8.0
Great
Food & Drink

Neil Frame 07/01/70


Foxlow

NOTE: Sadly Foxlow has now closed. You can find more great Farringdon restaurants here though…

Welcome to our weekly history class!

Wait, don’t go. This is going to be fun.

Today’s subject is Clerkenwell during The Industrial Revolution, an area of London which throughout the 18th and 19th centuries became a magnet for new breweries, distilleries, printers, clock-makers… and pesky thieving orphans like Oliver Twist, a young vagrant taught how to pick pockets by a cheeky top hat-wearing dwarf at a market on Clerkenwell Green.

Anyway, as it transpires history is pretty boring, so allow us to fast-forward straight past the industrial decline that Clerkenwell suffered following World War II and go straight to its subsequent revival and gentrification. The process began with Londoners moving into the area’s NYC-style lofts in the 1980s; it’s continued over the past 25 years with a gradual influx of architects, design firms, young professionals and restaurants (most recently Burger & Lobster, Hix and Polpo); and it gloriously culminates with the arrival of Hawksmoor’s little sister: friendly neighbourhood dining spot, Foxlow.

Just imagine a smaller version of Hawksmoor…

This place is nothing like that.

Because while yes, there’s lots of reclaimed wood and dark walls, cocktails, charcoal-grilled steaks from the Ginger Pig and Hawksmoor-levels of service, there are also things that you’d never find at Hawksmoor.

Things like glazed bricks swiped from the London Underground; a coop-load of chicken-wire glass; a brand new cocktail menu; a large open kitchen serving up a relaxed and varied menu of slow-smoked meats (like ‘6-Hour Bacon Ribs’ and ‘8-Hour Beef Shortrib’), seafood dishes from Devon’s Brixham Market and gooey soft-serve sundaes; plus a dedicated salad bar.

Ain’t no salad bar at Hawksmoor.

NOTE: Sadly Foxlow has now closed. You can find more great Farringdon restaurants here though…

Foxlow | 69-73 St John Street, Clerkenwell, London EC1M 4AN


Enjoy quality dining experiences? Check our our London Restaurant Bible


Foxlow


69-73 St John Street, Clerkenwell, Clerkenwell, The City and East London, EC1M 4AN

8.0 | Great