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Wild Game Night with The Grand Duchess & 10 Greek Street
Apparently, this game requires two players: it’s a collaboration wild game dinner between chef Cameron Emirali (of 10 Greek Street fame) and the guys at The Grand Duchess, whose floating restaurant it’ll all take place on. There’ll be a 5-course tasting menu including Middle Eastern spiced hare, some pheasant & duck parfait, and a Welsh grouse with tarragon bread pudding.
Details: 10th December | The Grand Duchess, W2 6EP | £50 (wine pairing +£60)
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Table and Candle On A Routemaster
The folks at Table & Candle – who aim to bring the fine dining scene outside of W1 – are going to put a pop up feast on a Routemaster Bus this month. You’ll board the vehicle at Stoke Newington, then take a three hour riverside jaunt while you eat a seven-course Italian Pugliese tasting menu before finally returning to Stokey.
Details: 20th & 21st December | Boarding outside Ryan’s N16 | £79pp
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Chubby Buddies
Chubby Buddies describe their cooking style as “American mess touched by Asian fluffiness”. And that comes across as being startling accurate when you see the dishes they produce: BAOgers (that’s a burger in bao buns) and BAOdogs (you can guess) and other such cross-Pacific fusion.
Details: Until the end of January | The Rose & Crown, 71-73 Torriano Ave, NW5 2SG
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Bar Under The Bridge
This one’s pretty self-explanatory. The bar: a sprawling lodge with cosy heated chalet booths, fleece rugs, and board games, serving up food from Baggio Burger as well as mulled booze. The Bridge: Hungerford, next to the Southbank Centre.
Details: Until January 5th | Under Hungerford Bridge, Southbank Centre, SE1 8XX
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Gingerline’s TV Dinners
Gingerline – the immersive dining pioneers who have sold out countless mysterious multi-dimensional dining experiences in secret locations around London, taking you variously through anthropomorphic flavour machines; animated clouds; giant ball pits and time itself – are finally taking on the ultimate bastion of culinary achievement.
TV Dinners… READ MORE
Details: Until 29th December | A Secret Location | £50pp
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The Gun’s Winter Wonderland
The Gun in Spitalfields have pulled the trigger on their new festive pop up restaurant: a life-sized gingerbread chalet with edible walls. It’s got all manner of sparkling fairy lights, cozy throws, festive decorations, and bricks that look good enough to eat (and literally are). Thankfully, your hunger should be taken care of by their new menu, which includes braised beef short ribs and whole, deep-fried bries.
Details: Until the end of Februrary | The Gun, 54 Brushfield St, Spitalfields, E1 6AG
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Pacific
What covers two thirds of the earth and can be found in Mayfair?
Pacific.
It’s taking up the space in Mayfair’s rotating residency 10 Heddon Street, and it’ll be headed up by Aussie chef Shaun Presland, who’se spent the last 25 years training under the best Japanese chefs on the planet… READ MORE
Details: Until March 2020 | 10 Heddon Street, Mayfair, W1B 4BX
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Pampushka at the Sun & 13 Cantons
We feel cockily confident in asserting that you’ve probably never had Ukrainian food before, which is a pity, because if it’s all as good as the stuff they’re serving at Pampushka – wild mushroom & tarragon dumplings; clay pot chicken with root vegetables; layered chocolate & cream cake – then we’ve all been missing out. Luckily, you can find out for yourself at the Sun & 13 Cantons for the next six months.
Details: Until March 2020 | 21 Great Pulteney Street, Soho, W1F 9NG
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Filthy Buns
Filthy Buns (aka John & Debs) are settling into the kitchen at Dalston’s 3 Compasses, and cooking up their ludicrously large, jaw-dislocating burgers. They’re all made with aged beef, and they’re serving something gloriously called a ‘Sunday Roast Bun’ at the end of the week.
Details: Until April 2020 | The Three Compasses, 99 Dalston Lane, E8 1NH
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Fodder
Fodder’s watchword is sustainability. And they’re going to be sustaining themselves in Brixton’s Shrub & Shutter for the next six months, serving an environmentally aware menu filled with foraged ingredients. Expect confit ray tail, wood pigeon yakitori, and beech leaf sorbet, all cooked up by a former Cub chef.
Details: Until April 2020 | Shrub & Shutter, 336 Coldharbour Lane, SW9 8QH
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Emile
It was a sad day when Swedish restaurant Rök was officially beaten by paper. Specifically money. And the lack thereof.
But the good news is that something just as delicious is settling into the Scandi-chic space, at least for the next few months. Emile will be run by chef Damian Clisby (formerly of Petersham Nurseries) and wine man Nick Gibson (landlord at The Drapers Arms), and they’ll be putting together a wine-driven menu of Modern European dishes.
Details: Until mid-2020 | 26 Curtain Road, EC2A 3NY
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Seb Meyers at P Franco
Celebrated wine bar P Franco regularly give up their kitchen space for a new chef residency – And currently, that chef is Seb Myers, whose London cheffing career started alongside Nuno Mendes at the iconic Viajante, and has since taken in Chiltern Firehouse and Sager + Wilde Paradise Row. His menu here changes daily, but you can expect a line-up of around seven or eight elegant dishes – which so far have included the likes of red mullet tartines; pork rillettes and cuttlefish rice.
Details: Throughout December | 107 Lower Clapton Rd, E5 0NP
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Mei Mei’s Street Cart’s Residency at LP Bar in New Cross
Mei Mei’s have already followed the traditional plan of opening pop up, then following it with a permanent restaurant: their north London pop up was followed by a brick-and-mortar joint… in Liverpool. Now they’re back, slinging excellent Chinese fusion dishes (the tacos are particularly popular) at LP Bar in New Cross.
Details: Throughout December | LP Bar, 401 New Cross Rd, SE14 6LA
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Hello Kitty Matcha Bar at Tombo
Sure, Hello Kitty doesn’t have a mouth, but that doesn’t mean she shouldn’t start a pop up restaurant, which she has: it’s in Fitzrovia for four months. It involves all manner of poke, branch, ramen, and doughnuts. And it’s exactly as charmingly twee as you’d imagine.
Details: Throughout December | 4 Windmill St, W1T 2HZ
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Le Bun
French-American burger outfit Le Bun are taking over the kitchens at Fitzrovia’s Smugglers Tavern, serving up truffle honey bacon cheeseburgers; bone marrow loaded fries, and buffalo cauliflower wings. Oh, and a cheeseburger Scotch egg.
Details: Throughout December | 28 Warren St, Fitzrovia, London W1T 5ND
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Hideaway by Dabbous
Set in the culinary gardens of the ultra-luxe Chelsea Barracks development, Hideaway comes to us from Ollie “I collect Michelin Stars” Dabbous. He dipped his toes into the pop up scene here briefly during the Flower Show in spring, and now he’s back for something longer-term. You can expect light, cafe-style fare including black truffle Croque Monsieurs; Ibaiama sauscisson; and buckwheat pain au chocolats.
Details: Throughout December | Chelsea Barracks, Garrison Square, SW1W 8BG
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Jimmy’s Lodge
The igloos are back. Jimmy Garcia, prince of pop ups, tycoon of temporary restaurants, has put his domes back on the banks of the Thames, and is serving up fondues, sharing steaks, and mulled wine in them. READ MORE
Details: Throughout December | Belvedere Road, SE1 8XX
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Prairie Fire at London Fields Brewery
Having been at the vanguard of the craft beer renaissance, London Fields Brewery are unveiling a renovated taproom overlooking their brand new railway arch brewery. And they’re not only filling it with dozens of brews fresh out of the tanks, they’ve drafted in Midwestern BBQ specialists Prairie Fire to take care of the grub. You’ll find Kansas City classics like applewood-smoked pork buns; brisket and pulled pork platters; hickory smoked chicken wings… and veggie options.
Details: Throughout December | London Fields Brewery, 365-366 Warburton Street, E8 3RR
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Luardos at The Gipsy Queen
Mexican street food afficionados Luardos have taken over the pans at Kentish Town’s Gipsy Queen, a cosy 1920s pub with a suntrap of a back garden. They’re serving burritos, burrito bowls, quesadillas and sides like cassava chips, fried plantain and elotes – and on Tuesdays their tacos (baja fish, chicken thigh and carne asada) are £2 a pop.
Details: Mon-Sat throughout December | The Gipsy Queen, 166 Malden Road, London NW5 4BS
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Flank OG at The Print House
Chef Tom Griffiths is bringing his mouthwatering BBQ grub to the Print House bar in Stratford for a whole year. You might have spotted him at Market Hall Victoria and Spitalfields Market, but now that he’s got a bigger kitchen to play with, the results are, frankly, outrageous. Expect huge Sunday lunches; confit potatoes with bone marrow butter; pig’s head and trotter buns; aged beef burgers; slow-cooked cider vinegar short ribs and beef fat-brushed naans served with burnt ends.
Details: Until Summer 2020 | 133 High Street, Stratford, E15 2RB
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The Allotment at Counter Culture
Counter Culture, the little sister to The Dairy in Clapham, has launched “The Allotment”: a residency by chef Sam Ashton-Booth, who’s created a menu from the food he’s pulling out of the ground at his buddy’s, well, allotment. The menus will entirely be shaped by the harvest, and will be thus very vegetable-driven.
Details: Throughout December | 16 The Pavement, Clapham Old Town, SW4 0HY
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Studio Olafur Eliasson Kitchen
To pair with his mind-bending new show, Olafur Eliasson has opened a pop up restaurant in the Tate Modern’s Terrace Bar, which has been transformed with Eliasson’s artworks & light fittings. There, the chefs are cooking up organic, vegetarian meals served family style, exactly as they are at Eliasson’s studio in Berlin, where the restaurant originated.
Details: Until 5th January 2020 | The Tate Modern, Bankside, SE1 9TG
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Flat Earth Pizzas
Flat Earth have probably had to deal with a lot of non-believers in their time. But if you head to The Hive in Cambridge Heath, you can see for yourself how good their pizzas are. Their ethos is built around low-waste cooking and using local and foraged ingredients – which translates into toppings like house kimchi, egg and five cheeses; foraged plum compote with sesame and soy aubergine; samphire and seaweed salt; and courgette ribbons with toasted walnuts.
Details: Thurs-Sat evenings until the end of the year | The Hive, 288 Cambridge Heath Road, E2 9DA
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Chambers_
Gingerline are back with another experience so secret, we’ll have to ask that you kindly read this paragraph in a whispered internal monologue. It’s got a secret menu, it’s at a secret location, and the experience is a secret, too. It’s called Chambers_, and it’s a culmination of their various Chambers of Flavour immersive supperclubs, which has gone through three ever-more-impressive iterations over the past couple of years.
This fourth time around, you’ll get “a palate twisting interactive multi-dimensional dining adventure”, which includes “5 flavoursome courses, a palate cleanser, a welcome drink plus 120 minutes of playful explorations through 5 dining dimensions”. Precisely what all of that means isn’t entirely clear, but then, that’s the point.
Now don’t go blabbing about it.
Details: Until 21st Decmber | Somewhere Secret | £55-£75
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Chinese Laundry @ 10 Coulgate St
After their restaurant almost burned down and its charred husk was then occupied by squatters, the seemingly irrepressible ladies behind The Chinese Laundry are back at last with a long term residency in Brockley’s 10 Coulgate Street. And unseated of a fixed menu, there’ll be a table of dishes to choose freely from, all inspired by their recent trip across China… READ MORE
Details: Weds-Sun until Feb 2020 | No.10 Coulgate Street, SE4 2RS | £35 (including corkage, if you want to BYOB)
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Liu Xiaomian at The Jackalope
It takes a seasoned chef to get the level of spices right in a dish. Luckily, Liu Xiaomian has two. The duo behind the noodle outfit have won themselves queues round the block for their ‘spicy, numbing, addictive’ Chongqing cooking. And they’re settled into the kitchens at Marylebone pub The Jackalope for the near future, serving delicious, freshly made wonton, spicy noodles and slow-cooked pork with Chinese vegetables.
Details: Tues-Fri, 12-2.30pm & 6-9pm | The Jackalope, 43 Weymouth Mews, W1G 7EQ
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Supa Ya Ramen
Ramen is getting souped up.
Because ex-Nopi, Patty & Bun and Hand & Flowers chef Luke Findlay is running his own underground ramen restaurant. It only takes place on Saturday nights, with four sittings and six people at a time. To make sure you’re one of them, DM him on instagram and he’ll reply with a booking and directions to find it…
Details: Saturday nights | Secret N16 Location
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Donnelly’s
James Donnelly may have climbed the culinary ladder the old-fashioned way (with a CV listing The River Café, The Palmerston and Tom Aikens)… but his food’s anything but. After winning critical acclaim for a series of pop ups, he’s landed in Bermondsey for a long-term residency serving up his Modern British ‘tapas’ – which here means the likes of salted chocolate tart with port-poached blackberries and roasted plaice with pickled mushrooms. READ MORE
Details: Throughout December | The Bermondsey Bar & Kitchen, 40 Bermondsey Street, SE1 3UD
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Origin Lates
Coffee roasters Origin will be keeping you up late once again this month – but this time, it’ll be thanks to their after hours coffee cocktails, craft beer, natural wine, and small plates. And, you know, all the caffeine too.
Details: 5th & 19th December | Origin Coffee Roasters, 84 Scoresby Street, SE1 0XN
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Tipple & Taste
Chef George Dyer (who trained under Raymond Blanc) has a soft spot for cocktails – he wanted to create a bar revolving around them in a more meaningful way, so he started Tipple & Taste. You pick a couple of his small plates, and the barkeeps tailor your cocktail choice based around the food that you order.
Details: 6th, 13th & 20th (all Fridays) December | Pilango Cider, Arch 10 Munster Rd, Fulham, SW6 4RY
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The Espresso Martini Society
After a trio of pop ups vending the world’s longest espresso martini menu, all of which went down extremely well (apparently, all told they served some twenty thousand cocktails), the Espresso Martini Society are returning this festive season with an all-new concept: bottomless espresso martinis.
Details: Until 14th December | Ko Coffee, 258, Pentonville Road, N1 9JY | £25
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The Loubi Express
Hyper-chic designer Christian Louboutin (it’s pronounced ‘le boot, uh’) has decided to explore the hyper-chic world of trains for his pop up in Claridges Hotel. It’s a gigantic, life-size, lush, Louboutin red Orient Express-esque affair serving champagne, cocktails, and lobster Wellingtons. All seats are first-come, first served.
Details: Until 21st December | Brook Street, Mayfair, W1K 4HR
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Sin Gusano at Milk Bar
Sin Gusanto is a roaming, nomadic mezcal bar, this month making its home in Soho coffeeshop Milkbar. It’ll act as both a pop up mezcal tasting experience (flights and cocktails), and a Christmas bottle shop if you know anyone whose booze cabinet could do with some stocking.
Details: Until 21st December | Milk Bar, 3 Bateman Street, W1D 4AG
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Bar Doña
Doña is a female-led, female-operated mezcal bar in Stoke Newington with hot pink walls, and live music every night. The talent behind it – Thea Cumming & Lucie Massey – are responsible for launching London Mezcal Week, and Dangerous Don mezcal, so they know the area relatively well…
Details: Until December 21st | 92 Stoke Newington High St, N16 7NY
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Miracle
If you took all of Christmas, compressed it into an extremely festive hand-grenade, and detonated it inside a bar …you’d get something like Miracle. It’s a pop up cocktail joint that started in New York, then spread across the US, and then the world. Now it’s in London. At the Henrietta Hotel, specifically. Expect over-the-top decor, unique Christmas cocktails, and bespoke glassware.
Details: Until 23rd December | Henrietta Hotel, 14-15 Henrietta Street, WC2E 8QH
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Alpine Whisky Lodge
Flat Iron Square just got a little less flat, and a little less square thanks to its pop up whisky lodge – you’ll find a stellar lineup of malts, some live acoustic music, and even a cozy acres ski lodge.
Details: Until December 31st | Flat Iron Square, 53b Southwark St, SE1 1RU
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The Ski Lodge
Pine trees. Falling snow. Reindeer. Snowmen. Ski racks. Piste maps. Palm trees. The Montague’s pop up ski lodge is only really missing a slope – but after a steaming hot spiced cider, you won’t really care.
Details: Until 5th January | 15 Montague Street, WC1B 5BJ
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Le Tram Champagne Bar
The people at Veuve Clicquot have opened a ‘concept store’ at Selfridges, and one of the concepts they came up with is bar in the shape of a double-height, life-size tram. Aboard, you’ll find cocktails, champagne, and unlike on most trams – flights.
Details: Throughout December | Selfridges Ground Floor, 400 Oxford St, W1A 1AB
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Bar Aspen
In English folklore, the leaves of an aspen tree are said to grant the wearer the ability to visit the underworld and – importantly – return safely. Which in fairly literal way is what you can do at Bar Aspen. Because it’s a subterranean natural wine speakeasy, popping up for just one day a week (Fridays) in a hidden Camden cellar. And it’s got live music. READ MORE
Details: Fridays throughout December | The Cellars at Music & Beans, 82 Camden High St., NW1 0LT
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The Emerald City at Queen of Hoxton
The Queen of Hoxton’s rooftop is once again switching its theme for the season, and this time it’s taking a whirlwind to the Emerald City (Oz, not Dublin). You can expect green beers, hot buttered rums, a light dusting of Wiccan magic workshops and storytelling in their cosy wigwam.
Details: Throughout December | Queen of Hoxton, 1-5 Curtain Road, EC2A 3JX
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The Midnight Apothecary
Why go to the Midnight Apothecary?
1) It’s in the rooftop garden of the Brunel Museum;
2) You get street food and award-winning botanical cocktails, with ingredients grown in the garden itself by ‘The Cocktail Gardener’, Lottie Muir;
3) You’ll get a tour of The Grand Entrance Hall to Brunel’s Thames Tunnel, which is an underground chamber half the size of Shakespeare’s Globe;
4) There are unlimited toasting marshmallows;
5) Tickets are a fiver. A fiver.
Details: Throughout December | Brunel Museum, Railway Avenue SE16 4LF | £5
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The Mind Palace
A Sherlock Holmes-themed cocktail bar has just opened next to the pop up immersive experience The Game Is Now. It’s called The Mind Palace, and it’s a pretty good place to sharpen up by destroying any of the weaker brain cells that may have been holding you back. They even have immersive cocktail games, like “The Case of the Poisoned Chalice” to help you do it.
Details: Weds-Sat throughout December | Doyle’s Opticians, W12 Shopping Centre, W12 8PP
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Gosnell’s Upstairs at Coal Rooms
London’s only meadery has opened its doors.
And it’s created quite a buzz.
Perched above Peckham’s Coal Rooms in the old, Grade II listed station ticket office, the space has been taken over by mead-makers Gosnells for the foreseeable future. They’ll be serving up their original and vintage brews, as well as more adventurous numbers from salted to barrel-aged and pink hibiscus-infused meads, and iced mead cocktails for the warmer days.
Details: Wed-Sat throughout December | 11a Station Way, Peckham, SE15 4RX
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Drams in the Dark
In the dark about whisky? Then try literally drinking it in the dark. It’ll help to heighten your senses of taste and smell, and give you a much deeper appreciation for the spirit. And if the whole thing is hosted by a whisky author like Blair Bowman, at a Scottish restaurant & whisky bar like Mac & Wild, all the better.
Details: Fridays throughout December | Mac & Wild City, 9a Devonshire Square, EC2M 4YN | £40
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The Grid
Black Mirror’s bleakly cynical outlook of the future is enough to drive you to drink. Which makes this new pop up bar rather convenient. It’s called The Grid, and it’s coming to us from the people behind the fantastic ABQ London. Inspired by Charlie Brooker’s show, it’s an immersive experience set in a future dominated by artificial intelligence. You’ll play a member of The Grid; a secret society of individuals working to safeguard humanity’s future against machines. Your job will be to infiltrate Neosight, the company responsible for the AI …and crush the system by drinking a buttload of cocktails. READ MORE
Details: Tues-Sat until end of December | Bankside Arches, 2 Robinson Road, SE1 8BU | £30-35
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Main image: Christmas at Kew