#foxlow

If you’re a Londoner with a love of beef and booze, chances are you’ll have fueled that fire with a trip to one of the Hawksmoor restaurant group‘s sites.  Renowned throughout the capital for quality steak and punchy cocktails- their beef comes straight from God’s Own Country (courtesy of The Ginger Pig) and they offer a bottomless Bloody Mary.  As a Northern carnivore with a penchant for an aperativo or two, it’s hard not to love this outfit.  Their first sibling establishment, Foxlow, opened in Faringdon two years ago and now comes Foxlow Stoke Newington which is conveniently located on Church Street and within stumbling distance from mine and The Blonde’s abode.  If you’re familiar with the area, it’s where Homa used to be and looks straight onto Abney Park Cemetery.  They’ve done a clever frosting-thing with the windows, whereby if you’re seated, your view will be a soothing vista of flora and fauna and.  If the sun is shining you can sit on the terrace for closer proximity to Clissold Park life and some awesome people watching.

The plan is to serve brunch, lunch, tea and cakes, keeping it casual during the day and amping things up at night with cocktails and hunking great chunks of cow.  It’s a something-for-everyone offering and very well suited to an area as varied in its inhabitants as N16 is.  The design by Macaulay Sinclair is chic and comforting with a classic retro colour palette, but sturdy and practical enough to endure a Bugaboo or two.

As hungry locals, we were kindly invited to check out the new kid on the block and sample some of the wares - the below is a brief best-of their menu both food and alcohol.

Smashed avocado on toast - expect to see this on the brunch menu along with classic staples such as granola and Burford Brown eggs on toast plus more unusual offerings like homemade ricotta with London honey and Moroccan eggs with sobrasada toast.  If that all sounds too healthy, there’s also a breakfast burger for those after a proper protein fix.  Other dishes sampled but not pictured included some tender roasted butternut squash on toast topped with ricotta.  Snacking wise, we had some unbelievable saucisson and kabanos sausages from Cobble Lane Cured who are based just up the road in Islington.  It’s very easy to get blase about sourcing, but the fact that Foxlow like to promote local suppliers is a very nice touch; their wines are from Borough Wines who have a branch just down the street - and mighty fine wines they are too.

The best fried chicken we have EVER tasted - utterly glorious.  Juicy and flavoursome with the most perfectly balanced crispy spiced batter.

Said batter-of-perfection makes a welcome reappearance in the chicken salt fries. Couple those chips with a cocktail or two from the imaginative list and you’re on to a winner.

Booze-wise, we made a fair stab at quaffing most of the offerings that night.  The signature Foxlow Mimosa comprises gin, lemon, grapefruit and prosecco and is more refreshing, tasty and alcoholic than regular mimosa - move over Bucks Fizz.

Koko B Ware (blurry picture above with the avocado toast)- gin, coconut water and cucumber.  The ultimate hydrator and no-doubt set to become the Stoke yummy mummy’s post pilates go-to isotonic.

Shillibeer - cognac, pale ale syrup, lemon and Fernet Branca.  Something for those after a stronger beverage but without sacrificing any of that Foxlow flavour.

The chatty bar tender on our visit was a part time tour guitarist with Jamie T;  the waitress a Rosamunde Pike lookalike - The Blonde and I were, as a result, totally won over by all Foxlow’s super cool staff.  No doubt they were pulling out the big guns in terms of staffing for opening fortnight but Hawksmoor group do have a habit of employing the best so I’m inclined to think that quality and class will live on well past soft launch. 

What’s particularly clever about the Foxlow ‘concept’ is that it pushes the envelope in terms of its eating and drinking offering, but still maintains that feeling of an approachable neighbourhood classic. Whilst property prices seem to have topped-out in the area, the restaurant offerings have yet (in my humble opinion) to rise to the level you’d expect to match its local residents.  Foxlow’s presence on Church Street seems long overdue in pushing up the area’s eating options, which makes its arrival in the area all the more welcome in my eyes.  It feels real good to be a Northerner right now.

Foxlow, 71-73 Stoke Newington Church Street, London N16 0AS