But if you really want to join the it-crowd, then sign up for the intimate supper clubs taking place on the last Thursday of every month, when Samuelsson will be joined by a different chef from across the city each time. The last one featured Tomos Parry (he formerly of Kitty Fisher’s and now opening BRAT – Google it) and next up is Smoking Goat’s Ali Borer, who’ll be bringing his Thai BBQ style to a special, collaborative menu enjoyed in the glam private dining room. Your £75 ticket gets you more than ample amounts of food, paired drinks and a killer DJ.
45 Curtain Road, London, EC2A 3PT; thecurtain.com/red-rooster
For tickets, email: dinnerwithfriends@redrooster.co.uk
