Skewers, cocktail sticks, whatever a restaurant uses, there’s always something fun about the arrival of a dish on a stick. And then there’s the attendant etiquette - do you eat off the skewer, or delicately decant the food onto your plate? Whichever way you choose, we’ve been keeping an account of our favourite dishes in London that come skewer-style and here they are for your delectation.
Gildas at Quality Wines
Farringdon - 88 Farringdon Rd, London EC1R 3EA
You can’t do a piece about food on a stick and not start with the gilda, perhaps the most perfect bar snack of all. And if you’re talking about gildas then you’ve got to begin your journey with Quality Wines, where it’s always on the menu. Featuring a single olive wrapped with a salted anchovy and bookended with guindilla peppers, it’s the perfect hit with a martini to start or as part of a Gildaback with a shot of Mezcal at the end of your meal.
Also see: Rita’s Dining, where the Jalapeno popper pepper comprises a blue cheese stuffed olive, Cantabrian anchovy, raw jalapeño and their Hot Water chile oil.
Yakitori at Junsei
Marylebone - 132 Seymour Pl, London W1H 1NS
The good news about scarfing down loads of yakitori at Junsei is that in your own small way you’re doing your bit to save the planet. That’s because this traditional yakitori restaurant has a zero-waste philosophy where every part of the chicken is ‘honoured’. By honoured, they of course mean turned into delicious skewers grilled over white-hot Binchōtan charcoal on the grill in front of you. From crispy skin and wing through to gizzard and aorta, it’s a parade of fantastic food.
See also - Yari Club on St Martin’s Lane where a robot chef does the business.
Korean corndogs at Bunsik
Leicester Sq, Embankment, Camden, Westfield Stratford, Earls Court and Chinatown
The microchain that brought Korean corndogs to the masses continues to spread out over London, the latest branch having recently opened in the heart of Chinatown. Its simple menu was bolstered by what seemed to be a million Insta photos of the cheese pull. Our favourite? Either the dog that’s been coated with potato chips or the one covered with crushed ramen noodles before being deep-fried.
Anticuchos at Llama Inn
Shoreditch - 1 Willow St, London EC2A 4BH
Anticuchos have a proud culinary history stretching back to the time of the Incas, where in their original form, they were made using llama meat. So it’s a nice link that one of the best places to enjoy these skewers in London is at the Llama Inn in Shoreditch. There are always two of these on the menu - a meat and a veggie version. Currently, you have a choice between a charred cabbage anticucho with miso, crispy quinoa or a slow-cooked chicken version with shiso vinaigrette and aji verde. They’re both banging.
See also - the lamb anticuchos at Pachamama licked with a chilli bean paste.
Cull Yaw & Cumin Skewer at Kiln
Soho - 58 Brewer St, London W1F 9TL
If Kiln took their mutton skewer off the menu, it would be dark times indeed. There’s a reason that it’s been on there for years. Having originally been made with hogget, it now uses Cull Yaw mutton from The Cornwall Project, which has then been aged for several weeks by Philip Warren butchers in Launceston. The animals are “finished on 100% grass rotated to manage the soil health and resulting in good flavour and a lot of tasty fat” so both the planet and your stomach are given due consideration.
Crispy aubergine skewers at Brother Marcus
Covent Garden, Angel, Borough, Spitalfields and South Kensington
A good London skewer doesn’t have to involve meat, as neatly evidenced by the always-on aubergine skewers at popular brunch spot Brother Marcus. A stalwart of their mezze menu, it features crispy aubergine threaded like a ribbon onto the skewer, topped with a shatta herb sauce and served up with a pool of labneh and loads of grape molasses. Order it and watch other tables get massive food FOMO.
Suya at Akoko
Fitzrovia - 21 Berners St, London W1T 3LP
London’s West African scene couldn’t be hotter right now, in every sense of the word. At Aji Akokomi’s Michelin-starred restaurant, the stick dish you’re after is suya (Nigerian meat skewer). Here it’s made with beef tongue which is slow-cooked for hours before being given a basting of suya marinade and then being finished off over a live fire and served with a smoked bone marrow sauce and suya spice.
Chicken bamboo skewer at Kolae
Borough Yards - 6 Park Street, London SE1 9AB
The second restaurant from the team behind Som Saa has been a huge hit in Borough Yards, with a focus on the cuisines of the Southern provinces of Thailand. There are two must-have skewers on the menu, the first being the grilled mussel skewers. However, the best by far are the pretty huge chicken bamboo skewers in a satay-style sauce. We likened these to a chicken version of a Magnum ice cream and that's a very good thing.
Any of the grilled skewers at Roe
Canary Wharf - Five Park Drive, Wood Wharf, London E14 9GG
The Canary Whaf sister restaurant to Fallow has a special grilled skewers section of the menu and any of them are worth ordering. They change from time to time, and on the menu right now you'll find spiced lamb shoulder, smoked onion yoghurt and honey mushroom shawarma, kale and smoked chilli glaze among the options. We also love that they come on their own bespoke skewer platter.
Bar snacks at Tayer + Elementary
Old Street - 152 Old St, London EC1V 9BW
Given it's one of the world’s best bars, you’d be expecting the bar snacks at Tayer, the back room at this creative cocktail space by Old Street to be every bit as good as their drinks and you wouldn’t be wrong. There’s always a couple of skewers on the food menu - right now you’ve got a choice between baby corn esquites or cucumber skewers with peanut dressing and Sichuan rayu. Choosing both would be the correct decision.
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