Hello and welcome back to Vittles Restaurants. Today, we are giving you a summer special: the 25 best dishes that editors, writers and friends of the publication have most enjoyed this long, hot summer.
A reminder also that the latest episode of the Vittles podcast has dropped: a conversation with the chefs’ chef Will Gleave. Will is known in London for game-changing stints at P.Franco, Bright, Peg and for briefly turning Hill & Szrok into the city’s best steak restaurant. He now heads up the kitchen at Sargasso in Margate. Listen and learn about the early natural wine scene in east London, the brutal conditions of a famous Michelin-starred kitchen, his view of 40 Maltby Street and the best pasta chef in the country.
The 25 Best Dishes of the Summer
At the end of last fortnight’s acid reflux, I wrote that the beef liver at Kismet – the new, buzzy Turkish/Turkish-Cypriot restaurant at The Globe Tavern – was the best new dish I’ve eaten this summer. Although I expected a good meal, the dish put me on my heels: it had the directness and simplicity that you usually associate with restaurants with nothing left to prove and no-one left to convince, rather than a pop-up in a pub in Borough Market on a generational run of hype. And yet, if I rack my brain, I really cannot think of anything I have enjoyed more in the last few months.
In that spirit, we asked 24 other Vittles writers, editors and friends of the magazine what their favourite or most unexpectedly great dish of the summer has been. The answers vary from new dishes at old favourites (40 Maltby Street, St. John, Primeur), surprisingly good items at places you might have dismissed (The Park, Battersea Power Station), deep cuts in the outer boroughs, the only great soft serve that got missed out of Ice Cream City, and a very silly, but very good, little drink. And despite having the whole city to choose from, three writers even tried to include (three separate) dishes from the same restaurant. Groupthink? A successful PR blitz? Call it kismet. JN
Recommendations below from Mohammed Ali Salha, Jess Wang, Sharanya Deepak, Montague Ashley-Craig, Simran Hans, Ciaran Thapar, Adam Coghlan, Amel Mukhtar, Riana Austin, Loukia Constantinou, Angela Hui, Guan Leong, Odhran O’Donoghue, Rohan Jones, Vitória Croda, Hester van Hensbergen, Gavin Cleaver, Saira Banu, Niloufar Haidari, Rebecca May Johnson, Harry Lambous, Glenn Nunn and Nick Bramham.
1. Kafta at Naama
My dad is a properly anxious guy, and after doing long stints at established Lebanese restaurants like Fakhreldine (RIP) and Hamra, he trusts almost no one with his food. But about a year ago, or maybe longer, he put me onto Naama in Shepherd’s Bush, which is a chaotically fast-paced butcher/deli/takeaway with food that he is willing to trust. While not sounding like high praise, I can assure you it is.
The centre of the operation is the excellent halal butcher, which is masterful at taking orders from grumpy uncles to blend their kafta, shawarma or taouk to an exact specification before cooking it. It’s in ordering the kafta to take home that my dad is in his element; he prefers to stick to beef rather than lamb, as it’s leaner, slightly less onion than usual, a good amount of parsley and minimal spicing. My preference is slightly more laid back – I let 3amo at the front grill his own kafta blend over charcoal and wrap it in fresh khobez with a bit more parsley and onion. Its aroma reminds me of childhood BBQs and summer visits to family in Lebanon; its taste primitively satisfying. Nice one, Dad. Mohammed Ali Salha
384 Uxbridge Road, W12 7LL
2. Tuna sushi set at Guru Guru
Guru Guru in Chapel Market has been waving every possible restaurant red flag from the moment the Instagram algorithm pushed it in front of me: “UGC creator” collaborative reels, DIY kakigori machines that no one under the age of 12 should feel comfortable operating in public, a candle-topped-hamachi-collar you can pre-order for a birthday. And yet, somehow, despite all their unconscious efforts to deter me from visiting, I was never quite able to shut down my curiosity for the glistening £25 bluefin tuna sushi set. And God, I’m glad I couldn’t because it is excellent. Good tuna, good value but, more importantly, unexpectedly good rice. There’s a lot of great quality fish out there but, at this price point, no rice has come quite close since my beloved local Fuji Foods in Barnet closed up. South Londoners have Hase-Ya, and now, north Londoners can claim Guru Guru. Jess Wang
9 Chapel Market, N1 9EZ
3. Tomato fritters at 40 Maltby Street
I have only – in the last two years or so – become a confident restaurant diner, going to more new places and ordering things I may not really know about, rather than what I know how to do best: going back to places that I know and can slip in under the radar. Because of this, restaurant orders can be surprising, and I have realised the rare pleasure of eating something that I never thought existed. 40 Maltby's tomato fritters were like this to me, perfectly crisp and fresh; recently, I ate the whole plate quickly on a hot day with a glass of cold wine. I'd go back to the restaurant just to eat these. This is also the kind of dish that makes someone a regular, determined to go back for just one delicious, reliable dish. Sharanya Deepak
40 Maltby St, SE1 3PG
4. Caramelised banana split at The Park
Jeremy King’s restaurant The Park, on the edge of Hyde Park, is all mid-century Midtown Manhattan glamour: built for martinis, Cobb salads and power lunches. Then out comes an enormous banana split. It’s so generous and fun. Served in a classic glass dish, it’s easily enough for two to share: three scoops of house-made Neapolitan ice cream sit between the two halves of a caramelised banana, buried beneath whipped cream, chocolate sauce, rainbow sprinkles and three glacé cherries. A child’s dream of a dessert, served in a grown-up room. I’ve been banging on about it for years now. Every time I order it, I feel like Sally Draper in a room full of expense accounts. Montague Ashley-Craig
2 Queensway, W2 3RX
5. Nectarine and ginger sorbet at Tano Gelato
In summer I’m more inclined towards extravagance at the farmers’ market than eating out. Dessert, however, is a different matter, and during London’s seemingly endless heatwave I have dutifully reached for my daily ice cream. My favourite scoop of the summer has been at Tano Gelato in Hackney Downs. Its nectarine and ginger sorbet is spicy with fresh ginger, clean with peak-season fruit and more thirst-quenching than a glass of fridge-cold coconut water. It is a textural dream: fluffy, not crystallised or icy, with wholesome shreds of nectarine skin blitzed in. Or, it was. Like July, and the World Cup, the flavour is now a distant dream, replaced by an equally delicious mojito-esque sorbet, lemon and lime with fresh mint. Simran Hans
17 Amhurst Terrace, E8 2BT
6. Egg mayo everything bagel with hot and spicy Pomsticks from The De Beauvoir Wholefoods
I am a creature of habit. True, I eat in as many new places as I can each month, but I also like to find a spot and stick to it. Over the years, as I’ve matured, that’s meant lots of Pret egg mayos and Walkers cheese and onion crisps, bowls of Koya Ko ten-don, and Larzijan’s stir-fried laghman. Most recently, as I’m often based out of an office in N1, I’ve developed a fondness for the De Beauvoir Wholefoods‘ egg mayo everything bagel. Molly Pepper Steemson was right in her recent essay when she wrote that a bagel is an unsuitable vehicle for a sandwich, so I have developed a hack. I separate each half and instead enjoy it as a less messy double open sandwich. While the bagel itself is perfectly serviceable and the fresh allium inside the generous dollop of egg mayo nicely complements the toasted onion flakes fixed to the bagel’s golden crust, it was the scattering of hot and spicy Pomsticks on top which elevated this to a memorable DIY brunch this summer. Adam Coghlan
105-109 Southgate Road, N1 3JS
Behind the paywall: Jian bing, £1 soft serve, big bacon, sesame cream espressos, Amritsari fish, pithiviers, salads and more! You can subscribe to Vittles for £7/month or £59 for the whole year, which gives you access to restaurant recommendations from the last six and half years, including the Vittles Restaurants map, the Vittles 99, the central London lunch guides, and the Newcomers Guide To London.