This summer, The Fat Badger is handing over its kitchen to three of London’s most exciting restaurants for a trio of one-night-only collaboration dinners.
Public House Group’s Golborne Road pub and restaurant will host Camille, Bouchon Racine and Hunan across three evenings, with each creating a bespoke menu shaped by the experience of dining at The Fat Badger.
“It’s a chance to give our guests something completely new,” head chef George Williams tells Broadsheet. “We’re excited to take The Fat Badger formula – a drink downstairs before (and after!), followed by snacks, starters, sharing mains and pudding upstairs – and hand it over to chefs who’ll push it beyond the modern British cooking we’re known for.”
The series begins on Thursday August 6 with Camille, the Borough restaurant helmed by chef Elliot Hashtroudi that’s lauded for its sharp, contemporary take on French cooking. The menu will include pressed pig’s ear and celeriac, quail with prawn head butter, stuffed trotter and mash, and a burnt milk tart. “Elliot has taken classic French cooking and made it feel modern and cool,” Williams says. “There’s real confidence and flair in his food, and he’s helped bring traditional dishes that many people might overlook back into the spotlight.”
Farringdon’s Bouchon Racine – which was just named restaurant of the year at the National Restaurant Awards – takes over on Thursday August 20, with its acclaimed chef Henry Harris on the pass. “He’s the king of generous, fun, convivial cooking – exactly the kind of food people want to eat, served the way they want to eat it,” Williams says.
Dishes will include a gougère of Ossau-Iraty cheese and Noir de Bigorre ham, turbot with champagne velouté and caviar fleuron, roast Basque chicken with girolles and tarragon, and framboise Marguerite d’Anjou – an airy French whip of a dessert featuring egg whites, cream and raspberries. Guests will also be able to buy a signed copy of Harris’s latest cookbook, The Racine Effect.
The final dinner announced (so far) will see Hunan join forces with The Fat Badger on Sunday September 6. The Belgravia restaurant, which has been a local staple for more than 40 years and is known for its menu-free Chinese tasting experience, will conjure an evening drawing on Hunan, Taiwanese and Cantonese influences. Further details are still to be confirmed, but guests can expect Cantonese-style roasted meats, hand-pulled noodles and contemporary Chinese dishes.
“We’re still finalising Hunan’s menu, but they’re talking about a spring onion pancake with braised beef, which sounds amazing,” Williams says. “We’ve also discussed steamed dumplings with a British-inspired filling, like rabbit. Dumplings are easily in my top three foods, so I’m especially looking forward to learning how to make them properly.”
For those not speedy enough to snap up tickets to the events, each of the guest chefs will also create a limited-edition bar snack that will be available on the pub floor the same evening, served alongside live music and cocktails inspired by the restaurant taking over the kitchen.
Tickets are £140 per person. Bookings are now open here.
