Good morning!
A few weeks ago, on a hot Friday before a long weekend, I went to a lunch on the terrace at Brunswick House, Jackson Boxer’s restaurant in Vauxhall.
I sat beside Jago Rackham and his partner Lowena, and we chatted about a wide range of important matters, from Francis Bourgeois’s new car (a 1998 Mercedes SLK30 convertible) and pop-punk themed spin classes (at Psycle), to the London food scene and Jago’s recent appearance on How Long Gone.
Jackson served a generous family-style lunch that showed off his sharp, modern cooking style and the star of the show was a tangy Brazilian-coded Suffolk chicken and Dorset cockle dish with a moqueca broth and jalapeño pesto, which we all gleefully dragged perfect french fries through.
I always feel like I’m banging on about this, but the restaurant industry’s obsession with endless newness means we rarely celebrate longevity in the way we should. Now in its 16th year, Brunswick House deserves far more attention, if not just for the food, then for the fact that a crumbling yet glamorous 17th-century Georgian mansion sitting beside the busy Vauxhall roundabout, housing both an antique showroom and an excellent restaurant, is about as London as it gets.
→ In other Jackson Boxer news: his new restaurant Vesper will open on Exmouth Market early next month
Reservations for a discounted preview week, running from Tuesday May 26 to Saturday May 30, are now open.
→ In other Boxer family news: Frank's Cafe on the Bold Tendencies rooftop in Peckham opens for the summer season tomorrow.
Let’s hope the weather forecast gets the memo
→ Lydia Pang is on a PR speedrun right now
In the past week alone, the co-founder of London-based creative strategy studio MØRNING has appeared in Financial Times’s HTSI, British Vogue, The Times, Service95, Into The Gloss, and on The Hyphen by Emma Gannon, The Goal is to Eat, and Georgia Graham’s Threads of Conversation to promote her new book, Eat Bitter.
Phew — girl, who’s doing your PR?
→ Hannah Crosbie wants us all to be buying stemware from Zara Home
“Specifically their ultralight crystalline range, which has zero business being this good”
→ Ruka just raised $4.5M in a new funding round
The London-based ethically sourced hair extension brand has now raised more than $10 million to date. The latest round was co-led by Henkel Ventures and Freedom Trail Capital, alongside several other firms and angel investors, including Dina Asher-Smith.
The funding will support research and development for Ruka’s alternative hair extensions. “We want Ruka fibres to essentially eradicate the need for human hair on the extensions market,” co-founder Tendai Moyo told Business of Fashion.
→ The transatlantic restaurant “special relationship” continues
While our friends in New York City enjoy a wave of aggressively British-coded new openings, Buvette has confirmed a June 4 opening date for its new Neal’s Yard outpost, while Claridge's has announced that Dante — the Manhattan bar and restaurant that’s been in residence at the Mayfair hotel since last June — is going permanent this summer.
→ Last weekend there was a rave in the abandoned Argos in Dalston
Music could be heard two streets away. This feels very 2010
→ Ellie’s wants to stay open until 2am on Wednesdays and Thursdays
The Dalston bar, famous for its £8 martinis and for hosting Charli XCX’s wedding party, has applied to Hackney Council to extend its opening hours.
Kingsland Road is back, baby!
and on the subject of Hackney Licensing Applications:
→ Is Miga moving to Shoreditch?
It looks like the critically acclaimed, family-run Korean restaurant, currently tucked beside Forno on Mare Street, has applied for a premises licence on Holywell Lane, a stone’s throw from Singburi in Shoreditch.
→ Giles Coren, after 30 years as a food critic, used his The Times column this week to waste 362 words complaining about a petrol station worker denying him ketchup for his Greggs sausage roll.
Bro, shut UPPPPPP.
you’re on a rolllllll (and RE Lydia, this is why is pays to have a great publisher)
Enough with Giles Coren. What a waste of space.