Sarit Packer and Itamar Srulovich are two of London’s best-loved chefs and restaurateurs, as respected for their food as for their commitment to community. The couple met working at an Italian restaurant in Israel and later moved to London, where they both worked the pans at the Oxo Tower before joining the Ottolenghi team.
In 2012, the pair left the Ottolenghi ecosystem to open their own restaurant: Honey & Co, an inviting Middle Eastern spot in Fitzrovia. That small restaurant has spawned a collection of similarly welcoming venues, including a restaurant on Lamb’s Conduit Street; a deli and cafe in Bloomsbury; a grill house on Great Portland Street; and a grocer on Warren Street. Earlier this year, they switched things up by launching the Honey & Co Studio: a multipurpose space with a deli out front and an events venue out back where they host classes, talks and workshops.
“It’s nice to have that option that is completely removed from the day-to-day of kitchens,” says Packer. “The whole aspect of community and what you can build with it is an amazing thing.”
Packer and Srulovich are deeply embedded in London’s hospitality scene – so Broadsheet asked them where they love eating, where they pick up coffee, and the old faithfuls they return to over and over again.
Who do you want to shout out right now?
Srulovich: Our beautiful neighbour, Jackson Boxer. We love his restaurant in Brunswick House, and [in January] he reopened Orasay as Dove in Notting Hill. For us, it’s very far to go [from home in south London], but if there’s one person that we’d go to Notting Hill for, it’s Jackson. The food there is fantastic. Also Trullo. I would never not go to Trullo.
What’s your go-to for a takeaway dinner?
Packer: A Japanese place in Clapham North, Tsunami, which we’ve been going to for 20 years. We’ve been eating their sushi for years.
Srulovich: I think sushi is pretty much the only thing that really works in takeaway. When we come back from abroad and there’s nothing in the house, then we’re like “this is sushi night”.
Packer: And we order enough to have breakfast the next day. Also, Three Uncles [for] rice, a good bit of meat. But we don’t do a lot of takeaway.
Where are you getting coffee from?
Packer: If we’re at home, we’ll go to Italo. It’s up the road and so cute. It’s at the end of Clapham, in Bonnington Square – it’s the cutest hippie enclave. Actually, Italo belongs to Jackson Boxer’s father. It’s just really cool.
Srulovich: We also like Pear Tree Cafe in Battersea Park. Their stuff is a lot better than it needs to be – people go there no matter what. They invest in good produce and they make an effort.
Where do you book for date night?
Srulovich: We’re not really date people. But if someone asked me “Where should I take a date?” Jikoni would be my place. It’s so intimate and cosy and pretty. The food is delicious. It’s a perfect night. I’d order the okra fritters.
Packer: No, the crispy aubergine. We love the Sichuan aubergine. [Chef Ravinder Bhogal] changes the menu quite a bit but if she’s got the scrag-end pie on, that is very nice. Also she does a fermented lentil dhokla, then she fries curry leaves and pours them over the top.
Srulovich: Delicious.
What’s top of your list for a special occasion?
Packer: River Cafe. It does really fine food and amazing produce, but in a very honest way. It is so expensive – which is why Trullo is an excellent place to go all the time, because it’s just as good and about half the price.
Srulovich: Imperial Treasure.
Where are you going to take out-of-towners to show them the best of London?
Packer: Gymkhana. It’s such a good place, and a real treat because it’s eating food on a very different level.
Srulovich: It’s fun. And, at least once [when people are visiting], we go to Imperial China on Lisle Street for dim sum on a Sunday.
Packer: Big tables, lazy Susans, a million dim sums. It’s good for kids. It’s also good for non-big-city people; they don’t get a proper Chinatown where you can eat the dim sum and stuff like this.
What about if you’re just after a nice glass of wine and a snack?
Srulovich: Next door [to Honey & Co Studio] at Noble Rot.
Packer: It’s hard to fault.
Srulovich: Or La Fromagerie across the road. That’s really nice. I like light reds that are full of flavour and juice. If there’s a pinot noir on the menu, I’ll have that. And I’m really into California wines, and new English wines. I do enjoy drinking the wine of the land. It’s very satisfying.
Where do you head for breakfast?
Packer: Granger & Co. It’s always good – you know exactly what you’re going to get. The scrambled eggs are good. It does exactly what it’s supposed to. [Bill Granger’s] books were inspirational: the simplicity, the cleanliness, the beauty of it – it’s a lot like our thinking with Honey & Co.
Srulovich: He was such an amazing guy, and so revolutionary and important.
Where would you go for a long lunch?
Packer: Rochelle Canteen.
Srulovich: It’s always a commitment getting there, but it’s definitely worth it. The food is always delicious.
Packer: Again, the food is better than it needs to be for the setting.
Where are you go-tos for groceries?
Srulovich: How long have you got?
Packer: We have a routine.
Srulovich: So we have our Clapham man that I go to on Saturdays, M Moen & Sons butcher, and then Trude’s grocer, and then Village Wholefoods next door. We go across the road [Lamb’s Conduit] to Fromagerie for all our charcuterie needs.
Give us your London hidden gems.
Packer: There are [a lot of] good, proper bakeries coming up, like this one in Battersea called Mahali. It’s cute, it’s fun, you queue for days. Also, Bento-ya on Warren Street. That’s our go-to. There you queue for a millennium. The whole neighbourhood knows; it’s not hidden so much to the Warren Street neighbourhood.
Srulovich: It’s so nice. I think it’s the best katsu curry in London. It’s the best katsu curry I’ve ever had in my life.
Packer: I have the katsu don, it’s delicious. He opens at 11am; he gets a queue out the door; he closes at 3pm, when he’s sold out of the food. That’s it. Just weekdays.
Srulovich: The Indian YMCA on Fitzroy Square. It’s so nice, the food is on point. I always have a mango lassi. They have a little courtyard and you take your food outside. It’s like, am I in London? There’s no other place like it. That’s my top tip and you can take it to the bank.
