James Ramsden and Sam Herlihy, co-founders of Pidgin, the Michelin-starred restaurant in Hackney, will open their new 54-cover restaurant, Magpie, on 11 July, on Heddon Street, off Regent Street. With a modern British menu, diners will be able to select plates straight from a trolley, mirroring traditional dim-sum style service.
Upon arrival, guests will be greeted by a drinks trolley, laden with pre-mixed cocktails developed by General Manager Ajax Kentish that include Smoke off the Mountain, a rum-based Manhattan-style drink washed with peated whisky that combines Ron Zacapa 23 and Lagavulin 16, and I’m Jim Morrison I’m Dead, with its rye, oloroso, and cherry liqueur.
Cocktails will be served with ice buckets and garnishes, and in addition to the trolley cocktails there will be a full bar from which guests can enjoy the Bo Diddly Rip Off; combining mescal and Hellfire bitters and more.
Ramsden has written an eclectic wine list championing smaller, independent vineyards, with the biggest selection of wines available on tap in London, the focus will be on lesser known regions and grapes, with a small bias towards California.
Ramsden, Herlihy and Pidgin’s Head Chef Dan Graham have designed the menu, with Adolfo de Cecco at the helm of the kitchen, drawing on his experience in some of the world’s best restaurants including Italy’s 2 Michelin-starred Perbellini and world-renowned Tetsuya in Sydney. Winding its way through the restaurant a sleek, modern trolley will be filled with small plates such as mackerel crudo with blueberry kosho and fennel pollen, and Hoi An-style terrine with nukazuke pickles.
Trays of hot dishes will come out of the kitchen including udon noodles with paitan broth, calabrese sausage and stracciatella, and grilled celeriac with gjetost and a watermelon barbecue sauce. A small a la carte menu will also be available, including a few Pidgin favourites such as dairy cow with lobster, pommes sarladaises and charred lettuce and hake, lardo, black garlic dashi and daikon.
Desserts will include a strawberry panzanella with olive oil ice cream, and chocolate, sorrel gelato and chartreuse cheesecake, as well as a secret, off menu dish.
Herlihy said, “If people want to share their food then great – I do – but we want guests to feel more in control of their dinner and not have to fret over how to halve the third croquette.
“It’s less of a ‘sharing’ thing than just a fun restaurant with damn delicious food,” says James“We’d discussed doing something like this before we even opened Pidgin – it seemed like a fun and novel approach to our current eating out habits, and a way of tackling some of the more frustrating aspects of ‘sharing’ plates.”
