So this is a BIG story - and a huge coup for Selfridges. Top American chef Dan Barber - he of Blue Hill at Stone Barns fame - is bringing his food waste pop-up, wastED, to London this Spring.
[Read our full interview with Dan here]
If you haven't heard of him, let us enlighten you. Barber has two restaurants. The original Blue Hill in New York city and Blue Hill at Stone Barns in upstate New York which is number 48 on the World's 50 Best list and which Eater declared the best restaurant in America in 2016. We've lost count of the amount of London food folk we know who've made the pilgrimage there, although it's still on our own bucket list.
wastED is the name Barber gave to a three-week pop-up at Blue Hill in Greenwich village in 2015, during which he got some of the world's best chefs to cook alongside him, using ingredients that might otherwise end up being thrown in the bin. "I had one of the best meals I've enjoyed in a restaurant in the last year," said New York Times critic Pete Wells of his experience at the pop-up. "The food was great, full of the surprises that happen when cooks run into inspiration at full creative tilt."
So what can we expect from the London pop-up? Well, to start with it's taking over the rooftop restaurant at Selfridges for almost six weeks. It's going to be Barber's first cooking appearance for the public in London and he'll be cooking "with guest chefs from throughout Europe who will contribute their own waste-based dishes to the menu". So far, chefs confirmed include:
- Pierre Koffmann
- Tom Kerridge
- Clare Smyth + Gordon Ramsay
- Isaac McHale (Clove Club)
- Brett Graham (Ledbury)
- Jason Atherton
- Tom Hunt (Poco)
- Bjorn Frantzen
As for drinks, Iain Griffiths, of Mr. Lyan will be working on reinventing traditional cocktails through the wastED lens.
Barber and his team have been working with British farmers, fishermen, suppliers and retailers to reimagine by-products at every link in the food chain, so expect the menus to be really inventive. For both the lunch and dinner a la carte menus - small plates will each cost £15.
There'll also be an afternoon tea element with a big chef taking over one week at a time - The Not so customary’ Afternoon Tea will run Tuesday – Friday, 3:00 pm until 5:00 pm and begin at £32.
wastED will be at Selfridges, 400 Oxford St, Marylebone, London W1A 1AB from 24 February until 2 April 2017. Opening hours will be lunch on Tuesday – Saturday 12:00 pm until 2:30 pm and dinner Tuesday – Saturday 6:00 pm until 10:00 pm. Reservations are now open here on the Selfridges website.
