Inside a 1950s building that’s tucked away behind a feather blade fence in London’s Lower Holloway, Westerns Laundry (the latest restaurant from Jeremie Cometto-Lingenheim and David Gingell of Primeur) is a lighter, more delicate alternative to its Stoke Newington sibling; offering a menu rooted in British tastes but infused with Southern European and Asian influences.
Working with local suppliers to source top notch British produce, the daily changing menu is listed on a large chalkboard and focusses heavily on shellfish and seafood cooked using a robata grill to create intense, smoky flavours. Diners eat on large communal tables and at banquettes made from Shou Sugi Ban charred larch covered in electric blue British velvet, accompanied by 1940s Michael Thonet chairs and kiln-fired crockery from Ohio’s Miami Valley Pottery and Bristol-based artisan potter, Carmel Eskell.
With a textured, pared-back aesthetic from which to contemplate the heritage of the building, Westerns Laundry also has an exposed cellar with over 200 bottles of plonk from low intervention, small-scale international producers, as well as older vintages and fine wines found listed in a special leather-bound, handwritten, black book. Craft beers, vermouths, gin, tonics and other spirits are also in ready supply — the duo’s simple approach to heightening the very best ingredients washed down nicely with an extensive array of artisanal beverages. Rustic, authentic, N5 has a new destination eatery.
