A very exciting new venture is about to land in Islington this summer, the opening of Smokehouse, from the infamous Neil Rankin & the couple behind much-loved The Princess of Shoreditch.
The premise behind Smokehouse is simple – to celebrate delicious, seasonal food from great suppliers alongside super trendycraft beers (they will have 20 on tap), hand-pulled local ales and an exclusively European wine list from only small family vineyards.
Smokehouse will be working with the same farms and fishermen as The Pig and Butcher and will introduce some of Neil’s Cornish and London suppliers too, meaning the best rare breed meats and vegetables in the country and the freshest fish from the south coast.
To get a real flavour of the menu, over to the man himself:
‘The food will have a strong BBQ influence using a real wood and charcoal offset smoker, a bespoke robata grill and green eggs. The quality of the ingredients and traditional cooking styles will be the focus while the style will be defined and gutsy with lots of big flavours and wide-reaching influences.’
As you’d expect from Rankin the menu will be constantly changing to keep things exciting.
Dishes on any given day might include lobster and spring onion frittata, fritto misto with romesco, shortrib Bourguignon, pork mixed grill and peppered ox cheek with cauliflower cheese and gravy. Also promised are nightly specials of rib racks and brisket straight out of the smoker, in addition to a bar menu to include the irresistible likes of foie gras club sandwich, crab on toast and chicken fried ribs.
All these delights will be served alongside roaring log fires in winter and a 50 cover country garden for lazy summer days.
Smokehouse is certainly somewhere people are going to know about and Islington really does have a treat in store this summer!
