The London pop-ups to catch in 2020

ANAN x Allpress supper club

Don’t fancy queuing for a counter seat at lauded Middle Eastern restaurant The Barbary? On 14 March you won’t have to. The restaurant’s co-founder and former head chef Eyal Jagermann is hosting a one-off supper club, ANAN, at Allpress Roastery & Café in Dalston. A preview of what will soon be Jagermann's new restaurant of the same name, ANAN elevates hummus from dip status to star of the show, as well as offering a number of small-plate, plant-based dishes.

Highlights include medjool confit beetroot with dukkah, and Jagermann’s acclaimed golden cauliflower served jaffa style. Jagermann is being joined for the occasion by executive chef Tomer Hauptman (ex-Palomar) and Zoe Tigner-Haus (ex-River Café), who will run front of house.

Hidden Supper Club at Hide

Ollie Dabbous’ Michelin-starred restaurant Hide is launching a new monthly supper club at its upper-level space, Above. The menu has been spearheaded by James Goodyear, head chef at Above, and focuses on experimental dishes fit to ‘entice the taste buds’. The supper club can host 60 guests per sitting, who enjoy a £95 tasting menu featuring the likes of cured black bream; and scallops with burnt apple and sea truffle dashi.

Hedonism Wines provides the wine list at Hide, with no less than 4,000 bottles to choose from. Those stuck for choice might want to opt for the wine pairing option, available with the tasting menu for an additional cost.

Australian Bushfire Fundraiser – CANCELLED

Four of London’s leading chefs are joining forces to host a one-off supper club in aid of the Australian bushfires. Brett Graham of The Ledbury, Bill Granger of Granger & Co, Shaun Presland of Pacific and Hamish Pearce of Pidgin are pooling their pots and pans for #CookForOz, which is being hosted by foodie influencer Clerkenwell Boy and held at Australia House. Charlie Mellor of The Laughing Heart and Gus Gluck Quality Wines are behind the drinks. Tickets to the dinner cost £200 per person with 100% of the profits going towards the communities and wildlife impacted by the bushfires.

Vegetarian supper club series at Ace Hotel

Ace hotel in Shoreditch is hosting a series of vegetarian supper clubs on the rooftop of the hotel. The events are being held in collaboration with Knuckle, a brand that helps chefs and creatives further the sustainable food movement. The series will see The Marksman (18 March), Henrietta Inman of Stoney Street by 26 Grains (16 April), and Claire Lattin of Ducksoup and Little Duck Picklery (13 May) each host evenings.

Fiume Uncorked

Battersea restaurant Fiume is hosting a series of one-off wine-dinner collaborations, for which founder Francesco Mazzei is joining forces with his favourite south London wine specialists: The Other Naughty Piglet restaurant, and wine bars Vagabond and Humble Grape.

Kicking things off on 26 February is Margaux Aubry of The Other Naughty Piglet, matching her pick of low-intervention, organic Italian wines with each of Francesco’s dishes. Then on 25 March, Ben Gubbins of Vagabond is heading behind the bar, pairing bottles from independent Italian wine makers with each course. The series continues on 29 April, when Humble Grape’s Désirée Russo showcases her pick of Italian wines from small, family-owned vineyards, before concluding on 27 May with an evening from Daniele Marana of Bottles and Battles.

Tickets to each Fiume Uncorked event are £55pp and include a four-course dinner with matching wines.

Guest chefs at Carousel

Over the next few months, Carousel’s rotating kitchen is celebrating flavours from around the world. Israeli chefs Omer Shadmi and Daniel Zur are first up, trialling their new concept at the Marylebone kitchen from 18 to 29 February. Expect a celebration of the colourful ingredients and bold flavours of Tel Aviv’s rich food scene, showcased through dishes such as Sea Bass in Tomato and Green Chilli Marduma.

From 3 to 14 March, Vancouver’s Ernesto ‘Kut’ Gomez will be firing up the pans. Originally from the Mexican city of Guadalajara, Gomez was head chef and owner of the now-closed Mexican fine dining spot Fayuca, and still heads up the city's more laid-back tortillería, Chanco. Catch Gomez during his residency at Carousel, when he’ll be serving up his latest creations.

Fallow at 10 Heddon Street

Jack Croft and Will Murray, aka the chefs behind sustainability-focused restaurant concept Fallow, are taking over the kitchen at 10 Heddon Street for a four-month residency ending in July. The pair, who met while working at two Michelin-starred Dinner by Heston, come to the Mayfair kitchen off the back of a two-month stint at Crispin in Spitalfields.

The ‘root to stem’ and ‘nose to tail’ menu – which changes weekly and at least 50% of which is vegan – showcases the pair's pared-down, small-plate offering, and celebrates parts of animals and plants that would ordinarily be thrown away (hello, chicken scratchings and veal tail). Meanwhile, drinks place the spotlight on biodynamic and sustainable wine producers.

Emile

Emile is the eagerly anticipated love-child of chef Damian Clisby (Petersham Nurseries) and wine connoisseur Nick Gibson (landlord at The Drapers Arms). Dig into a selection of modern European small plates as stylish in appearance as the restaurant’s chic, minimalist interiors. Enjoy said dishes with a glass or two of your choosing from the superbly curated wine list, largely consisting of bottles from France, Italy, Spain and South Africa.

Pacific at 10 Heddon Street

‘Australian Attitude, Japanese Technique’ is the tagline of Pacific, the new pop-up restaurant which comes to 10 Heddon Street courtesy of Aussie chef extraordinaire Shaun Presland. Specialising in contemporary Japanese cuisine, dishes draw on Presland’s 25 years of experience training under some of the world’s most esteemed Japanese chefs: Hiroshi Miura, Kenji Nishinakagawa and Nobu Matsuhisa among them.

Gregory Marchand x Sushi Shop

Eleven years after he launched the first Frenchie restaurant in Paris (which recently won its first Michelin star), Gregory Marchand unveils a collaborative menu with mini-chain Sushi Shop. Expect five dishes that see some of Frenchie’s signature charm recreated in sushi format. One, the ‘Frenchie roll', takes the form of an uramaki roll filled with crispy fried chicken and avocado, and topped with sweet piquillo pepper and spicy mayonnaise. The menu has been rolled out across all Sushi Shop locations, including its London branches in Notting Hill, South Kensington, Hampstead and Richmond.

Calçotada Festival at Brindisa

Spanish tapas joint Brindisa welcomes the return of its annual Calçotada festival. Running at weekends in February and March at both the Battersea and Shoreditch branches of the restaurant, Brindisa Calçotada is a celebration of the humble Catalan onion: the calçot. Roll up your sleeves, don a bib and prepare to strip and dip a bowlful of house-charred calçots, smothering them in romesco sauce before sucking the inner goodness into your mouth. Of course, calçots aren’t the only thing on the menu: guests can choose between a traditional or vegan three-course tapas-led feast for £35pp.

Journey

What do we need in these times of division and uncertainty? A pop-up restaurant that celebrates cuisines from around the world. You'll find just that at Journey: an immersive dining experience conjured up as a collaboration between Lollipop and Disappearing Dinner Club. Guests embark on a two-hour interactive journey of their choice. Choose between four different experiences and expect to be guided through four courses – each showcasing the cuisine of a different country. A twist on a traditional tasting menu, each course comes paired with a drink from its motherland.

Monograph’s Japanese Supper Club

Those with a penchant for authentic Japanese cuisine with a hint of the experimental should book in to one of Monograph’s Japanese Supper Clubs. The events are held in secret locations and are a chance to dine on an unusual multi-course menu: from a watercress salad through rich, broth-soaked mains and into sweets of the matcha, chocolate or sweet bean paste variety. The atmosphere is informal and relaxed, and guests are invited to bring their own drinks, too.

Michelle Trusselle's Myristica Supper Club Series

Fine dining meets Caribbean soul food at Michelle Trusselle’s delectable supper clubs. Dishes are exciting, overtly colourful and impossibly pretty – arranged with intense attention to detail on the plate. The food is sourced sustainably, too, all found locally in a bid to mirror the freshness of meals served in the Caribbean. The supper clubs are held once a month and are regularly booked up well in advance, so hurry if you want to reserve a seat at the table.

Mamma Mia! The Party

First came the music, followed by the hit stage show, then not one but two blockbuster movies, now you can be part of the party with a Mamma Mia immersive experience. London's O2 will host a theatrical and dining experience, which has already impressed in Stockholm. Mamma Mia! The Party invites audiences into a Greek island paradise, where olive trees, trickling fountains and trailing bougainvillea transport you to Nikos' Taverna for an evening of Mediterranean food and live performance.

Eleven98 at Hackney Coffee Co

Hackney Coffee Co is a coffee shop by day, interactive fine-dining experience by night (on occasion). Going by the name Eleven98, the pop-up supper clubs are held roughly once a month and seat up to 20 guests at a time. Guests are welcomed with a cocktail on arrival – but are expected to bring their own drink of choice to see them through the rest of the evening – leaving the focus on chef Aidan Brooks’ six-course tasting menu, which is comprised largely of ingredients grown in the borough of Hackney.