The top 5 London spots for pub grub
04 Sep 2024
04 Sep 2024
Meet Elephant and Castle's latest dining hotspot
RAREBIT – an exciting all day neighbourhood kitchen, bar and grocery store – has now opened in Elephant Park, Elephant & Castle. It celebrates modern British food, working with the finest local producers, serving coffee from Climpson & Sons, bread and pastries from Flor, fresh produce from Natoora, cheeses from Neal’s Yard Dairy and rare breed meats from O’ Shea’s Butchers. The restaurant offers an expansive lunch, dinner and wine menu, as well as a delicious weekend brunch.
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The mastermind in the kitchen is Head Chef Liv Lionel, who explores what modern British cuisine means to her as a young British Caribbean woman.
Chef Lionel made a name for herself in Brighton as opening head chef at Lazy Fin, and as head chef at the highly regarded vegetarian and vegan pub, The Prince George. With her experience working at The Breakfast Club, The Flour Pot Bakery, and as pastry chef at Hotel du Vin, her wealth of knowledge and experience has helped to deliver a delicious all-day menu at Rarebit with some truly creative and inventive dishes.
The food at RAREBIT is distinctly British, but not as you know it. It’s fresh, modern and bold, with fantastic ingredients cleverly put together. The namesake of the restaurant is available whole slice or by the half, and it’s absolutely delicious. Definitely start with that – it would be rude not to!
The expansive evening menu is offered to guests from 6pm – 9:30pm, featuring decadent small plates like scallop and ‘nduja mac and cheese with crab bisque (amazing, in a word), and grilled peach, burrata and thyme (sensational in another word). These are served alongside more substantial plates, such as the creative mussels in coconut curry and the incredibly moreish Cheviot lamb chop with fresh peas, pearl barley, grape and red wine jus.
There’s also a daytime brunch menu (served from 11am – 4pm) that offers a selection of quality sharing dishes and menus for kids that includes dishes such as mini sausage, beans and mash, cheese on toast and ice cream.
The extensive drinks menus focus on a range of craft beers, with the draught offering from London Beer Factory, alongside an array of classic cocktails as well as the signature RAREBIT Welsh Negroni (red vermouth is replaced with Afon Mêl cherry mead).
The wine selection is available to either take away from the grocery section, or to drink in for a modest corkage charge, allowing customers to sample some excellent wines at pocket-friendly prices.
RAREBIT founders Mark and Will commented: “We’re thrilled to be part of the regeneration of Elephant & Castle and this exciting development and want to create a lively, friendly and relaxed atmosphere for locals, as well as drawing those from further afield who will come to witness Chef Lionel’s passion for producing creative and unique dishes.
“A commitment to quality and provenance runs through everything we do, so we’re delighted to have brought together such a strong team that share this ethos, and to be working with fantastic local producers and suppliers that allow us to deliver our RAREBIT dining and shopping experience.”
