Nest to relocate to Shoreditch

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Credit: Francis Payne

The team behind Hackney restaurant Nest have confirmed the restaurant will relocate to a ‘bigger, bolder space’ in Shoreditch in the autumn.

The move, first announced last month, will see Nest say goodbye to its current east London site on Morning Lane in September, and relaunch in its new location the following month.

Taking over a double-fronted Victorian building by Shoreditch Town Hall, the new Nest – dubbed Nest 2.0 – will feature a dedicated bar area next to the dining room called Nest Cellar.

The bar will be open to diners of the restaurant as well as other walk-in guests and feature a drinks list that includes low-intervention wines and seasonal cocktails alongside a small plate menu featuring house bread with home churned butters; game bird terrine; and British cheese and oatcakes.

Nest 2.0's main restaurant space will hold 24 covers and, as before, serve regularly-changing tasting menus with the chefs focusing on one hero ingredient in the kitchen at a time.

For the October launch, the emphasis will be on game meats, with the menu including fried partridge with XO sauce, dusted in chilli powder; and seaweed and kale-baked ‘Rockefeller’ oysters.

As in Hackney, the restaurant will only serve a tasting menu in the evening, but Shoreditch will also open for lunch and offer a selection of dishes available à la carte.

“We’ve loved every minute of our time on Morning Lane, but it’s time for us to move into a space that allows us to continue to push boundaries and improve the experience for our amazing guests and hard-working team,” says Luke Wasserman, who originally launched Nest in 2018 with Toby Neill and executive chef Johnnie Crowe.

The trio also own Restaurant St. Barts​​ in Smithfield, which launched in October last year and earned its first Michelin star in this year’s Guide.

“It has been an incredible year for us,” Wasserman continues.

“Thanks to the team’s hard work, we were awarded a Michelin star at Restaurant St. Barts less than six months after opening.

“Now, we are excited and focused on taking Nest (our original restaurant and concept) to the next level.”

The team were also behind Fulham restaurant Fenn, which opened in April 2021 but closed earlier this year with the trio citing staffing problems.