They aren't all necessarily things that opened last year - just highlights from my numerous escapades in 2014. Enjoy!
P.S. Please leave comments with your own top picks and I might
tweet some of them out. And remember that this is all just a bit of fun, and that I have almost certainly been bribed by everyone mentioned below...
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Top 5 Restaurants
I've gone a bit SW4 heavy here, but not because I live nearby in Battersea. A meal at
The Dairy changed everything, swiftly followed by an equally superb lunch at
Trinity, before
The Manor stole the show at the end of the year with perfect bread, hay smoked pigeon and desserts shrouded in nitrogen.
Smoking Goat in Soho (dark & messy Thai BBQ) &
Rotorino in Haggerston (relaxed & boozy Italian) came close with fantastic food and atmosphere to match.
Pizza Pilgrims had an incredible year but didn't quite make my Top 5, and
Corner Room also pushed for a place.
2015 Wishlist : Clove Club // Typing Room // Gymkhana // Lockhart // Barrafina // Lyle's // Bad Egg
2015 Openings : The Good Egg // Berber & Q // Chick N Sours // Bao // Bo Drake // Duck & Rice
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Top 5 Bars
Yeh, I know, I've already copped out and chosen two winners. But it's my awards, and I'll do what I want. It's been the year of agave for me, so
El Nivel came pretty damn close (and
184 Hackney Road almost made the Top 5 too). Massi's Mezcal Fix with roasted pineapple and saltwater spray was one of the cocktails of the year.
Original Sin has only just opened so doesn't take the top spot, but Happiness Forgets cocktails + pool table = heaven. It will be one of the stars of 2015. Order the Sea Fizz, a Mezcal & Cachaca based Fizz (see the pattern here?).
BYOC Camden might not be on everyone's list, but Jill and Davide knocked it out the park, making us seven boozy beverages for our £25 in a two hour slot in speakeasy surroundings - a unique experience.
Peg + Patriot is a home away from home. Matt Whiley, James Stevenson, Ally Martin & co. taught everyone the word rotovap, created serious drinks with Irn Bru, Marmite & Pak Choi, and put Bethnal Green on the map (with a little help from Satan's Whiskers). Just look at
this menu. I dare you not to have a good time there.
But they share the spoils with
Bermondsey Arts Club, a wonderful little art deco cocktail bar in a refurbished public toilet (
WC Clapham and
Ladies & Gentlemen make that a 2014 trend). On my first visit, Milo Occhipinti went off menu for us with a Mezcal, Cynar, Celery & Lime creation. On my second visit, it had made it on to the menu permanently. On my third visit, Milo, Adam & Jake launched their outrageously good
Winter menu and the rest of London started paying attention. And on my fourth visit - well, I haven't been anywhere else four times, so that's all I need to say. Don't take my seat at the bar.
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Top 5 Pubs / Taprooms
Hidden gems
Tapping The Admiral and
Jerusalem Tavern are oldies but goodies, with steamed up windows, affordable beer, bargain whiskies, pub trained cats, bar games and cosy corners - I wish they were both closer to home.
Beer Rebellion started life as a pop-up in Gypsy Hill before moving in to the Post Office next door for good. Drink fresh Late Knights beer on an incline and forget about the hustle and bustle of London. And Brewdog channelled Brooklyn with their spacious stripped back
Shepherd's Bush beer mecca complete with arcade machines - this is the place to come with friends for an entire day.
But I keep coming back to
Mother Kelly's. Bethnal Green has another winner; 19 taps and a multitude of fridges bursting with beer to take home or drink on site. It's more of a taproom than a pub, with long tables, canteen chairs and street art from McFly's drummer (!) on the railway arch walls, but great beer, stellar service from Steve Taylor, and overflowing bread & cheese boards ensure that it's still a warm & welcoming place to drink. Plus there's Mission, Redchurch Brewery, Satan's Whiskers, Typing Room and Peg & Patriot round the corner. Sorted.
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Top 5 Lunch & Brunch
Lambeth is concealing not one but two wonderful cafés -
Di Lieto and
Italo Deli. They
used to be partners before falling out, but there's no need to pick sides. Family run
Di Lieto Bakery is always full of local Italians, a better indication of quality than anything I can give you. Grab an enormous plate of fresh pasta for around £5.
Italo Deli is a hidden gem in the idyllic Bonnington Square, full of Bermondsey's finest produce including
Kernel beers,
London Honey Co. honeycomb, and
Coleman Coffee.
I'm not hiding my South West London bias here; I'm hardly going to regularly schlep out East for lunch or brunch. Two of the very best down here are
M1lk in Balham and their brand new sister site
Fields on Clapham Common. Go along for Workshop coffee, Convict muffins, espresso hollandaise and hay smoked ice cream. Aussies know how to make breakfast.
The winner though, hands down, is
Park Road Kitchen. Not a single week has gone by since they opened in March that I haven't got something to eat at my favourite local rotisserie and deli. Aside from the delicious daily roast chickens & potatoes, fresh sourdough, homemade soup and Ottolenghi level salads, there are weekday lunch specials for only £5 including Pork Belly and Ribs with Mac'n'Cheese. It's worth going out of your way for. Luckily I don't have to!
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Top 5 Breweries
As I write this, we're now up to 78 breweries within the M25, and many more are on the way, so it's time to get on board the beer train. Keep track on
Beer Guide London. Here are five of my favourites:
1.
Kernel Brewery - One of the founding fathers of the new wave, and still head and shoulders above most. Their brewery taproom (open 9am-2pm) in Bermondsey is rammed every Saturday.
2.
Beavertown Brewery - The core range of Gamma Ray, Neck Oil, Black Betty, 8 Ball and Smog Rocket is second to none; their Duke's Brew & Que brewpub and BBQ hangout is incredible; they're leading the canned beer charge with Fourpure & Camden; and they have an awesome taproom in Tottenham.
3.
Brick Brewery - One man army Ian Stewart gave Peckham exactly what it needed in an awesome archway location. Look out for street food in the yard outside, such as the
Crust Conductor pizza bus.
4.
Late Knights Brewery - These guys are quietly taking over South London with their wonderful, friendly little boozers showcasing their own beer alongside other local brews. The Gipsy Hill branch is my favourite.
5.
Anspach & Hobday - After finding them handing out samples on a snowy Southbank in 2013, I followed Paul & Jack's ascension from homebrewers to award-winning pros. Their Porters are extremely popular but the subtle Smoked Brown is the game-changer for me. They also put the fun back in to a scene that occasionally takes itself too seriously, with beer & baking competitions, Oktoberfest, and carol singing amongst the event highlights. And they are the only Bermondsey brewery (currently) to regularly open on a Sunday. Winner.
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Top 5 Popups
Your only hope of staying on top of the popups is to subscribe to
London Popups. The weekly newsletter is essential reading (and rather daunting!). It's a broad category for my "awards" and is really just an excuse to include some top experiences that don't fit elsewhere.
Highlights from this year include a bonkers two hour cocktail session in Old Street Station with the
Underground Drinking Club (go and look at the photos), and bottled beers in a stranger's flat with the
Craft Beer Social Club.
Som Saa and
The Good Egg were two of the best food popups. The former arrived in the charming Climpson's Arch hideout with stunning lesser known Thai dishes that got
Fay Maschler's attention.
The Good Egg held brunches at Cortado on the canal as well as in Hackney Wick, and ended the year in style with a
Christmas in Jerusalem special in Ladbroke Grove, and a successful
Crowdcube campaign to open a permanent restaurant in Stoke Newington. Their all-day brunch café is set to be one of the most exciting openings of 2015.
One thing really blew me away though this year -
Street Feast's Model Market. Dalston Yard was an incredible use of space, but they took it to another level when they converted a disused Lewisham market into a buzzing street food party. Rather than just parking up their vans, traders were invited to build their own temporary diners in the old shop fronts, so that you found yourself enjoying shandies in a former hair salon, and BBQ in an old record shop. London at its best.
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Top 5 Street Food
One thing I can never resist is a
Mike + Ollie slow cooked lamb shoulder & hummus flatbread wrap.
Brockley Market is the place to find them.
Patty & Bun continue to have a strong presence outside of their two burger joints. Vans at
Night Tales and
Swingers, plus collaborations with Pitt Cue Co ensured that everyone was talking about them at the end of the year.
When Mac Met Cheese is my go-to macaroni cheese stall, as each portion is made individually in record time. Sammy started the year well with a
fantastic popup in Bayswater that was taken before its time. Fingers crossed he finds somewhere to settle down soon so that I can have some more of his deep fried oreos.
Bill or Beak rose through the ranks very quickly gaining exposure at
Wapping Market,
Kerb and
Paperworks, before running
Turntables in East London in December. You can't go wrong with their duck & pork burgers, or the sourdough, duck egg & truffle oil brunch option. Ones to watch in 2015.
My winners though are surprisingly not a savoury option, but the superb
Crosstown Doughnuts who are absolutely smashing it at the moment. London may still be way behind U.S.A. on the dough front, but Crosstown are raising the standard (along with
Bread Ahead). The Sea Salt Caramel with Banana Cream is on another level. Pick them up at stalls all over London including Leather Lane, Wapping Market, Broadway Market, Whole Foods Kensington and their new popup inside Piccadilly Circus station.
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Top 5 Spirits
My back bar at home has grown substantially this year, not least because I can't bring myself to finish off a few beloved bottles. Here are some of my favourites:
St.George's Terroir is a quirky gin with a whole load of Californian fir in, and it makes an incredible Tom Collins. On a similar note,
58 Gin hasn't been released yet, but Mark Marmont is close to completing his distillery in Hackney Wick. I've got an early batch bottle at home, and it is incredible stuff. It's equally at home in a G&T and a Martini, with its unique, almost nutty flavours. Get yourself a bottle as soon as it hits the shelves.
As mentioned before, 2014 was the year I fell in love with agave, and
Del Maguey Mezcal takes the top spot. It's smoky, complex and boozy, and bartenders all over love it.
Vida is the most accessible expression. Put it in Negronis, in Old Fashioneds, with lime and roasted pineapple, or drink it neat - you can't go wrong.
Ocho Tequila ran it pretty close though - the whole range is exquisite, particularly the Single Estate Anejo varieties. Tequila haters be warned - you will soon be in the minority.
Rounding off my list is
Cynar, mostly due to its appearance in Mezcal cocktails around London (El Nivel, Bermondsey Arts Club), and in place of Campari in Negroni twists. It calls itself an artichoke liqueur, but there's all sorts going on in this quirky Italian amaro.
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I'd like to mention a few things that don't really fit in to any of the categories (unless I made more, but I think you've probably had enough).
1.
Wapping Market launched this year in a wonderful site on the waterfront with cobbled pavings underfoot and shady trees somehow evoking Paris - it's the best place to be from 10am-2pm on a Sunday.
2.
London Cocktail Week was back and bigger than ever. £4 cocktails all over London at some of the world's best bars, and rum concoctions in a butterfly house? Yes please.
3. London came alive during the
World Cup, and I went hunting for supporters at different nationality bars all over the Capital - what a month.
4. Breweries have opened all over the city, but
Bermondsey is where the fun is at on a Saturday. Several open up to the public in railway arches surrounded by artisan food & drinks producers - start early at Monmouth Coffee & Kernel Brewery and make your way to Maltby St Market.
5.
Kansas Smitty's turned an empty space (now inhabited by Pond) into their Backyard BBQ venue for a one off day of incredible music with Southern States inspired food & drink. They are most probably the tightest band currently on the London circuit.
6. I got chased around Stratford by
zombies.
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2014 Highlights - Matt The Trips
2014 was also a great year for adventures abroad, including a massive trip to USA & Canada, plus little jaunts to Islay, Edinburgh, The Highlands, Speyside, Padua & Venice. I'll chuck in some slightly out of date Paris tips for good measure. Stay tuned for full length blog posts on these trips soon (ish).
Top 10 New York
65+ food & drink joints in 7 days. A bit ridiculous, but ideal for writing a mini-guide. Ok, totally ridiculous. Anyway, whistlestop tour time.
Head South to
Fourth Avenue for all the beers at
Fourth Avenue Pub (come on, guys),
Pickleshack (lots of pickles and
Dogfish Head goodies), and our favourite,
Mission Dolores, a magical taproom that
Street Feast could have created. Hit them all at happy hour for bonus points. That's right, pubs have happy hours, and on drinks that you actually want. God bless America (Chicago not included).
Am I forgetting something? Oh yeah, Manhattan.
And yes, there's more beer.
Pony Bar is super friendly and all drafts are $6;
Blind Tiger &
Ginger Man have a massive range and great atmosphere;
Standard Hotel Biergarten has free table tennis underneath an old railway line; and too-cool-for-school
Proletariat has some pretty rare brews. But our favourite, just, was
Upright Brewhouse; coffee house by day, taproom by night. I would love to own a place like that.
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Top 10 Chicago
 |
| Green Street Smoked Meats |
Our week in Chicago came after seven days in New York and a few more in Toronto, so food fatigue did start to creep in towards the end, but we put in a good shift, not least our hosts Emma, James & Miranda who made it to around thirty places themselves whilst holding down jobs, and Tim who ridiculously flew to the UK and back for a wedding for twenty hours midweek. Insane.
You may have missed
Hot Doug's (Shannon and I queued in the rain for some reason), but there's plenty of fun to be had elsewhere.
Deep Dish Pizza isn't essential, but I know you are going to eat some anyway -
Lou Malnati's,
Giordano's and
Pizano's have you covered. The
brunch scene isn't half bad -
Longman & Eagle,
Avec &
Trenchermen come highly recommended, and the meaty
Publican is excellent - ask to sit in one of their cosy pens to feel like even more of a piggy. Pick up some treats at
Glazed & Infused afterwards to seal the deal.
Down the road from Publican you can find
two of Chicago's most talked about hotspots:
Grant Achatz & Nick Kokonas' exclusive high-concept
Next Restaurant (also see
Alinea), and their acclaimed cocktail bar
The Aviary (with award-winning
Charles Joly heavily involved). If you ask nicely, they might let you in to
The Office, an underground speakeasy kept under lock and key. We managed to pay it a visit and had a great time, though the bartenders don't quite pull off the forced whimsy. The menu is a series of sentences that are intended to inspire discussion and aid them in making a personal drink for each customer. It's a unique experience at any rate!
Get an Uber over to
Pilsen so that you can tick off knowingly cool
Dusek's Board & Beer and
Punch House ($8 cocktails on tap), before dropping in to nutty
Simone's (possibly run by a cult?) and dive bar
Skylark. Grab dinner at highly-rated
Nightwood if you have time. And once you've come that far, you might as well head to
Bridgeport for
Maria's Packaged Goods & Community Bar - a lively bar attached to the eponymous Maria's liquor store with in-house brewed beers, cocktails & more.
My
favourite cocktail bar was neighbourhood hangout
Billy Sunday on account of the welcoming vibe, funky menu and knockout drinks. Elsewhere,
Three Dots & A Dash is Tiki done well;
The Violet Hour is a speakeasy with top libations but questionable décor; and
Scofflaw is all about the gin. I've already mentioned a couple of
dive bars, but be sure to pop in to
Happy Village for table tennis and a pond (!), and to the ultra thin
Matchbox. If Chicago has another
insane Winter, these are the places you need to know about.
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Top 5 Minneapolis
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| Shuffleboard at Indeed Brewery |
Our short stay in Minneapolis came after three extravagant weeks in New York, Toronto & Chicago, and our bodies (and wallets) had seen better days, but we still managed to check out some superb places. A running joke question of the trip from conversations with Americans & Canadians was "Why Minneapolis?". The answer:
Taprooms.
Until May 2011, breweries weren't allowed to operate on-sale taprooms. Then a bill was passed and they've been making the most of it ever since. We didn't make it to
Surly,
Dangerous Man or
Steel Toe which are meant to be fantastic, but we can vouch for a few others.
Fulton Brewery is a great place to catch a baseball game whilst working your way through a range of beers.
Indeed Brewing Co. is a really cosy stop with street food trucks parking up outside, and a shuffleboard table in the corner.
612 Brew also has our favourite American bar game, but you will want to be outside on their wonderful zen patio surrounded by water - an impressive use of space next to a highway. My favourite though was
Bauhaus Brew Labs, an eye-catching warehouse space in the middle of nowhere, with magical outdoor lighting and a
cornhole court.
And if you get homesick, head over to
Brit's Pub for rooftop lawn bowling. Why, Minneapolis?
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Top 5 Toronto
We hopped over to Toronto for a few days in between our weeks in New York and Chicago, squeezing in a worthwhile daytrip to Niagara Falls too. Three or four days is plenty of time for exploring the city.
Our favourite brunch spot,
Aunties & Uncles, isn't far away either. Grab a nearby
Manic Coffee for the A&U queue (which was full of friendly Canadians, even on a weekday). Then head over to
Snakes & Lagers where you might just spend the rest of the day; a brilliant board game bar with great beers (see also
Snakes & Lattés) which has inspired similar concepts all over the world including
Draughts which has just opened in Haggerston. Ask for
Hanabi.
I'd also recommend People's Eatery, 416 Snack Bar, Bar Volo, Bar Hop, Canoe, Momofuku, Thoroughbred and more (see
map for locations & links), though these are fairly spread out and the atmosphere wasn't exactly alive around many parts of the centre of town.
Much more fun are the hip hangouts around Ossington Ave & Dundas St. West. Queue at the woefully inefficient
Bang Bang Ice Cream & Bakery for superb ice cream sandwiches; sit at the bar in the charming
Bellwood's Brewery; cram in to
Communist's Daughter for live music; have a tarot reading at
The Libertine speakeasy; and hit up the arcade machines at
Get Well. The
best cocktails (and amusing bartender chat) came at the simply named
Cocktail Bar, connected to Black Hoof and related to nearby Rhum Corner that are also very popular. Bar Isabel, Electric Mud BBQ, Chantecler, Wallflower, Glory Hole Doughnuts, Toronto Temperance Society remain on my wishlist - maybe four days wasn't enough.
Last but not least, a special mention must go to
Big Crow,
our top meal in Toronto which was (get this) more satisfying than anything we had over 24 days in New York, Chicago & Minneapolis. Perhaps we were just deliriously hungry after a day of eating only bagels around Niagara Falls, but there's definitely something special going on in this fairytale backyard BBQ joint
"inspired by Algonquin Park, canoe trips, cooking over an open fire, swimming in the big lakes of Ontario and Winter camping", tucked behind
Rose & Sons (both run by Anthony Rose & co.). The
menu changes regularly (I still dream of our smoked mozarella & roast garlic bread, sweet spicy bacon with peppers and a 2lb hamsteak with honey butter hot sauce and pineapple) and it always looks incredible. Put Big Crow at the top of your to-do list, and then scribble Rose & Sons,
Fat Pasha and their recently opened
Schmaltz Appetizing right underneath too.
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Top 5 Edinburgh
I've been up to the Edinburgh Fringe every year since 2002 so I'm starting to know my way around.
The Hanging Bat is the best spot for a beer (including their own brews), closely followed by
Brewdog and the quirky
Potting Shed. Check out
The Bow Bar for fine ales and whiskies.
There are Michelin starred restaurants aplenty but you are better off at the likes of
Timberyard (Scandi-Scottish small plates) and
Scran & Scallie (affordable gastropub from Tom Kitchin & Dominic Jack) - book ahead. I also keep hearing good things about the food at
Blackfriars. For all your café/coffee tips, head to the
Edinburgh Coffee Lovers blog.
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Top 5 Paris
I'm not so hot on the food scene, but I hear that you could do worse than
Verjus,
Frenchie and
Les Cocottes. Also check out
The Office for warehouse supperclubs,
La Recyclerie for eco-focused food in a converted station,
Les Niçois for basement board games and pétanque, and
Blind Pig for street food, craft beers and a swing in an unmarked garage.
Spend ten minutes on
Diane, A Broad's wonderful blog and you'll have booked your Eurostar before you can say
"à bientôt".
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Happy New Year!
