The London pop-ups to catch in 2019

LDN 195: OpenTable x Carousel

A collaboration between online restaurant reservation service OpenTable and gourmet, pop-up dining venue Carousel sees six of the most underrepresented cuisines in the capital take centre stage. Going by the name LDN 195, the three-day event champions the cuisines of Romania, Goa, Slovenia, Polynesia, Armenia and Ukraine at Carousel’s Marylebone venue. The sharing-style menu costs £50pp and includes six delectable dishes, a welcome cocktail, half a bottle of wine and a digestif.

Bumble x SoulCycle

To coincide with the launch of their loneliness campaign, dating app Bumble has partnered with actress and radio presenter Jameela Jamil to hold a spin class exclusively for Bumble BFF users and their BFFs. Although primarily a dating app, Bumble’s BFF function is geared towards helping people meet as friends.

The spin class is being held at SoulCycle, London's hottest new studio run by the North American brand widely believed to offer the best bike workout around. To apply to the event, download Bumble, switch to BFF mode and click on the SoulCycle x Bumble profile.

Symmetry Breakfast x Caravan Croissant

Michael Zee, aka the driving half behind Symmetry Breakfast has teamed up with all-day dining restaurant, Caravan Fitzrovia, to create an unusual (and perfectly symmetrical) pork floss croissant. The pastry, a collaboration between Caravan’s head pastry chef Joshua Meiseman and Zee, injects a Chinese twist into the classic French pastry. While shaped like a pain au chocolat, the croissant is filled with sesame flavoured French buttercream and topped with fluffy pork floss.

Whether or not this combination of flavours is a match made in culinary heaven is up to you to decide, but what we can tell you us that a pound from every £3.80 croissant is being donated to Rare Charity, which funds education for young people in tea-producing communities.

Lesley’s Launderette

Brand activation campaigns rarely win us over like this one has: Hendrick’s Gin has created an immersive, multi-sensory experience behind a launderette in Shoreditch. For four days only, those who step inside Lesley’s Launderette will be transported into a botanical world where you can sip on gin and tonics infused with rose and cucumber. The best bit? The 45-minute experience is entirely free. All you have to do is book your slot in advance and show up ready to learn about the Hendrick's brand as you sip.

The Lost Love Speakeasy

Are you a glittering flapper, a big-spending tycoon or an offbeat bohemian? Choose your role at the Lost Love Speakeasy, London's new 1920s immersive theatre experience by pioneering company the Lost Estate. This pop-up is as much about the food as it is the chance to hear the soulful sounds of the Jazz Age. Sip on prohibition-style cocktails and feast on decadent plates by Temper Restaurants’ executive chef, Neil Rankin before dancing the night away to a live band.

Rosé Wine Tasting at ME London

Let yourself be transported to Provence via ME London with an evening of rosé tasting. Over the course of an hour, you’ll try three delectable wines – each paired with appropriate bites to eat – learning informally about rosé as you go. Tickets cost £25pp and include a glass of champagne on arrival. This is a pop-up for those not yet ready to wave goodbye to summer’s favourite shade of vino for another year.

Makr Shakr’s robotic bar

If the Barbican’s current AI: More than Human exhibition leaves you feeling down on robots or worried about their increasing abilities, you’ll find something to take the edge off on Level G. Here, a pop-up bar designed by Makr Shakr – the world’s leading producer of robotic bars – has been installed to coincide with the exhibition. The order of the day here is classic cocktails (or mocktails for non-drinkers). Place your order with the bar’s robotic barman, Toni, and marvel – or gape in terror – as he stirs and shakes your tipple of choice with a mixologist’s perfection.

Allpress Lates

Some might deem heading into their 30s as the time to start slowing things down on the nightlife front, but not Allpress Espresso. The achingly cool east London coffee shop is celebrating turning the big 3-0 by launching a summer series of ‘Allpress Lates’.

The Allpress gang are working with the teams behind other hot names in the restaurant and bar industry, including those behind Towpath Café, Rochelle Canteen, Mr Lyan Studio and Three Sheets. Over the course of the series, these guest chefs and mixologists are bringing their own creative events to the Allpress Dalston roastery garden, which is staying open late into the evening for the first time.

Banquet of Hoshena

Dinner Time Story, creators of the immersive dining experience Le Petit Chef, are back with a new illusionary-fuelled pop-up: Banquet of Hoshena. Billed as a ‘two-hour, five-course theatrical fine-dining experience’, 3D audio-visual technology is used to transform the dinner table into a microcosm of flowing rivers and flying spirits, where guests become the hero of the story. Expect talking plates and dishes with a supernatural edge.

Monograph’s Japanese Supper Club

Those with a penchant for authentic Japanese cuisine with a hint of the experimental to it 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.

The Summer Rosé Garden at Dinings SW3

Leave the hazy crush of Chelsea’s busy streets behind when you step inside Dinings SW3 this summer. The Japanese restaurant, headed up by chef Masaki Sugisaki, has launched a Summer Rosé Garden in partnership with Champagne house Ruinart. Perhaps the pinkest place in London right now, the garden is decked out with a cherry blossom tree, a flower wall and a delicate weave of pink foliage which climbs across the courtyard walls. While there, pair your glass of Ruinart’s Rosé pour (or cuvées Blanc de Blancs, if you’re a traditionalist) with light Japanese dishes, including Octopus Carpaccio with Yuzu and Jalapeño; and Yellowtail Tartare.

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 regularly book up well in advance, so hurry if you want to reserve a seat at the table.

Jimmy’s BBQ Club

For a delectable BBQ feast, head to Jimmy Garcia’s on Southbank, where the split-level wooden shack and garden has been transformed into a summer-long BBQ Club. Upstairs, the banqueting table (bookable for six – 12 guests) serves up a more-than-you-can-manage, seven-course tasting menu, featuring hot, maple-smoked sea trout; spicy roasted cauliflower and two different types of scorched lamb among its dishes. Downstairs, meanwhile, is a more laid-back affair of the grab-and-go burger and beer variety. If the weather’s fine and you’re feeling sporty, head across the way for Jimmy’s Patch and Picnic experience, where you can play classic British lawn games – croquet and swingball among them – while enjoying a BBQ hamper packed with alfresco goodies.

The Chocolate Cocktail Club

Following a sell-out stint in Brighton, sugar-laden pop-up The Chocolate Cocktail Club has begun a four-month run in Shoreditch, bringing chocolate cocktails, chocolate beers and even chocolate wine to sweet-toothed Londoners. The bar serves ‘delicious duos from mochas to mint’ as well as its signature chocotini, and there's even an onsite chef making chocolate brownies. Customers are advised to book an hour-and-a-half slot in advance, and will receive a chocotini with their ticket.

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.