Last month, I was invited to a soft opening event at London Local. It is a casual, pub-style restaurant which is locally co-owned by Chef Lindsay Porter and Evonne Li. The restaurant is rooted with English and Irish inspiration, with an influence from the contemporary fusion of local indigenous ingredients.
It is a bit far to get to, being in the developing south side of the City. But that being said, parking is easy to find. The space itself is really well decorated and does remind me quite a bit of a pub in London. For fare that night, they were serving Scotch eggs, Black pudding, Glazed bone-in eel, Fish n Chips, and beef Cheek Pie.
Unfortunately I wasn’t able to attend myself, but was to ask a few trusted collaborators to go on my behalf to provide some coverage.
The Scotch egg was cooked perfectly and was still runny. A beautifully poached egg, sage, and fennel sausage served with their own “HP” Sauce. This was a crowd favourite for the night and there was quite a bit of excitement over the egg.
London Local House Black Pudding is blood sausage topped with BC apple vanilla marmalade, a poached egg, and crispy fried crumb. Glazed bone-in Eel came with brown butter and a birch stout emulsion, and crispy fried crumb. I can’t comment on too much about these two, but they are more traditional English dishes and may not appeal to everyone.
The Fish and Chips were another that I heard nothing but good thing about from everyone at the event. The batter was nice and thick and went well with both of the sauces. Icelandic cod, anchovy dill remoulade, clam ketcup, and malt vinegar. The crisps (fries) with these were also nice.
Lastly, the Braised Beef Cheek Pie. This came with Stilton cheese, mushrooms, anchovies, and smoked champ mashed potatoes.
Overall, it sounded like a very interesting mix of dishes. London Local serves some more traditional dishes with a twist, and it looks like they offer at least one thing that can cater to everyone. I will have to go check them out myself sometime, but it looks promising! So give them a try if you ever wanted to try some English fare.
I would call this “southwest.” If anything it’s slightly southeast or even just “south” since it’s just east of the QE2 highway.