Nest

Nest | Seasonal British small plates in an elegant Shoreditch space

This is one of those good news/bad news type situations.

The bad news is that the critically acclaimed restaurant Nest in Hackney is closing.

The good news is that the bad news was basically a lie, Nest is just moving to a larger, cooler space in a more convenient Shoreditch location.

So what’s the deal with this place? Well, for a place named ‘Nest’, the restaurant ironically received very little stick. In fact, the only real criticism levelled at it was that it was teeny tiny, with just seven tables. Critics fawned over their elegant & inventive British small plates though, with menus all build around a single seasonal ingredient or theme. The team even opened their own followup restaurant – St Barts – and won it a Michelin Star within 5 months of opening. Which is all a roundabout way of saying that these guys make really, really good food.

The new digs are in Shoreditch, right next to the grand Town Hall, in an old-school red brick Victorian building. It’s all framed around a huge horseshoe counter, with a bar at one end arcing over to an open kitchen at the other end, all clasped around the dining area in the centre. Thus, on either side of you there’ll be cocktails being shaken, and chefs meticulously putting together the menu.

Speaking of which, at lunchtime it’s all a la carte. But at dinner? It’s a set-menu only affair, meaning you get the menu delivered to you in a brown envelope sealed in wax. You can either choose to tear it open and find out what you’re having, or just wait to be surprised with course after course of creative goodness. The starting lineup of dishes is centred around game birds, meaning you can expect the likes of grouse tea; milk bread with game bird butter; fried partridge with fermented chilli mayo; and elderflower doughnuts with gooseberry jam. Following on, you’ll find beef season starting in November and seafood in the new year.

The wine will also stick to the whole one-at-a-time theme, with ‘one-region’ pairing (of four glasses, incl. something sparkling, red, white, and sweet) to offer unknown bottles from the same territory, kicking off with a lineup of wines from Austria for the opening game season…

…and we’re pretty games for that.

NOTE: Nest opens in its new location on 4th October 2023. You can find out more, and book a table, right here.

ALSO NOTE: The Nudge Member-exclusive soft launch (50% off the tasting menu from 27th September until 12th October) has now sold out.

Nest | 374-378 Old Street, EC1V 9LT

Who will they have for company? Just some of these excellent Shoreditch restaurants…