What to eat and drink in London this week, according to The Slice

With only 11 more days to go until we can go back inside at bars and restaurants (it’s like a prison-release countdown!), we’re getting our stamina back with a week packed full of stuff we can do right now (or at least book up ready!).

Yummy yolk-based eats at Eggs ‘n’ Stuff, for instance. Or a date in the park, thanks to Bodega Bay and Inner Circle.

Comedy on the roof at Skylight. A drag murder mystery. Food from free noodles and pie & mash to fancy pub grub and a circus-themed extravaganza. And should you happen to be an NHS worker, a special treat from Chick ‘n’ Sours.

We think we might be over-excited!

The ultimate park date kit

Have you been gagging for a date?

For the chance to sit googly-eyed opposite someone attractive?

For the opportunity to activate your get-out-of-bad-date plan by having a friend phone you with a fake emergency?

Well, premium hard seltzer people Bodega Bay and dating app Inner Circle feel your pain and have come up with the ultimate park date kit.

You get a selection of Bodega Bay hard seltzers, all the cocktail ingredients you need to whip up something special, a cooler bag and a Twister-style picnic blanket (we sooo want one of those!).

And you get a free month’s membership on Inner Circle too! But don’t worry if you’re feeling a bit out of practice — with groups of six now allowed, you can always rope in some mates and make it a pressure-free double or triple date.

Win free noodles for a year

When Marugame Udon say they’ll give the winner free noodles for a year, we don’t think they’ve seen how much we can put away in a sitting.

But that’s what Japan’s favourite hand-made udon kitchen — coming to Spitalfields in July — is offering via its Insta.

Hooray! And if the promise of free grub isn’t enough, they’re also laying on an exciting new street exhibition called Window to Japan, which takes place in a — wait for it — window!

Twelve windows, in fact, all outdoors so two fingers up to lockdown, featuring manga, murals and a live selfie screen that allows you to transport yourself to some of Japan’s most famous places with the magic of technology.

And did we mention the free noodles? For a year! With alcohol and everything!

The Circus at Six by Nico

Slip on your best Greatest Showman outfit (bearded lady was always a good look on you) and join us down at Six by Nico, where they are celebrating a return to normality with a menu entirely based on nostalgia for the circus.

Called… The Circus (they have a way with words as well as food, clearly), it’s a six-course tasting menu, which takes the indecision out of things, and includes imaginative entries such as Waffles & Ice Cream, which is actually chicken liver parfait; The Illusionist, which is chicken ballotine with all the trimmings; and… well, you get the picture: superstar dishes to ooh and aah over.

There’s even a veggie version. But you’d better get in quick…

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The lighter way to enjoy LOLS

Who says you need to be in a dark, poky room with sticky floors to have a laugh?

Certainly not us as we’re busy booking up tables at the new Comedy Store residency at Skylight, the bar at the top of Tobacco Docks, out Wapping way.

With cocktails (other boozes are available) and street food — Asian or American — brought direct to your table and a line-up that kicks off with Zoe Lyons and Hal Cruttenden hosted by Ria Lina, you will also get some pretty spectacular views and hopefully a decent sunset — and you don’t tend to get too many of those down some stairs at the back of a boozer.

Book a table for six until they ditch social distancing for good next month.

Big ol’ beer garden alert

It’s been a tough year for pubs… and for those of us who love them.

So it’s great to be able to bring some pub-related good news, by which we mean the opening of Perry Hill Pub, down south London way.

Already up and rocking and boasting a beer garden big enough for 250 people, things can only get better later this month when we’re allowed back inside.

The whole thing is the baby of Phil Sutton, from The Florence in Herne Hill, and Oonagh McCormack, from The Pig’s Ear in Chelsea, with food from Jamie Younger, of The Palmerston in East Dulwich, and his head chef Eric Grapt, from The Wolseley, no less.

Names, sweetie, names. Very good luck from The Slice team. Now, where shall we have our regular table?

Something to crow about

You’d forgive a restaurant for wanting to coin it, and coin it quick, when they’re finally allowed to re-open inside spaces from May 17, but not Chick ’n’ Sours — oh no!

They are dedicating their first whole service to giving away free meals to NHS workers when they re-open their doors in Haggerston and Seven Dials.

Just order up a table for two or four and be well and truly spoiled, if you have your NHS paperwork, that is.

Before then — this weekend in fact — they’re popping up outside Seven Dials with beers, cocktails, tunes and a whole new sarnie — the Hot 4 U strawberry chicken parm that packs a mega flavour punch, loaded as it is with strawberry sofrito, stracciatella, mortadella and kewpie. 

Friday-Sunday, 1a Earlham Street, WC2For NHS freebie, email [email protected].

Which dame dunnit?

It’s called Death Drop, they’re describing it as a Dragatha Christie murder mystery and there’s certainly no shortage of top-drawer drag talent from both sides of the Atlantic.

From RuPaul’s original Stateside Drag Race there’s Willam and Latrice Royale, and from our own shores Britain’s Got Talent finalist Myra Dubois… though she tells us she’s 100 per cent, no-doubt-about-it female.

We can buy it.

Anyways, coming back to the Garrick Theatre, where it was so rudely interrupted by ‘Rona (the virus, keep up!), it’s an all-nuts whodunnit, but with five times the hair and make-up of The Mousetrap.

What you’ve been Pie-ning for

If there’s one combo that beats fish ‘n’ chips for Londoners, it’s pie & mash.

In fact, you can’t beat it, so don’t even try.

And that’s why we’re so excited to welcome Scottish chef Mark Greenaway’s Pie & Mash to our little black book.

Opening on that funny little road that goes from The Strand to The Embankment, expect classics such as chicken, mushroom and tarragon, or beef short rib and onion, alongside creations that change with the seasons such as confit duck, lentil and orange, and butternut squash and goat’s cheese for veggies.

Oh, and apple pie with cream AND custard to finish off. Register now for a free pie (only 250 up for grabs!)

45 Villiers Street, WC2.

A word in your shell-like

If we were only allowed one meal a day, it would have to be breakfast. Or brunch. Maybe lunch. Actually, anything with eggs in it.

Which is why we were so excited to hear about Eggs ‘n’ Stuff, a pop-up on the Holloway Road where yolky marvels are front and centre.

Stuff like the sausage, egg and cheese roll (plenty of ketchup on that one!) or the hash brown, egg and cheese brioche, or even the turkey bacon, egg and cheese (pictured).

By night, the place turns into Wing Shack and Vegan Shack, so don’t get confused if you go at the wrong time. Collection and delivery only for the time being, remember.

102 Holloway Road, N5.

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