Former River Cafe chef takes over evening offer at Farmer J

Former-River-Cafe-chef-takes-over-evening-offer-at-Farmer-J.jpg

London restaurant group Farmer J is pivoting the evening offer at its City site to a new concept run by former River Café chef Shuli Wimer.

From 23 July the King William Street site will stop serving its quick-service menu at 5.30pm, when it will be taken over by Wimer’s The Fancy Fork.

Dishes will be inspired by the chef’s Israeli upbringing and draw on Middle Eastern and Mediterranean flavours, with sharing plates of padron peppers with a za’atar and oregano crumb; and tahini tuna tartare with green runner beans.

There’ll also be larger plates of freekeh risotto topped with grilled bone marrow, aubergine and parsley; grilled whole fish with smashed roasted potatoes, sage and rosemary; and a semolina olive oil cake for dessert.

Wimer grew up in Galilee and ran a six-month residency at Tel Aviv restaurant L28, before spending five years cooking at London’s River Café.

“I’m very excited to be joining forces with Farmer J and to be bringing a little bit of my cooking to one of my favourite places,” she says. “Farmer J’s ethos is totally in line with my food: honest, great quality and bursting with flavour.”

Farmer J was founded in 2016 by former investment banker Jonathan Recanati and operates two other City sites, in Canada Place and Leadenhall Street.

It secured £1.9m investment capital, supported by Imbiba, to expand earlier this year.