When we talk about sustainability, as we did throughout the whole of issue 14, we mean all types for sustainability, both for us as human beings, and for our planet.
Which is why, when we have the opportunity to do our bit, we love to support initiatives that do the same – like the #CookForSyria campaign that's going to see some of our best-loved restaurants across the UK hold special events and create limited-edition dishes to aid Unicef UK's Children of Syria Fund and NEXTGen London, Unicef UK's young professional movement.
Here's a roundup of what to look out for – and with support from taste-making Instagrammer Clerkenwell Boy and Suitcase magazine founder Serena Guen, you know the menu's going to good.
Special events to look out for:
Arabica Bar & Kitchen
27 November, tickets from £50
You'll have to loosen the top button of your jeans for this one: this Borough Market favourite is laying on a sharing-style Syrian feast for its Sunday lunch offering. There’ll be hot and cold mezze, loads of main dishes to choose from, and typical Levantine desserts – you’ll also get a welcome cocktail and the chance to try some Syrian wine.
Honest Burgers
29 November, tickets cost £25 for three courses
Honest Burgers will be deviating from its namesake by offering an Honest Kebab in honour of #CookForSyria. It'll be made of British dry-aged chuck steak and rib cap, cooked in the doner style on a traditional rotisserie grill, and stuffed in a khobez flatbread with the brand's much-loved rosemary-salted chips. YUM.
Symmetry Breakfast at The Good Egg
26-27 November, tickets cost £39
If you're as mesmerised as we are by Symmetry Breakfast's eerily perfect Instagram feed, you won’t want to miss this event at brunch spot The Good Egg. You'll be able to break your fast on a traditional Syrian breakfast, with one large dish, five small fishes and a single-origin filter coffee.
Salon
22-23 November
Brixton's firmly established itself as a food destination in its own right, and that's in no small part down to Salon, which does a rather spectacular – and extremely good-value – tasting menu. The 22 and 23 of November will be a bit different, though, as Nicholas Balfe will hosting a Syrian-inspired pop-up, with dishes including roast carrots with candied sesame and labneh.
There's a shed-load of special dishes to look out for at your favourite restaurants, too – here's the whole list:
- Arabica Bar & Kitchen - Porcini mushroom broth with smoked green wheat freekeh and Za'atar oil
- Barrafina - Grilled quail, green harissa, pomegranate and date sauce
- Ben's Canteen - Syrian Burger with a lamb, mint, and chilli patty, topped with falafel, pickled cucumber, pickled red onion, rocket, harissa and sumac mayo, roasted red peppers, pomegranate molasses and feta
- Berber & Q - Aleppo kofte kebab with blackened chilli sauce
- Black Axe Mangal - Lamb tongue fatteh
- Breddos Tacos - Mutton 'al pastor' with muhammara salsa roja and roasted medjool dates
- Brunswick House - Roast Black Figs, Baklava Ice Cream, Walnut Brittle
- Cafe Murano St James & Covent Garden - Olive oil cake with pistachio ice cream
- Carousel - Roast guinea fowl, labneh and za'atar
- Chick'N'Sours - Crispy chicken, Syrian Hamud, rose & pomegranate
- Chiltern Firehouse - Beef tartare with a Syrian inspired twist
- Crosstown Doughnuts - Cinnamon scrolls with # CookForSyria symbol
- Dock Kitchen - Pistachio and Nutmeg Cake
- Foleys - Beetroot puree with labneh, burnt date, a hazelnut mousse and candied hazelnuts
- Frenchie - Pomegranate glazed guineafowl, medjool dates and tamarind
- Grain Store - Raw salmon kibbeh with yoghurt & flatbread
- Gunpowder - Grilled aubergine with beef keema and pine nuts kachumber
- Honey & Co - Msabacha
- Hoppers - Beef brisket curry, Ceylonese stretched roti, walnut chickpea and pistachio sambol, smoked aubergine and pomegranate raita, oxtail pickle
- Jamie Oliver's Fifteen – Syrian spiced orange blossom Rice pudding with dates
- José Pizarro - Slow cooked neck of lamb with hummus and herb oil
- Lyle's - Pheasant kebab
- Kricket - Sabudana Vada - muhammara, sesame raita, coriander
- The Marksman Pub - Pickled aubergine, salt lemon and chilli
- Morito Hackney Road – Syrian fattoush salad with crisp bread, winter vegetables, fried aubergines and pomegranates
- Ottolenghi - Hark Osbao (Lentils and pasta with tamarind, sumac and pomegranate)
- Oklava - Winter fattoush with tamarind sticky beef, roasted pears, cavalo nero, bitter leaves and crispy Baharat bread
- Paradise Garage - Spiced quail, maqluba, fennel, pomegranate and mint salad
- Patty & Bun - Aged lamb burger with braised lamb shoulder, feta and garlic sauce plus Aleppo pepper relish
- Petersham Nurseries - Pot roast poussin with preserved lemons, rose and pistachios for 2 - with flat breads, yoghurt, fennel, pomegranate, parsley salad
- Pizza Pilgrims - Spiced beef pizza
- Quo Vadis - Chickpea, squash, aubergine dip with a pastry brick (à l'oeuf) with Za'tar
- Salon Brixton - Roasted roots, candied sesame, tahini yoghurt
- Salt Yard Group - Slow cooked Syrian spiced lamb shoulder with flatbread
- Shawarma Bar - Syrian kofte, pickled white cabbage, preserved lemon and yoghurt pita sandwich
- Silo Brighton - Sumac baked squash, tahini & marigold glaze and rose hip harissa
- Spring - Syrian dumplings with smoked aubergine, yoghurt, za'atar and dill
- Taberna do Mercado - Sweet yabraq (rice pudding wrapped in vine leaves with poached figs)
- The Good Egg - Duck kibbeh with pomegranate molasses and smoked aubergine labneh
- The Manor - Smoked aubergine & sour potato flatbread
- The Modern Pantry - Sugar cured prawn omelette made with Aleppo chili
- The Providores and Tapa Room - Turkish eggs - two poached eggs, whipped yoghurt, hot Aleppo-chilli butter and toast
- Yosma - Cilbir - baked eggs, yoghurt, leek and chili butter
For more info: cookforsyria.com
