One of London’s most influential (and, let’s be honest, unclassifiable) neighbourhood restaurants, FKABAM (Formerly Known as Black Axe Mangal) has announced it will have its final service on December 20. Founders Lee and Kate Tiernan will “hit the pause button” on the Highbury diner, 10 years after turning the capital’s food scene on its head with their metal-inflected approach to dining.
Chef-patron Lee announced the decision today. “Being original, creative and keeping it fun for ourselves – as well as our customers – has always been the centre of why we do this,” he said in a statement. “So how do you celebrate 10 years of running a restaurant? Well, in our case, it’s changing things up while it still feels good.”
Shaped by Lee’s travels through Istanbul’s mangal culture and a decade on the pans at St John, FKABAM’s reputation has long rested on his vibrant, inventive, high-impact mash-up of live-fire cooking, nose-to-tail ingredients and a maximalist, metal-tinged aesthetic. It manifested in signatures like squid-ink flatbreads and doughnuts filled with meat. That level of creative output, he notes, has been harder to maintain over the past year. “It has been a somewhat difficult year outside the restaurant, but thanks to our brilliant, talented team, we’ve been able to step back a little to focus on our family, get some perspective, and this is where we’ve landed.”
Tiernan is clear that this is not a closure but a recalibration. “It’s important to remember this is a pause, not a stop … For now I want to focus my creative energy towards a ‘pop-up’ within my own restaurant space.”
Details of a 10-year celebration will be announced soon.
FKABAM’s final service will be on December 20.
