There's a new Italian restaurant coming to Shoreditch called Popolo (yes, you did read that right). It comes from Jonathan Lawson, who has worked with Theo Randall for five years and is now opening his own place, joining up with his business partner, Munur Shah.
It's a small restaurant at 32 seats and the menu at Popolo is being described as Italian with a touch of Moorish and Spanish - and in practice, that means dishes like:
- Grouse Cappelletti - pasta parcels filled with Scottish grouse and served with porcini butter
- Capesante - diver-caught scallops with Umbrian lentils, saltwort and capers
- Tangia of steamed lamb shoulder, preserved lemon, saffron and wild fennel
- Pulpo - octopus with paprika and green laver seaweed.
We have to admit, those do sound rather good indeed. And one of their signature dishes will be "Fried Olives with labne and Morita chilli oil", a dish that the chef first encountered at Balaboosta in New York.
Popolo opens on 6 October at 26 Rivington St, London EC2A 3DU. For more, follow them on Instagram @popoloshoreditch.
