TABLE TALK #47
Wednesdays sure do come around quick. Each and every week, it feels like only yesterday that I last hit send on our weekly circular. This past week has been slightly different, however, with the death of the Queen sending the nation into a period of mourning and quiet reflection on a remarkable life.
🍡 Amuse-Bouches 🍡
This week it feels apt that we keep things simple and we take stock of the sheer number of era-defining events that have happened over the last 70 years.
🧂 Your Favourite Restaurant You've... Now Been To️ 🧂
Over the summer, we shone a spotlight on La Barra (#33), a family-owned institution that calls London’s Elephant and Castle its home. Lusting after its ever-evolving recipes and longing for its platefuls of fried chicken, I recently decided that rather than simply imagine what it might be like to visit, I could actually, well, visit…
Knowing there was only one man for a job like this, I got in touch with an old colleague - the man behind the fantastically enjoyable Caffs Not Cafés - and we began our pilgrimage. Having locked our sights and our stomachs on La Barra, we had to first pass a number of similar eateries playing host to an array of Venezuelan, Ecuadorian and Dominican cuisines. Arriving at the threshold of our chosen destination, we were greeted in Spanish and quietly took our seats.
Step inside to experience an entirely new culture within your city
If small plates and a merging of starters and mains have become commonplace across the capital’s more in-vogue restaurants over the last decade, no one had told the team at La Barra. The menu, and more specifically, the mains, were colossal. Even to list the components that compromised some of the mains made you feel full, so to actually be presented with our respective dishes and to dive into them some 15 minutes later was quite an undertaking.
Working our way through our food, taking in our surroundings, conversation turned to the enjoyment that comes from visiting the spots that form the fabric of any city - the institutions that have quietly soldiered on serving loyal customer bases for years, untroubled by passing trends and changing tastes. Before we knew it, our time was up, our bill paid and we emerged back out into the city’s dusty, noisy embrace content in the knowledge that London plays host to a truly remarkable array of cultures and cuisines.
📖 Key Ingredients 📖
Serving up our latest recommendations to keep spirits high this week.
#Tunes - diving down the rabbit hole from Stand High Patrol’s Dinner Time
#Podcast - The Knowledge Project’s Conversations of the Year
#Recipe - British onion soup
French or British onion soup? You decide
🍷 What News From Wednesday's Domaine? 🍷
This week marks a changing of the guard here at Table Talk. What started as a weekly circular to simply spread the good word of Wednesday’s Domaine and to celebrate the joys of gathering around a table has become a central part of the brand we’re now building.With that comes the need for some adults, some real writers with some serious creds. To that end, I’m absolutely chuffed to introduced to Anna Van Dyk, who will be making her first appearance next week and someone in whose capable hands Table Talk can be elevated far beyond its humble beginnings.
What's the plan with all my newfound freetime? First on the agenda is our pop up at raye the store, which opens tomorrow at 310 - 312 Regent Street (nearest tube is Oxford Circus). Can't wait to see you there and to be showcased alongside various other inspiring brands.
Thanks for all the love and support this past year,
Luke
