Following the incredible success of their bespoke catering and pop-up restaurant company ‘The Cooking Collective’, Lucy Pedder and Natasha Cooke are embarking on their newest venture this April: opening the delightful Lupins restaurant in Flat Iron Square, London Bridge. This exciting foodie hub in the heart of London’s bankside provides the perfect setting for the launch of Lupins. Comprising of seven railway arches and Grade II listed Devonshire House, Flat Iron is the new go-to place for hungry Londoners. Food vendors, restaurants, street food, bars, live music and entertainment are blended here to create a relaxed but vibrant atmosphere, working in harmony with Lupins’ ethos.
Lucy and Natasha’s partnership began when they both worked in the kitchen at Medlar in Chelsea. They went on to work alongside one another at The Sands End pub, and opened The Cross Keys together at the start of 2015. Itching to do something completely different to what they were used to, the girls left The Cross Keys at the end of 2015 to pursue The Cooking Collective, now one of the most exciting catering companies in London. With this wealth of experience and unbeatable knowledge of the London culinary landscape, Lucy and Natasha are putting their names on the map with the opening of Lupins this spring.
The girls wanted to capitalise on their love of true seasonal British ingredients, but didn’t want to fall into the melting pot of overdone traditional British cooking in London’s restaurant scene. Following this, the two talented chefs decided to take their favourite British ingredients, and creatively infuse each dish with global flavours, to conjure up their innovative concept of ‘sunshine food’.
The menu will showcase a wonderfully imaginative range of small plates and snacks. The snacks array includes dishes such as Sumac lamb scrumpets and pomegranate molasses, Cornmeal fried spring onions with smoked chilli aioli. The small plates collection includes dishes such as Polenta crusted anchovies with a wild garlic and onion salad, Sea trout, cucumber and seaweed butter, Chipotle roast pigeon with charred baby gem and carrot and Spiced beef short rib with purple sprouting broccoli. To finish off the meal, guests can indulge in delicious dishes such as a plate of Neal’s Yard cheeses, or Rhubarb with ginger, vanilla yoghurt and shortbread.
The drinks list will be packed full of quirky and well-priced wines alongside a monthly changing cocktail. 75% of the tempting list will be natural, organic and biodynamic wines, from new independent wine company Smashing Wines, based in Suffolk. Full of surprises, Lupins will delight guests with a dining experience like no other!
Designed by Studio Juice and overseen by architects Goldstein Ween, the interiors of Lupins are modern, simple and effective. The restaurant maintains the rustic exposed brickwork of the feature railway arch wall, and the rest of the interior is surrounded by light wood panelling. The colour scheme, which includes dusky pinks, sage greens and mustard yellows, creates an inviting atmosphere, and the rose gold font used on the menus and poems decorating the walls brings a touch of glamour and warmth to the restaurant.
On the opening, Lucy and Natasha say:
“We named Lupins after the English garden flower, the Lupin. We wanted it to sound friendly and informal emulating a neighbourhood feel. Lupin seeds are also a snack in the Mediterranean and Latin America, so the name perfectly showcases our fusion of British and global flavours. We can’t wait to share our passionate cooking and “sunshine food” with London.”
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