On Wednesday, we launched the Athlyn 2026 calendar (plus diamanté t-shirts and posters) at their floral design studio in Shoreditch, with drinks by Ghost Labs and Agua de Madre and a rose, lychee and black sesame cake by Louis Thompson.
The attention to detail in the design (three types of paper stock!) is impeccable and I love the visuals of Athlyn’s world, created by SM Studio. Your loved ones deserve this calendar cum collectible object – I know mine do. (Merry Christmas mum!)
Some things on my mind this week:
The Observer has had a face lift. Meanwhile, magazine editor Alex Moshakis is shaking things up at a good pace, with the latest issue focusing on what goes on After Dark (edited by Holly O’Neill). I enjoyed Angela Hui’s piece on late night eating in London and it’s fun to see J. Lee featured too.
Why open one restaurant in one month when you could open two? Martin Kuczmarski of The Dover just opened Martino’s (as reported last week) and this week, launched Dover St. Counter two doors down from the original. Pitched as a late night, casual party spot, it’s open until 2am on the weekend. It’ll make for a great place to people watch.
Jimi Famurewa wrote about London dining’s increasing lack of grit. It’s true, especially when more operators are rolling out the same tried and tested concepts (see above). So, here I am with some good examples of grit.
Two ideas for lunch today: Marcelo Rodrigues at Quality Wines or Song Soo Kim at Hector’s.
Gorka returns to Italo for three weeks of December.
Tasca will be in residence at Giacco’s from 9th Dec until the end of Jan.
Sonora is opening for dinner from next week.
Everyone’s shopping at London’s top tier, niche shops. Speaking to Ollie Olanipekun the other day, we agreed that London’s young contemporary galleries and interesting shops are what best sets the city apart from Paris and NYC.
Nordic Poetry has been featured in i-D, Jake’s is in the latest issue of Ton and Perfect Lives (whose Wooden City interview I recommend) is in The Face.
I also wrote about five of my favourite Independent fashion and design shops in East London for Wooden City. India Knight liked it, and I’ve read her columns since I was a teenager, so seeing her name appear in my inbox was a surprise.
Hugh Corcoran is not cooking at McGlynn’s. He came back to Instagram this week to say: “The Fence is a hateful barstool-gossip column and whatever rumours they may be spreading about me running another pub are completely false and unfounded […] I only believe in having one small place to cook in and that will stay like that.”
The first copies of Vittles Issue 2 are circulating amongst contributors. It appears to be the ideal combination of silly and informative. I wonder whether there’s any subliminal messaging to the word SLOP featuring in the food percentage chart on the front cover.
Apollo Bar and Apartamento know how to throw a party. I like how much the guests dancing on tables was documented on social media. Food vs fashion parties can differ a lot (fashion people often tell me they prefer food world parties as people actually eat, drink and chat to one another) but I think magic only really happens when you bring the two crowds together.
Thank you for reading The Goal is to Eat.
Did you figure out the artist? Reminds me of Caitlin Murphy’s dry cleaners paintings