On Thursday 18 July, Chris Leach, formerly of Kitty Fisher’s, Pitt Cue and Petersham Nurseries, and David Carter of Smokestak, are to launch a restaurant residency at 10 Heddon Street, the former Magpie site, on London's Regent Street.
The residency, which will focus on hand-made pastas and in-house butchery and charcuterie, is part of a new partnership initiative from The Crown Estate and Montana Fogg, the restaurant consultancy and management company.
Leach (pictured left) said, “David [right] and I have spent many evenings cooking, eating and drinking together, and always shared the same philosophy and approach to restaurants. When the Heddon Street site popped up, it was the perfect opportunity for us to collaborate together for a couple of months and have some fun. It will be an informal vibe that is all about sharing good food with great friends.”
The daily changing menu begins with snacks of focaccia and a selection of house-made salumi, including mortadella, coppa di testa and fennel salami. “
Leach added, 'Working with British producers, including pigs from Fred Price at Gothelney Farm, we’ll be breaking down whole animals and using shoulder for coppa and speck; belly for pancetta and from the loin we will get both chops and Lardo. We’ll be incorporating the fat and skin into ragus and salami and bones for broths and stock.”
To follow, there will be a changing line up of smaller dishes including Gazpacho, Cornish crab; Fried ciccioli, apple ketchup; Pea and summer vegetable ragu, scamorza and toasted spelt and Grilled peach salad, smoked almond and ricotta salata, as well as a section purely dedicated to hand rolled egg pasta such as Rigatoni, pumpkin seed pesto & anchovy; Garganelli with spicy pig tail ragu; Tonnarelli, brown crab cacio e pepe and Sheep’s milk ricotta ravioli, Calabrian chilli oil, London honey & poppy seeds.
The menu will finish with a cannolo filled with with whipped sheeps milk ricotta, candied orange peel and salted caramelised hazelnuts.
Katerina Mercury, Senior Asset Manager of Central London, at The Crown Estate, said, “In taking a more agile approach to the 10 Heddon Street unit, we now have the ability to invite more creative partners on a short-term basis to add fresh exciting ideas to London’s dining scene’.