What: A smart, sustainably focused all-day restaurant that has just opened close to Aldgate in east London. Ara is described as offering ‘a melting pot of global flavours without borders’ with the menu taking inspiration everywhere from the Middle East to the Americas and through to Asia.
Who: Ara is the latest restaurant from self-taught Turkish chef and restaurateur Murat Kilic, who also owns the Middle Eastern leaning restaurant Amber, which is located nearby. Kilic moved to London to train as an electrical engineer before transferring to the restaurant industry, climbing the ranks from a pot washing job in a greasy spoon to multiple roles in back and front of house. He launched his first restaurant, Route in Dalston, in 2012; a successful café/bistro that he subsequently sold. Kilic then went on to open Amber in 2018.
The food: Kilic describes the menu at Ara as being as well travelled as his restaurant team. The main menu is split between small and large sharing plates, with prices on average ranging between £10 and £15 for the former and around the £25 mark for the latter. Highlights include the mussels skewers in a roasted chicken wings butter sauce; fried chicken with no-pomelo salad; blackened leeks with muhammara, XO sauce, soft herbs and confit walnuts; skate wing with macadamia, shallot and lemongrass crunch; and the slow cooked short rib with white grape salsa. One of the most intriguing dishes, however, is on the dessert menu; a punchy herb sorbet that neatly combines sweet and savoury elements. A breakfast menu is also served daily between 8am and midday and includes classic fry up with egg, sausage, bacon, double fried potatoes, roasted tomato, mushroom, beans and sourdough; Turkish eggs; a potato flatbread benedict; and brioche French toast.
To drink: Sustainability is a big focus at Ara (see ‘The vibe’ below) with the restaurant’s wine list, created by general manager Wade Mundford, majoring in organic, biodynamic, and low-intervention wines. This emphasis on sustainability also extends to the cocktail offering, which makes use of kitchen by products and features products from sustainable drinks producers like Discarded Spirits Co and 58 and Co.
The vibe: Ara’s interior look has been designed specifically to feature materials that helps minimise waste throughout. Crafted by Nina Woodcroft of Nina+Co (who designed Silo), the banquette and booth seating from Fallen & Felled uses rescued diseased London elm wood that would otherwise have been burned; the table tops and bar façade has been crafted using recycled Smile Plastics sheets; the upholstery is pineapple leather from pineapple farm discards; and the light installations come from galvanised steel offcuts. Despite being a tight looking space, it’s impressively roomy with the inside holding just over 70 covers with a further 20 available on the outside terrace.
And another thing: Ara’s name apparently has no specific meaning. Food blogger Samuel Cho, who visited the restaurant soon after its launch, said: “Our waitress revealed that the name of the restaurant was entirely made up. When they had their staff meeting, it turned that the name meant something different in each language (if it meant anything at all).”
1 New Drum St, London E1 7AY // ararestaurant.co.uk