What: An impressive new ‘culinary-led’ pub and dining room located little more than a stone’s throw from Kentish Town tube station. Occupying the space that was previously home to The Oxford Tavern, a prominent Victorian landmark pub, The Parakeet features a menu of modern European dishes that are cooked over fire using a custom grill.
Who: The Parakeet is the latest project from Steve Ball and Riz Shaikh, who also own The Columbo Group, which operates several music and nightlife venues across London and Manchester. The Parakeet marks their second pub venture and for it they have brought in former Brat chef Ben Allen to oversee the kitchen. Allen, who also spent time at the two Michelin star Steirereck restaurant in Austria, is supported by sous chef Ed Jennings, another Brat alumnus.
The food: Allen's penchant for fire-led cooking, which he honed while at Brat, takes centre stage here. All of the dishes served at The Parakeet in some way make use of the gastropub’s custom-made grill, which sits imposingly in the centre of the open kitchen. The menu takes its cues from modern European cuisine with an emphasis on seasonality, and is split between snacks and small and large sharing plates. Smaller dishes to feature on the launch menu include potato bread served with whipped smoked butter; braised leeks with pecorino sauce and smoked mushrooms; smoked mutton sausage; and grilled lettuce with shrimp head butter. Larger options, meanwhile, include mutton with rainbow chard and tamarind-glazed fennel; whole sea bream; and ox cheek with mash. Prices are pitched smartly, beginning at around the £5 mark for the smaller snacks and topping out at less than £35 for the largest sharing plates.
The drink: The Parakeet’s drink offering is primarily centred around its extensive selection of biodynamic and low intervention wines sourced from producers including Seasmoke, and J. Rochioli.
The vibe: Those who are fans of The Anchor and Hope in Southwark will note the similarities in how the space at The Parakeet is divided, with the pub and dining room designed as two distinctive spaces that co-exist next to each other across the same ground floor site. The restaurant dining room is well dressed with white washed brick walls that contrast against mahogany-rich ornate antique furnishings and stained glass. While the tables are packed tight, it remains a light and airy space, which adds to the theatrical majesty of the smoky kitchen grill.
And another thing: Regenerative agriculture plays a key role in the suppliers The Parakeet works with. They include Flourish, a regenerative farm in Cambridgeshire that grows heritage species of vegetables farmed in a way to capture carbon and nutrients in the soil; Matt Chatfield of The Cornwell Project, which raises mutton in the same way as Iberico pork, meaning female sheep are put to pasture in woodland and on herbal lays; and Farm Wilder, a social enterprise consisting of farms that use cattle in a regenerative system.
256 Kentish Town Rd, London NW5 2EN
