Eating through London
Author & Photographer: Ed Schmeltzer
IN the year 2019, London is a city unmoored from time and place. It is a fireworks display—bright, loud, colorful, and vibrant—held in the ruins of a falling city. For England is, it seems, falling. Not in the way of Rome, of course, or of the nameless empire in Thomas Cole’s The Course of Empire series of paintings. This is, after all, how we are all too often tempted to view ‘fallen empires’, or ‘fallen nations’. Instead, modern (post-1500) England is a place that built its legacy on a foundation of values that the world has utterly rejected. Values like the notion of ‘God and Country’, the idea that the rich should be elevated and the poor ignored, or that it is your right to wander into ‘newly-discovered’ lands and take them for yourself. To be fair, this is an issue throughout Europe—a continent that more than anything has been defined by a half-millennium of blood and treasure. However, England was far more than simply enriched by the nations it conquered, as so many other European nations were. They were the source of its power, and as much as England has been an irreparable force that has acted on these nations, they have acted upon it. Now, stripped of everything that it used to value—ideologically and physically—England must reinvent itself; this has become a process that is more and more fraught in our chaotic world.
This is where London comes in, for it is the one place in England that I believe has been most successful in this endeavor. Perhaps it is simply because I grew up there, or that it is a large, wealthy, and well-connected city. However, the food of London shows a growth, a unity, and an embracement of the other that so many other places in the country do not share. It is a fascinating scene. Restaurants of every stripe, of every cuisine, and of every nation exist in London. However, there are a few that stand above the rest. They are different—they tell stories. Stories of the normal English—people who lived and laughed and fought and died building and defending the city and country that we know today. Stories of immigrants—people who left everything they knew to come to a land they had only heard of in stories or in propaganda in order to build themselves a better life. Stories of culinary adventurers who have respected their personal pasts while creating a bold future. All are found in London. I’d like to tell you about a few, if I could.
Despite how much it has been changed by its interactions, both positive and negative, with the rest of the world, there is a corner of English cuisine that remains unassailably English. It is English in the way that warm beer or football is—it has been a part of our culture since before anyone cared to record. It is the food that most clearly represents the common past of England—the England of knights and (much more accurately) peasants, of fishermen and factory workers. The food all the stereotypes are based on, and the food that most English grew up eating. This cuisine is, of course, proudly represented in London.
1) The Feedwell Café
As you walk through London, it is easy for a lot of places to slip through the cracks, as it were. Sure, you notice the big, flashy restaurants and stores—the barrage of Pradas and Hugo Bosses, of Sexy Fishes and Nobus. Those are the parts of London that jump out at you. However, the best parts aren’t always the flashiest. These parts can be found unassaulted by throngs of tourists and mildly affected nouveau-riche types, are down the back alleys and residential roads—the places that you would never imagine a gem to be. The Feedwell Café is one of those places. Down a Battersea residential road, the restaurant itself appears mildly run-down. It has a fading sign and a layer of smudgy glass separating it from the rest of London, as well as a constant one or two van drivers lazing outside sharing a coffee or cigarette. Despite this seemingly humble exterior, however, the Feedwell Café serves what may as well be edible gold—one of the best full English breakfasts I’ve encountered. Perfect for when you are incredibly hungry (or hungover), the full English is a monster of grease, carbs and savory flavors. Bacon, sausage, eggs, fried mushrooms, toast, beans—it is truly a monster of a meal. And, much like the humble cheeseburger, I have all too often found that attempting to ‘elevate’ the meal simply does not have the same magic to it. It is a meal that truly is of the people; it uses ingredients that can be found anywhere in the UK and is easy to prepare. You don’t need to be a chef or a gourmand to create and enjoy it—just a hungry person looking to rectify that issue.
2) The Mayfair Chippy
It is unsurprising that the dish that most defines British cuisine is fish-based. We are a damp, small island after all. The Atlantic around us is warmed by the gulf stream and throughout history has positively teemed with fish. (Less so now, but that is a different story.). Either way, fish is baked into British culture in many ways, and fish and chips are perhaps the clearest food-based expression of this fact. Of course, you can find this dish prepared to a wide variety of quality levels throughout the city of London. Some are excellent—sweet, tender cod surrounded by a flaky, crispy batter. Others, not so much. However, The Mayfair Chippy is excellent, I am pleased to report. A relatively inexpensive, newer chain of three restaurants, the fish and chips they serve is light and flaky with batter that does not rob the fish of any flavor as well as chips that are crispy and chunky. All of this is coupled with traditional sides—mushy peas (a sort of thick pea stew), tartar sauce, as well as curry sauce. If you are going to try the unofficial British national dish, do it here.
Of course, food in London (indeed, some of the best food in London) is defined by far more than simply British cuisine. How could it not be, given Britain’s past? Waves of immigration and cultural intermixing from Scotland to India to China have given London especially a wealth of amazing restaurant experiences, more often than not opened by people who are passionate about sharing their cuisine with a new land—something we are incredibly lucky to be able to experience.
3) Brick Lane
Brick Lane isn’t a restaurant—it is an actual physical street in London. In that way, including it in this list is somewhat cheating. However, it is a street that, I believe, best exemplifies modern London’s multicultural nature. Originally a Jewish center, it was later increasingly inhabited by immigrants from India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. As of today, it has become a trendy center of street markets, street food and galleries. This creates a unique cultural tapestry in London—a street where you can find incredible bagels (called beigels here), curries, and cronuts, all within three or four blocks of each other. Brick Lane, to me, most concisely sums up the city that London has become over the past few decades—a hub for Europe and the world, ready to accept and welcome new ideas and peoples.
4) Bao and Xu
Bao and Xu are two restaurants that are like night-and-day. Both opened by the same chef, Shing Tat Chung, and both serving wonderful Taiwanese fare, at a first glance, you could maybe be excused for thinking they are similar.
Maybe.
Bao, on the one hand, is light, with light cream walls, lots of hidden lighting, and large, clean windows. Walking into the restaurant feels like you are stepping into some close-by future where designers took over the world and made everything clean, yet oddly natural. If you choose to go at night, for example, you are enveloped by warm lighting and the soft buzz of the patrons’ light conversation—a welcome reprieve from the all-too-often garish, loud streets of the city outside. Of course, restaurants are not made by their atmosphere alone. Bao does not disappoint. It serves some of the most truly excellent bao I’ve ever had. They are pillowy and light, with fillings that unleash torrents of flavor upon you. Bao focuses on a few dishes, prepared to exacting standards. There are only six or seven ‘main course’ bao, coupled with perhaps ten side dishes that are all excellent in their own ways, as well as a few well-thought out desserts.
Xu, on the other, is dark. The restaurant is painted a verdant forest green, with a gold-inlaid clock attached to the sign. Small and unassuming, when you step in you are transported back to the nineteen thirties. The restaurant looks like somewhere you’d expect spies to meet and exchange information on Nazi Germany (or perhaps Imperial Japan, to be more region-accurate). Mahogany tables are set around the space, adorned with white embroidered tablecloths and silver cutlery. The restaurant exudes class, creating a feeling of sitting down and dining in a forgotten, older world. From what one may have guessed reading this, Xu offers a very different experience to Bao. Instead of serving elevated street food, it focuses on a more traditional dining experience with masterfully executed mains, starters and cocktails—none of which should be missed.
Concept restaurants such as these offer a perspective on another aspect of London, overlooked so far—an embrace of the future and of the truly new. After all, a nation cannot be built entirely on tradition, as much as that tradition may branch out from the simple confines of ‘national’ dishes.
We live in a world that is often characterized by the aggressively negative. War, warming, worrying extremism—these all jump to mind. I am by no means immune—you read the introduction to this piece, after all. However, throughout this short and deeply limited culinary tour of London, I have tried to construct a counter-narrative; that, despite the darkness that it is all too easy to slip into, the world is still a brilliant, colorful, vivacious place. That places that seem like a tired, beaten old racehorse only good for the stable still have one last go at the track left in them. One last sprint to the finish.
For London--and Britain, by extension--are still going. Britain still has so much to offer the world. It has done great things; for these, I cannot take credit. It has done terrible things; for these, I cannot make excuses. But this nation is still one that deserves to be remembered and explored while it is in the midst of that last fireworks display. There is still so much more to find, and the sun hasn’t quite set on this island.
Postscript
This article was a hell of a thing to write—perhaps a bite of the steak a little too big to successfully chew. After all, I had to condense a city that I have spent a large proportion of my life living in and loving into a single article. I could write pages on every entry on this short list—and pages on many more restaurants left out. Indeed, some of the frontrunners from my original list were left off this one. For those of you inclined to further eating, here is an expanded list:
Dishoom
Kanada Ya
The Wolseley
Beigel Bake
Bistro Union
Street Food Union
Flesh and Buns
Café at Foyles (This is more a bookstore, but please go to the bookstore—it is wonderful.)
Baker and Spice
Ole and Steen
Patty and Bun
Swift Bar (wonderful bar, intimate atmosphere.)
Homeslice
Black Axe Mangal
Amaya
Chutney Mary
Kricket
Granger and Co
Of course, the London Eater is always an excellent resource if you’re in town.
Lastly, thank you so much to my editor, Alyce, who has put up with a lot of excuses and wasted time in the creation of this…thing.
Thanks for reading, folks. See you next time.