To add to its burgeoning cafe scene, Holloway Road is about to get a hot new pop-up with some very interesting folk involved. Croft Kitchen describes itself as as a "seasonal British pop-up restaurant and bar". They're taking over Vagabond Coffee in the evenings from Thursday to Sunday from this month.
In the kitchen is Phil Walther, who has previously worked at Mugaritz (No 6 on the World's 50 Best Restaurants List for 2015) as well as Ryugin (29 on the list) in Tokyo, Barrafina and most recently a small pop-up in Brixton called All the Quail. He's joined by Katy Sethna who is ex-Gordon Ramsay at Claridges. Running front of house is James Bidgood who used be the manager at Caravan Kings Cross.
They'll have room for 35 in the dining room, plus another 35 in the bar (although that's drinking only for now). James described the food to Hot Dinners as "an evolving 7-course micro-seasonal British menu."
"We're passionate about local produce," James told us. "We believe that a carrot tastes different when it is just pulled from the ground. That's why we work interactively with the Brockwell Gardens so we can serve whatever is available that very day, cooking produce driven and natural food.
"Our bar follows the same ethos as the kitchen by offering English sparking wine, IPAs and lagers from Kent plus hand-crafted seasonal cocktails. We aim to serve great food in a comfy environment with a lively bar to top things off."
The opening menu (which will cost £30) reads pretty well:
- Cucumber and whey
- Butter beans, hedge garlic, dill, ham
- Peckham Rye, pork rillettes, fermented cabbage, pickles
- Bream, nectarines, nasturtiums, kelp oil
- Pulled lamb, lovage, burnt hay
- Blackcurrant leaf sorbet
- Ricotta, chocolate, peaches
Croft Kitchen opens on 18 June 2015 at 105 Holloway Road, London N7 8LT. Reservations can be made by emailing hellocroftkitchen@gmail.com. Opening hours will be Thursday to Sunday 7pm onwards. Keep up with their news on Twitter @croft_co.
