Green & Fortune is working in partnership with Gill as food curator, collaborating with chef director Dan Rampat on the culinary direction across all four venues. The new openings include flagship restaurant Clerks House at London Museum, the Temperance Cocoa Rooms café, and The Roost, an incubator space with a rotating residency of London’s up and coming talent.
It will also open Bartholomew’s bar at the museum in collaboration with Mr Lyan Studio, working alongside head of beverage Joe Boxall.
London Museum will open at its new home in Smithfield on 28 November.
The 140-cover Clerks House will be located within the museum’s General Market building and will operate as an all-day dining destination serving breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea and dinner, alongside weekend brunch and Sunday roasts. Led by Gill and Green & Fortune’s Rampat, the menu will draw on London’s culinary heritage while showcasing seasonal British produce.
Dishes will include beef and lamb sourced from Green & Fortune’s Northumberland farm, alongside pies developed by Gill and dishes inspired by the capital’s historic food markets. They will include mutton stew with barley, root vegetables and fresh herbs; and a take on the traditional Billingsgate sandwich made with hand-dived scallop, crispy smoked bacon, scallop roe butter.
There will also be a range of seasonal plant-based dishes, and smaller portions of main dishes for young visitors. A weekly changing selection of wines by the glass will showcase a cohesion of old and new world and skin-contact wines from small growers.
The restaurant will also feature a programme of monthly ticketed dinner clubs and special events, as well as being available for private hire.
“At London Museum, the food alone will be a reason to visit. Working with Green & Fortune we want to curate an experience that reflects the vibrancy of London and tell London’s story through food,” says Gill.
“We’ll be partnering with the best London producers and nurturing up-and-coming talent in the capital which is an exciting proposition. Bring on 28th November!”
London-inspired cocktails
Bartholomew’s will offer a London-inspired cocktail programme developed with Mr Lyan Studio. Located in a prominent position on Farringdon Road on the perimeter of the museum, Bartholomew’s will serve an evolving cocktail menu riffing on London Museum’s seasonal events and displays. The first seasonal menu will take inspiration from the museum’s inaugural programme London Tastes, celebrating the city’s rich and vibrant food culture.
There will be a permanent London Made cocktail menu on offer that takes its creative cue from London’s story, past and present, plus a signature seasonal shandy serve and a draught London Museum lager with food focusing on elevated pub classics and snacks.
Elsewhere, the restored Temperance Cocoa Rooms will revive the site’s historic cocoa house heritage serving pastries, hot carved breakfast and lunch sandwiches, toasties and soups. A signature tamarind and date spiced Chelsea bun will nod to the history of London’s spice trade and global flavours that continue to shape the capital and coffee will be sourced from Peckham’s Old Spike.
The Roost, meanwhile, will serve as an incubator for emerging culinary talent, hosting a rotating residency programme for some of London’s most promising chefs and street food operators. The concept will offer a platform for operators to test new ideas and grow their businesses, with successful applicants receiving mentoring from Gill and the Green & Fortune team.
Located within the restored Victorian General Market, the venues are designed to celebrate London’s food culture and make hospitality a central part of the museum experience.
‘Authentic London food and drink experiences’
Expected to attract more than two million visitors annually, London Museum’s new Smithfield site is one of London’s most anticipated cultural openings, with food and drink set to play a key role in drawing both museum visitors and Londoners to the destination.
“The ambition of London Museum will be matched by a hospitality offering and programme unseen in London. The Green & Fortune team, together with our collaborators, Robin Gill and Mr Lyan Studio will collectively create authentic London food and drink experiences for both museum visitors and Londoners alike,” says Green & Fortune’s chief executive John Nugent.
“Making food and drink, not just part of the experience, but a reason to visit. We are a proud, deep rooted London business and are embracing the opportunity to develop a selection of new and refreshingly different locations in the museum, that will shift the dial in what galleries and museums offer.
“It is a tremendously purposeful project, and we are proud to be playing our part in it. Over the coming months we will share more details about what people can expect, make sure to watch this space.”