Carter, formerly of Birmingham restaurant Carters of Moseley, has partnered with the Pearly Queen and Tom Brown at The Capital chef to open Island, set inside the Chandelier Room at Mare Street Market Kings Cross.
Opening in June, Island is Inspired by the friends’ shared memories of years of cooking together around the world and is described as an ‘easygoing, refined celebration of meat and seafood, rooted in the produce of the British Isles’. The restaurant will sit alongside a private cocktail lounge on the mezzanine floor at Mare Street Market Kings Cross.
Island will combine Brown’s extensive knowledge of sourcing and cooking seafood and Carter’s nose-to-tail ethos and will use day-boat fish and shellfish sourced from small, direct fishing operations and dry-aged beef from retired dairy cows from across the isles.
The menu will include snacks such as caviar crisps; pickled cockles; jamon; and an oyster caesar salad along with charcuterie such as trout pastrami and monkfish cheek ham and lardo.
There will also be family-style dishes of unexpected pairings such as quail stuffed with prawn paella or the signature island mixed grill. The menu will also include daily-changing specials and their own spin on comforting Sunday roasts with hot and cold oysters with clamato bloody Marys; roast beef with all the trimmings; and lobster rolls, which will be a weekly feature.
Desserts will be an oyster ice cream sandwich and chocolate fudge cake while the drinks list will have playful cocktails and fishbowls for the table.
US surf shack meets steakhouse
In a nod to the birthplace of surf and turf, Carter and Brown have found inspiration in the classic US surf shacks of Seattle and Staten Island with the 90-cover restaurant their take on a traditional steakhouse with a coastal twist, featuring antique lights throughout and homely seafood-led cooking.
“The name is a homage to the islands I have cooked on with Tom throughout our travels - from the rugged British coasts, to more tropical shores,” says Carter. “The food is proudly local, with a fierce focus on sourcing the best of what the British Isles have to offer”,
Brown adds: “Island is about bringing people together over great ingredients, cooked simply, it’s surf and turf fuelled by what we’ve learnt cooking together across actual islands all over the world.”
Island will be Carter’s debut restaurant in the capital. It comes after a frustrating period for the Birmingham-based chef, who was set to open Undercroft restaurant in the crypt of Mayfair’s St George’s Church but who later disassociated himself from the project, with it later being opened by Aldo Zilli.
It also comes during a busy period for Brown, who recently made a return to The Capital Hotel with an eponymous fine dining restaurant.
“I’m a big fan of Brad and Tom,” says Marc Francis-Baum, owner of Mare Street Market.
“The combination of their talents to open upstairs at Mare Street Market Kings Cross is very exciting. We are an emporium of good food, drinks and retail and having these guys here with us is a massive step up in what we offer.”
