A Michelin starred chef’s new restaurant will open in Shoreditch next month.
Tom Brown, the chef behind Hackney Wick’s one Michelin-starred seafood restaurant Cornerstone is due to open his second east London venture in November.
When it opens on Shoreditch’s Commercial Street on November 11, Pearly Queen will be an oyster bar and restaurant that draws inspiration from east London’s fish cooking heritage with a menu of inventive fish dishes, oysters and shellfish.
The menu will offer dishes that are suitable for leisurely meals and quick bites to eat or for leisurely meals, with UK-sourced oysters, seasonal specials and small plates like cockle bhajis and prawn Scotch eggs on the menu.
Main dishes include grilled lobster in XO lobster butter and whole plaice in a roast chicken sauce, alongside a “100-layer” cuttlefish lasagne.
Tom Brown likened the Pearly Queen to the restaurant industry battling through the pandemic just to face more struggles on the other side.
He said: "The last few years for the restaurant trade have been about survival, and I see Pearly Queen as an expression of that spirit. It's the result of a massive team effort, championing the British seafood industry, much like those early Pearly Queen traders who transformed something raw into something beautiful.
“Pearly Queen is a celebration of a city slowly coming back to life, a place for stolen moments of indulgence, whether it's a pint and oyster after work or a night to remember. I can't wait to open her doors."
Evoking an old East End boozer, Pearly Queen’s 60-cover restaurant will run across two floors with counter seating at the bar, and plush banquettes, secreted nooks fitted out downstairs.
The interiors will blend the glamour of Shoreditch with East End grittiness and feature shell edges, mother of pearl inlays alongside velvets and silks.
The cocktail menu will be created by Three Sheet’s Max Venning who puts a coastal take on classic tipples. As the natural pairing for oysters, Guinness will also be readily available.
The cocktails have been paired with dishes, such as the gin and olive oil OCS which will go well with either the shellfish hummus or the tuna and parmesan gougères. There will also be a selection of sea-cuterie that will match the Pearly Martini.
Pearly Queen will open on Saturday, November 11 at 44 Commercial Street, Shoreditch E1 6LT.
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