Ozone just got a new layer.
After seven years impressing people with the excellent food & coffee at their original Shoreditch location, the Kiwi java merchants have opened a second venue.
This one’s in Bethnal Green, in a sizeable space a stone’s throw away from the canal. Inside, instead of merely mimicking the original venue’s brick & brushed metal industrial chic look, they’ve taken a sharp left turn, and created something incredibly light, with nary a surface that isn’t in the paler end of the colour spectrum.
Maintaining one important tradition though, is the fact that the beans in your coffee are roasted on-site daily in a huge re-furbished 1960s model burner, then decanted into their state-of-the-art espresso machine. And that coffee will be poured into basically everything, from cocktails, to food, to actual coffee.
And speaking of the food, one very important bonus feature for this place is that it has its own standalone pizza oven, which has been put into service scorching “properly fermented” dough from noon each day. You’ll get ultra-fresh focaccia with pancetta & mozzarella; Caprese-style calzones made with tomatoes & basil; and pizzas covered in stuff like caramelised fennel, ‘nduja, confit garlic, fermented chilli, charred aubergine, and pork & fennel salami.
Other than that, there’s a pretty encyclopaedic list of all-day dishes. You could start the day with some gin-cured trout eggs benny, or maybe pancakes with toffee banana & coconut yoghurt. For lunch or dinner on the other hand, there are dishes like celery root risotto with caramelised cauliflower & chestnut, or crispy hogget lamb breast with green tomatoes, roast grapes and burnt onions.
And finally, there are the cocktails. Their Green Margarita is made with cucumber & mint; the Counter Culture has whisky and coffee-infused Cognac; their negroni is powered up with cold-drip coffee; and their Mezcal Mule includes something called “chilli beer”.
Which, ironically, is not what you should ask for if you just want a cold beer.
NOTE: Ozone Bethnal Green is open daily for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. You can make a booking, and find out more at their website right HERE.
Ozone Bethnal Green | 8 Pritchard’s Road (entrance on Emma Street), E2 9AP
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