When my second popup sold out, I wondered if this week could get any better.
Well, it just did.
I am thrilled to announce that I will be the guest chef at the Phoenix Artist Club in London’s West End for three nights from Wednesday 26 August to Friday 28th.
I feel honoured to have been asked because the Phoenix is steeped in the history of the creative arts.
It is a magnet for anyone working on stage and screen, looking for a place to unwind that is full of character. Harry Potter scenes were filmed right outside its doors. The venue itself, below the Phoenix Theatre on Charing Cross Road, served as the the theatre’s original rehearsal and dressing rooms. Sir Laurence Olivier made his stage debut in Noel Coward’s Private Lives from these very rooms. And it is from these same rooms that I will be serving my menu.
There will be a choice of starters, mains and desserts as well as some freshly made bar snacks if you just want to pop in for a drink and a nibble. Sit, surrounded by decades of memorabilia, much of it signed, and take in the atmosphere.
The bar is nicknamed ‘shuts’ – by all the performers who go there after they have finished their own shows – because it never does.
You never know who might drop in after appearing on stage to give an impromptu performance. You can just turn up for drinks or dinner, but why not book so you don’t risk missing out?
Phoenix Artist Club
1 Phoenix Street
London
WC2H 8BU
Dinner service from 5pm – 9:30pm
You can book through the Opentable website or app.
Here is the menu we are offering.
Bar snacks
Chicken and rosemary popcorn – £1
Serrano ham croquetas with smoked paprika aioli – £5
Starters
Beetroot-cured salmon, pickled cucumber, horseradish mayonnaise, homemade rye crispbread – £6
Twice-baked blue cheese soufflé with pear curd and a watercress and hazelnut salad – £7
Mains
Roasted cod, potato millefeuille, onion purée, roasted shallots, pickled mushrooms – £15
Roast chicken, pommes Anna, carrots with braised lettuce, peas and bacon – £14
Roasted cauliflower with potato millefeuille, cauliflower purée, roasted walnuts, samphire and a caper and sultana dressing – £13
Desserts
Chocolate fondant with rapsberry coulis and cream – £5
Apricot frangipane tart with custard – £5
