acid reflux: bakery beef special
Plus: what’s happened to Norman’s, what’s going on with the Observer restaurant critic, and more.
Good morning and welcome to acid reflux, a column that’s already getting me into trouble.
Free Palestine
It’s been heartening to see London hospitality come out so strong in support of Palestine, with many cooking fundraisers directly raising money for food and aid agencies attempting to operate in Palestine under an Israeli blockade and genocide. There are two smaller events that I would love to promote. The first is a walk/workshop tomorrow (Saturday) on herbalism by Amanny Ahmad, who has been one of the most lucid voices on Palestine and food over the past decade (read her essay on bread, wheat and Palestine on MOLD here). Tickets are £25 – to secure one, message Amanny on Instagram (@lalph_rauren).
Second, a group of publishers and activist organisations, including the brilliant Skin Deep magazine and Haymarket Books, are holding a fundraiser and solidarity event for Alaa Abd El-Fattah, the British–Egyptian writer and activist who remains behind bars in Egypt. Alaa, who has long been a powerful voice on Palestine, has previously participated in hunger strikes directly inspired by those of Palestinian prisoners, and since the beginning of the month he is on hunger strike again. Alaa’s mother, Laila Soueif, was hospitalised in the UK earlier this year after a hunger strike in support of her son. The event will take place at Pelican House on 25 September (tickets available here), and will include readings from Amrit Wilson, Harsha Walia, Omar Robert Hamilton, Hazem Jamjoum, Nihal El Aasar, Sara Salem and Amelia Horgan. Hunger is a food-writing issue.
To the Victor, the Spoils
When we heard in July that Victor Garvey at the Midland Grand was closing after just five months of trading, we raised a collective eyebrow. The opulent dining room has been something of a problem spot. I had a great meal there under Patrick Powell, who only lasted two years, but five months is an extraordinarily short tenure for a chef who was clearly gunning for stars (Garvey’s other restaurant Sola, has one Michelin star). Our eyebrows were further raised by the announcement in August that Garvey was crowdfunding a new restaurant to the tune of £130,000.
Earlier this month, the Sunday Times reported that the company that owns Sola, MBS Rapidez Limited, went into liquidation in March 2023 with estimated debts of more than £1.2 million, including almost £80,000 owed to six wine suppliers and similar amounts to food suppliers (including £40,000 alone to the Notting Hill Fish Shop, owned by Chris D’Sylva of Dorian). The ownership of Sola was then transferred to Sola Fine Dining Limited, which collapsed in July last year with a deficit of £629,789. One wine supplier, Wanderlust Wine, claims it was owed £19,000 when MBS Rapidez went bust and that it was persuaded to continue supplying Sola until March last year, when Sola Fine Dining also collapsed, with over £26,000 of invoices left unpaid.
The baroque company structure surrounding Garvey’s restaurants, and the allegations of unpaid invoices, should be the biggest hospitality story in London right now, but so far no one has followed up on the Sunday Times story, and I have not heard it being discussed outside wine circles. Speaking to a wine insider recently, it seems that this story has been an open secret for a while and that those left out of pocket have had little recourse apart from trying to place the story in the papers. The Sunday Times article is paywalled, which may explain the lack of traction, but I hear more is in the works …
Dovids Deli
I don’t go to pop-ups and residencies often nowadays, but I am excited for Dovid Brown’s takeover of the wine bar Hector’s this Sunday 14 September (from 1pm until they run out). You can normally find Brown cooking at 40 Maltby Street, although his dream restaurant is actually a Jewish deli. ‘I’ve always found the lack of good Jewish restaurants and delis in London sad, and I can rarely find the patience to sit on the Northern Line to Edgware to visit my favourite salt beef bar, B&K,’ he tells us.
B&K can be difficult to get to if you’re not in North-West, so it’s a real public service to get this style of food at Hector’s. Expect salt beef with chrain and potatoes, chopped liver, and some nods to Brown’s Hungarian grandma. Whether this food can be small-plated remains to be seen.
Hanbaagaasuuteeki
In the last acid reflux, I mentioned the possibility of the Regency Cafe opening in Dubai but stopped just short of predicting that we’re about to enter a new chaotic era of Turkish restaurant ownership. Well, today, I am predicting that. Not too far from the Regency, you can find Hanbaagaasuuteeki, an Asian-inspired smash burger restaurant competing directly with the unmistakeable smell of Bleecker Burger’s extractor on the westbound Circle/District Line platform at Victoria. I came out of self-imposed retirement to review it for Emily Sundberg’s excellent newsletter Feed Me.
Bake Off
It’s a truism that the smaller the industry, the more vicious the beef. And, judging by a recent tip off from Vittles contributor Thuli Weerasena, there is no beef like bakery beef – in this case a who-will-blink-first stand-off between Suba and Crumbs in Walthamstow. For those who don’t know, Suba was started in 2022 by baker Pa Modou and quickly established itself as one of London’s best bakeries, blending French techniques with African and Asian flavours (in these pages, Marie Mitchell cited the cashew cream croissant as one of her favourite bakes in the city).
In May, Suba’s old site at 368–370 Hoe Street rebranded as Crumbs. A quick browse on Companies House, plus comments in the Walthamstow subreddit, revealed that Modou had already left the business. However, if you hadn’t noticed the name change you might not have been able to tell anything was different: plenty of the old staff remained and the menu was nearly identical It was only the declining quality of the bakes that suggested it wasn’t business as usual.
Behind the paywall: Norman’s, the Lebanese Grill phenomena, Sadiq Khan’s increasing use of food, the Ottolenghi-Tamimi rift, and the ongoing search for the Observer restaurant critic. You can read the previous acid reflux here.