After dropping the news earlier this month that she will open her first standalone restaurant, Teal by Sally Abé, acclaimed chef Sally Abé has just opened bookings, with first seatings on Thursday March 26.
If the hugely positive response from Abé’s fans and the wider hospitality industry to the announcement of her new project is anything to go by, tables at her Hackney restaurant will quickly become scarce. The chef and author has made her name heading up kitchens in prestigious venues like The Harwood Arms, London’s only Michelin-starred pub; The Pem inside the Conrad London St James Hotel; and most recently, Public House Group’s Cotswolds pub The Bull.
As her first solo restaurant, Teal by Sally Abé is the purest distillation of the chef’s passion for seasonality and British cuisine. Diners can expect some deep cuts of British dishes – going right back to Victorian times, with “lockets savoury”, which traditionally includes stilton, pears and watercress on bread. “All the dishes are really personal … I’ve delved into the history of British food and plucked out my favourite ones,” she says. “I don’t think you see ‘lockets savoury’ on any menus anywhere, and it’s such a beautiful combination that’s hopefully really going to surprise people and make them want to learn more about British food.”
Abé will also work with suppliers that she’s formed close ties to in her 20-year career. There’s Lake District Farmers, (“they’re very careful about who they work with and the animals they choose,” says Abé) and Shrub, an organisation that works with “collectives of really small farms to get the best produce into London, that are all UK grown”.
Ingredient-led mains will celebrate locally sourced meat and produce (“Dorset crab royale, English peas”; “haunch of deer, pickled walnuts and cavolo nero”), and playful nostalgic desserts include a “raspberry marshmallow teacake”.
Another of Abé’s passions is mentoring women in hospitality – The Pem, which she helped launch, is named after suffragette Emily Wilding Davison and had a mostly female team. At Teal, she hopes to do more of that than ever. “Anyone who knows me knows my stance on empowering the next generation of women in kitchens,” she says. “I’m super excited about being able to continue that when owning my own restaurant, including mentoring Abbie [Hendren], who is going to be my number two.”
Teal by Sally Abé will open at 52 Wilton Way, E8 1BS on Thursday March 26. Bookings are available now; the largest table size is six.
