The Best London Pop-Ups and Residencies This Winter

If you think serotonin is hard to come by at this time of year, you’ve been looking in the wrong place. Venture out for one (or more) of these pop-ups or residencies by some of the best food and drink creatives in London and beyond. Smiles guaranteed.

Mark your calendars for a one-off Portuguese feast on February 1. Lisbon-born chef Marcelo Rodrigues, who is often seen popping up in kitchens around town, will join co-owner of Leo’s, Giuseppe “Peppe” Belvedere, in the Clapton restaurant’s kitchen to whip up a generous, family-style feast inspired by the flavours of Lisbon’s beloved tascas (taverns that serve food). Expect deep-fried shrimp parcels called rissois de camarão, steamed clams by the name of amêijoas à bulhão pato, and wood-roasted suckling pig, all designed to be washed down with ice-cold Super Bock and shots of sour-cherry ginjinha (Portuguese liqueur).
February 1.
live.tebi.co/ecom

Lucy Timm and Florrie Kickham’s exquisite rotisserie chicken pop-up Flock is back at Roses of Elagabalus from February, serving dinner alongside the queer clubhouse’s line-up of shows. There’ll be succulent birds, decadent profiteroles and a clutch of other French classics. Look out for the “dirty deal”, which includes a Martini, quarter chicken and fries for £35.
From February 5.
live.tebi.co/ecom

Chef Josh Dallaway and sommelier Sinead Murdoch’s roaming Iberian-inspired restaurant concept – last at Cav in Bethnal Green – is now at Giacco’s until the end of the month, before the duo moves on to natural wine bar Bruno in Victoria Park for February. And on January 25, the pair is teaming up with Morchella’s pastry chef Emily Watkins for a one-off Burns Night (and day) menu, which will blend Scottish and Portuguese influences in dishes including a mysterious “trio of haggis, neeps and tattie” and a creamy chicken and leek “cock-a-leekie” pie.
Tasca is at Giacco’s until the end of January, then Bruno throughout February.
giaccos.bar

Kitchen Table and Aulis Soho are pressing pause on their Michelin-starred tasting menus for a one-night, drinks-first collaboration on February 3. Held in Kitchen Table’s cocktail lounge, the Unpredictable Coupling event will bring together Kitchen Table’s bar manager, Amine Azil, and Aulis’s award-winning sommelier, Charles Carron Brown, to craft four cocktails built around British spirits, foraged ingredients and fermentation. Each serve comes with a bite from Kitchen Table chef-patron James Knappett, including oysters, duck terrine and St Jude cheese. February 3.
kitchentable.co.uk

Later this month, Koh Samui-based chef Supansa “Ying” Klaewklong will bring her immersive cooking experience Som Rom Space to London for the first time, and those nimble enough to snap up a table at Kolae will be able to witness it. The seven-dish menu will draw on Samui’s Thai-Melayu and Hokkien Chinese influences, weaving British produce through techniques honed in southern Thailand. The menu moves from grilled scallops sharpened with green star fruit to glutinous rice dumplings packed with peanut and sesame, and a restorative pork shoulder soup, and there’ll be plenty of Thai-inspired cocktails served alongside. January 20.
kolae.com

Joe Lippman, the chef behind Cornwall’s Boosa and Duchy Grub, is setting up shop at Hackney bar and restaurant Big Night for three months. True to the east London fun house’s form, Lippman will be serving up deliciously quirky, hyper-creative dishes including octopus carpaccio, barbequed pear-studded labneh and a guajillo chilli-spiked brownie with mezcal caramel. From January 15.
bignight.info

For the next six months, chef Richard Eversden is taking over the kitchen at Renegade’s Walthamstow winery with his modern British and European pop-up concept, Leo. It’s running from Thursdays to Sundays, and diners can expect seasonal plates designed to pair with Renegade’s wines, including beef crumpets with pickled onion, pressed lamb with ajvar, and Basque cheesecake, as well as roasts piled high with generous helpings of roast potatoes on Sundays. Until July.
renegadelondonwine.com/walthamstow

The founders of Café François have invited their best pals to pitch up for a string of one-off pop-ups at the Borough restaurant’s gleaming Market Bar. First up, Tom Kemble will be dishing up contemporary slices from Borough’s Spring Street Pizza on January 22. Michael Sager will then rock up on February 5 with a selection of vinyl to soundtrack cocktails from his bar Equal Parts, before the team from cocktail bar Soma shakes and stirs an array of concoctions inspired by unfamiliar flavours and spirits from the Indian subcontinent on February 26.
cafefrancois.london/

Over the next few months, Paddington boutique hotel The Pilgrm is turning its first-floor lounge into an incubator kitchen for a run of chef residencies. From February 4 to March 7, Moroccan chef Nargisse Benkabbou is unveiling Ladeed: a contemporary take on Moroccan featuring dishes ranging from m’simen (bread) with cultured harissa butter to spiced lamb maqfoul. Greek chef Marios Miliorellis will follow from March 20 until late summer, spotlighting Cycladic flavours through smoked taramasalata, lamb mastelo and dolmadaki.
Ladeed: From February 4–March 7; Miliorellis from March 20. thepilgrm.com/food-and-drink