Some of London’s best eating right now is around for a good time, not a long time. Residencies and pop-ups continue to be fertile testing ground for clever new concepts, or a way for venues to step away from business as usual into a menu with a little more pizazz. This month there’s an impressive slate of new and ongoing residencies and pop-ups to add to your dining-out hitlist. From a big-time US chef bringing LA-style burgers to west London to Greek feasts in Paddington and punchy pad kaprao directly from Bangkok, here’s what to check out in May.
Regional wine dinner at Elsa, Fitzrovia
With fuel prices on the up, flying to Germany might be a little out of reach right now. But at charming Charlotte Street bistro Elsa, you can get a taste of Bavarian comfort food in the latest instalment of its monthly regional dinner series, in which chef Holly Hayes crafts a one-off menu focusing on a different region of France or Italy. Her Bavarian menu will include green asparagus and ham, leberknödel (meaty dumplings served in a broth), forelle blau (poached rainbow trout) with potato dumplings, and apple fritters. Sommelier Paul Biwand will pour matching wines from the region. May 11.
elsabistro.co.uk
Chet’s & Friends: Alvin Cailan, Shepherd’s Bush
Alvin Cailan is big on the burger scene. And now the LA-based founder of Eggslut is crossing the Atlantic to bring his burger brilliance to US-Thai diner Chet’s at The Hoxton in Shepherd’s Bush. He’s masterminded three burgers that’ll be served during a multi-week residency. There’s the Green Light, with two smashed beef patties, American cheese, caramelised and raw onions and mustard; the LA-Style Chilli burger that layers two smash patties, American cheese, beef chilli, crispy onions and mustard; and the Spicy Crispy Eggplant Sandwich, which comprises crisp aubergine, crackly Thai basil, slow-roasted tomatoes and a spicy sauce.
From May 27–June 14.
thehoxton.com
Rho at Pilgrm, Paddington
The first-floor lounge at Paddington’s The Pilgrm hotel is going full Greek thanks to its latest residency: Rho, a celebration of the cuisine of the Cyclades islands. Greek chef Marios Miliorellis (ex-Opso) is cooking refined versions of the taverna dishes he grew up with. That includes lamb mastelo (slow-roasted lamb chops with smoked mackerel mash, crispy vine leaf and lamb jus); metsovone (a smoked semi-hard cheese from a Greek village) croquettes; and kotopoulo kontosouvli (marinated chicken skewers with Greek spices and herbs, and spicy feta). Our pick? The dessert: Greek yoghurt ice-cream in the shape of Aphrodite, the goddess of love, which is served with spicy cherry and honey caramel.
Until late August.
thepilgrm.com
Phed Mark at Platapian, Soho
Bangkok’s Phed Mark – which is co-owned by travel blogger and TV presenter Mark Wiens – does one dish: a fiery, textural pad krapao (minced meat stir-fried with holy basil and chilli, and topped with an egg). And now it’s landed in London for a multi-week residency at Soho’s Platapian. The takeover is walk-in only and the menu is as slim as that in Bangkok: pad krapao with a choice of chicken, beef or tofu and topped with sunny side up duck’s egg.
Until May 31.
platapiansoho.com
Batea at Carousel, Fitzrovia
The latest in Carousel’s never ending, well, carousel of chef takeovers is arriving from Barcelona. Batea, led by chef Manu Núñez and mixologist Marta Morales, is a paean to seafood in Barcelona’s Eixample district that’s inflected with Catalonian and Galician influences. The set menu will star dishes like a seaweed profiterole with razor clam, greater amberjack crudo with corn and spicy romesco, and octopus grilled over charcoals with a seaweed chimichurri and chorizo.
From May 12–16.
carousel-london.com
Flock at Roses of Elagabalus, Dalston
Lucy Timm and Florrie Kickham’s exquisite rotisserie chicken pop-up Flock continues its residency at Roses of Elagabalus, serving dinner alongside the queer clubhouse’s line-up of shows. There’s succulent half and quarter rotisserie chicken, 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.
Ongoing.
live.tebi.co/ecom
Pippa MacDonald at Hausu, Peckham
Fancy scampi fries, pork and squid skewers with puffed pig’s skin, butterflied gunard with XO sauce, and mackerel with lemongrass and lime are on the menu at Hausu for one night only. Seafood expert Pippa MacDonald is teaming up with the Peckham hotspot’s head chef Holly Middleton-Joseph for an oceanic extravaganza that leans on MacDonald’s time cheffing at seafood institutions like J Sheekey and Scott’s.
May 7. sevenrooms.com
Judy Joo at Junsei, Marylebone
Seoul Bird founder and former The Fat Duck and Restaurant Gordon Ramsay chef Judy Joo is cooking at izakaya Junsei for one night in May. She’ll collaborate with Junsei’s head chef Zach Farr on an omakase menu – with plenty of shochu and sake to match. Expect a collision of Japanese and Korean dishes and flavours on an omakase menu: prawn and brown shrimp dumplings, charcoal-grilled pork belly skewers with kimchi and bulgolgi donburi. To round out the evening, there’ll be a DJ on the decks spinning Korean and Japanese hits. May 10.
sevenrooms.com
Nieves Barragán Mohacho at The Donovan Bar, Mayfair
Bilbao-born chef Nieves Barragán Mohacho has been pivotal in shaping how Londoners dine out on Spanish food, first as executive chef at Barrafina, then her own Michelin-starred restaurants Sabor and Legado. And for three months from next week, she’ll bring her authoritative cooking to The Donovan Bar at Brown’s Hotel – the latest in a run of residencies that has recently included A Wong’s Andrew Wong and Tom Kitchin from Edinburgh’s The Kitchin. Barragán Mohacho will bring small, drinking-friendly plates not on the menu at her other venues, including seared tuna with ajo blanco, confit artichoke with lovage aioli and arroz melosa – a short-grain rice dish that’s like a soupier paella. Donovan’s bar team will pour cocktails designed to meld with the menu.
Until June 6.
roccofortehotels.com
Louis-Arnaud Jose at Giacco’s, Highbury
Wine bar Giacco has roped in a raft of great chef residencies lately, including Portuguese dining from Tasca and Japanese-Italian fusion from Paris-based chef Akira Sugiura. Up next is Bordeaux-born chef Louis-Arnaud Jose, who’s an alum of Gordon Ramsay’s Grand Hotel Bordeaux, as well as Parisian bistros Amagat, Jones and Donna. His rustic French cooking, which also incorporates Basque and Italian influences, will bolster Giacco’s low-intervention wine list from March 10. Visit for black mullet sashimi with fennel salad and Thai basil, a shiitake and seaweed vol-au-vent, ox ragu pappardelle, and a black cardamom and anis star crumble tart.
Until May 17.
giaccos.bar
Additional reporting by Jo Taylor.
