Plans had been rumbling for a while and now we have full details of what's planned for the new Ottolenghi, coming to Artillery Lane in Spitalfields.
So expect some of the best salads and cakes in town, as well as an all-day restaurant too.
What you need to know about Ottolenghi Spitalfields
They're taking over a classic (but originally derelict) building and restoring it to its former glory. They used a 100 year old photo of the street to help get it back to its original look. They've also brought in artist Tamar Blum-Zidon to create a sculptured artwork for the new restaurant, who "brings a unique approach to a mundane and usually discarded material, using cardboard as her medium".
There will be much cake. As with the other venues, the cake and deli counter will play a big part, with salads, cakes and pastries available for City workers. And if you need to rush back to your desk, they're also introducing a "grab and go" fridge at the new Ottolenghi.
The restaurant will be an all-day, seven days a week affair (except for Sunday evening). It will apparently "transform from an informal dining room for breakfast and lunch to a more formal space for dinner with candelabras, low lighting and a full a la carte menu". As ever, the food is overseen by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi who will be encouraging the chefs to experiment too. The menu will change regularly, but some examples they're giving now are (deep breath):
- Breakfast: Fruit salad, Ottolenghi granola, Greek yoghurt / Scrambled eggs and Forman’s cured smoked salmon, toasted focaccia, mixed leaf salad, crème fraiche / Shakshuka – North African dish with eggs, peppers and tomatoes, labneh and grilled focaccia / Cannellini bean stew with bacon and chorizo served on Italian white bread with a fried egg and black pudding / Bircher muesli with fromage frais, agave nectar, blackberries, roasted plums and flaked almonds.
- Lunch is a selection of salads and main dishes including: Roasted aubergine with hazelnut pesto, sautéed onion, chilli and mint / Mixed grean beans and peas with confit garlic, nigella seeds and rosemary / Char-grilled broccoli with chilli and garlic / Roasted corn-fed chicken with honey, sage, saffron and lemon / Lamb kofta with pine nuts, cumin, herbs and sundried tomato with saffron yoghurt sauce.
- Dinner: Grilled sea bass with fried fish crumbs, green mango salad and spicy peanuts / Pan- fried prawns with pomelo, pickled endive and garlic crisps with toasted rice and tamarind dressing / Yellow fin, line-caught seared tuna, wrapped in nori and panko with wasabi cream / Char-grilled fillet of English beef with sweet coriander-mustard sauce / Barley and Swiss chard with pomegranate molasses, samphire, Rove des Garrigues and quail’s eggs.
As for drinks, expect cocktails that have appeared at NOPI and a wine list from their sommelier Heidi Knudsen. So cocktails include Sumac Martini and Chilli Old-Fashioned from NOPI and they'll add some new ones too. They'll have natural wines on the list (but not solely, if that's not your thing) and Georgian wines from the Qvevri region including Tsoulikouri 2012 ("orange in colour, aromatic and full of energy") and Bourgogne Rouge “Auguste” 2009 ("a bright Pinot Noir from one of the oldest biodynamic vineyards in France").
Ottolenghi Spitalfields will open at 50 Artillery Lane London E1 7LS in late March. For more information, follow them on Twitter @ottolenghi.
