Weekends are for fun. Weekends are for friends. Weekends are for fitting in as many activities as you can possibly cram in over such a brief – but enjoyable – period of time. Our favourite way to spend our days off is, of course, by eating great food and drinking great drinks. Living in a city like London, you'll never be lacking for a range of ace and tasty events running over the weekend. But choosing which ones are worth your precious presence (and, moreover, worth the Google Calendar invite) is a bit more difficult.
After all, there's nothing worse than spending your Saturday and Sunday at an event with limp burgers and weak cocktails. To help you make the most of your time off work and away from your glass office, we've created this handy little weekend round-up of the best food and drink events going on across the city. Anything you think we missed out? Well, feel free to be in touch with the events that you think we should be covering next week!
Without further ado, here are the events that you should be pencilling into your calendar and putting on your radar this weekend:
Empirical x Bodega Ritas pop-up can shop and Easter street party
19-21 April; Unit 114, Stable Street, N1C 4DR
Copenhagen's Empirical Spirits will be hosting a pop-up can shop at Bodega Rita's in Coal Drops Yard ver Easter Weekend from 19-21 April followed by an open street party that Easter Sunday afternoon. Empirical Spirits, were founded in Copenhagen in 2017 by Noma alumni Lars Williams and Mark Emil Hermansen. During the pop-up you'll be able to purchase ice cold cans of Empirical's drinks alongside Rita's delicious deli offerings. The current flavour on offer is Helena (Empirical's own vacuum-distilled malted koji spirit) milk oolong tea, toasted birch and green gooseberry. The street party on Sunday will be soundtracked by the people at Honest Jon's next door.
The Lock Tavern Easter festival
19-22 April; 35 Chalk Farm Road, NW1 8AJ
Camden's The Lock Tavern is relaunching following a full renovation and to celebrate, it's kicking off the Easter weekend with a four-day festival in collaboration with Communion Music. From Friday 19 to Monday 22 April, up-and-coming DJs and artists will take over the Tavern for four days of music and revelry. Guests can toast the weekend with a range of The Lock Tavern's beers, wines, cocktails and G&Ts with 20p from every drink sold throughout the festival going to the fantastic Choose Love, Help Refugees charity.
Easter Lunch at The Petersham Restaurant
19-22 April; Nightingale Lane, TW10 6UZ
Go big this Easter at The Petersham Restaurant by treating yourself to a louche Easter lunch. Using ace seasonal produce, the Easter menu features an array of indulgent dishes that have been especially designed for the occasion by the restaurant's head chef Jean-Didier Gouges. Highlights include ham hock and pea terrine, pickled quail egg, beetroot and roast leg of Dorset lamb, cabbage, carrots, parsnips and French beans. Which, y'know, sounds fantastic. There's also going to be an enormous chocolate egg on the premises, made out of a whopping 8kg of dark chocolate. Almost a metre tall, it makes for a pretty great centrepiece for your weekend feasting. Three courses will set you back £39.50 on Friday and Saturday or £48.50 on Sunday and Monday.
inKERBator Weekender
18-22 April; Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, SE1 8XX
Street food operator KERB is heading to Southbank Centre for whole Bank Holiday weekend dedicated to supporting and celebrating the future of London's street food. The inKERBator Weekender will see 25 hot new traders battle it out in front of a panel of industry judges, alongside free workshops and panel talks for London's budding food entrepreneurs. There's stuff for all us eaters, too. Over the course of the weekend, Londoners will be able to feast on a range of £5 dishes from a curated line-up, ranging from the newest inKERBator batch to those who've successfully graduated the programme. Greedy Khao, Mexikings, Turo Turo and more will all be in attendance. With beer from Gipsy Hill Brewery and English wines provided by Chapel Down, your thirst will be well catered for too.
Easter Sunday Feast at Gymkhana
19-22 April; 42 Albemarle Street, W1S 4JH
This Easter, Gymkhana will be opening its doors for an Easter Sunday Feast where guests can enjoy Gymkhana classics from the à la carte menu as well as an Easter special of Sikandari baby lamb raan accompanied by tandoori aloo and ramson bubble 'n' squeak, ajwaini asparagus and olive and onion khameera naan. Presented as Gymkhana's twist on a traditional Sunday roast, the special dish will costs £42 for two and be available throughout the whole of the Easter weekend.
Easter at Orrery
19-22 April; 55 Marylebone High Street, W1U 5RB
Orrery, the French restaurant in the heart of Marylebone, will be celebrating Easter with Head Chef's Igor Tymchyshyn's beef wellington to share for groups of four to eight, for the bank holiday weekend only. The wellington will be presented to the table and carved in front of guests as a celebratory centrepiece, and served alongside foie gras, Perigourdine sauce and celeriac purée.
Double Egg Roulette at Hoppers
19-22 April; Various locations
You've only got to ask yourself one question this Easter: "Do I feel lucky?" Well, do ya, punk? If so, you best go to Hoppers Soho or St Christophers Place this weekend to try out your luck at the restaurant's double egg roulette offer. Simply order a crisp, chewy egg hopper between 9-22 April, and if you land a double yolk hopper – your drinks are completely free. The worst case scenario is you end up eating some of the city's best Sri Lankan food anyway. So it's win-win, really.
Lunch at Vinegar Yard
Every Saturday and Sunday; 80-82 St Thomas Street, SE1 3QU
Get yourself within the vicinity of The Shard's shadow this weekend to sample some excellent eats at London's latest street food venue, Vinegar Yard. Meal purveyors include: Baba G's, Up In My Grill, Nanny Bill's, Sugo and Turnips. The feelings you'll get from eating at any one of those include: joy, excitement, glee and delight. You can even get naanwiches, for God's sake. Naanwiches!
Petersham Nurseries Pasta Masterclass
Every Saturday; The Counter at La Goccia, WC2E 8JD
Using the freshest ingredients, this pasta workshop is an introduction to making top shelf tagliatelle. In this interactive class, you'll learn traditional dough recipes and a range of pasta shapes including: ravioli, garganelli and tagliatelle, and a number of simple Italian sauces to drench them in. Made using organic eggs from Petersham's sister business, Haye Farm, the rich yolks transform the colour of the pasta. At the end of the workshop, you will take home your freshly made haul as well as some pasta flour, Haye Farm eggs and a homemade tomato sauce to enjoy at home.
Breddos Tacos Bottomless Brunch
12-5pm every Sunday; 82 Goswell Road, EC1V 7DB
What's the best way to spend a Sunday afternoon? Why, eating as many tacos as humanly possible, of course. For £20 you can get access to all-you-can-eat tacos at either of Breddos Tacos' tantalising taco joints for an hour and a half of Mexican food-based gluttony. With the option to choose between masa fried chicken, baja fish, sweet potato, and black bean tacos – you're not going to struggle for variety, either. For an extra £15 on top you can also join your tacos with a bottomless selection of frozen margaritas and michelada beers. Go loco.
Unlimited pasta at Palatino
Every Saturday; 71 Central St, London EC1V 8AB
Head to Palatino on Saturday's between 12pm-5pm where, for £25, you can get your fill of unlimited plates of pasta. Yes, you read that right. Unlimited. Pasta. There's not really much else that needs to be said, really. Though the dreamy carb deal also includes a free Palatino Spritz. Book ahead now to ensure you don't get left out on the linguine feast.
Rum Punch Brunch at Rudie's
Every Saturday and Sunday; 50 Stoke Newington Road, N16 7XB
If you fancy sipping on some rum-infused cocktails with some real spicy food, then get on down to Rudie's in Dalston this weekend. Running from 12-4pm every Saturday and Sunday, the rum punch brunch offer allows you to get one of Rudie's delicious main dishes (including a hearty 'Full Jamaican' of ackee & saltfish, lamb sausages, baked butter beans, sautéed spinach, boiled green banana and bakes) as well as access to bottomless rum punch for an hour and a half. All of which will only set you back a mere £18. Jerk and rum is a hard combo to top at that price, so make the most of it this weekend.
Pie and a Pint at Rochelle ICA
Every Sunday; The Mall, SW1Y 5AH
Never will you ever feel forlorn on Sunday afternoons again, because, starting from 17 February, Margot Henderson and Melanie Arnold will be on hand with pints and pastry to save the day. All you have to do is get on down to the Rochelle Canteen ICA where the two chefs will be running a series of Sunday evening 'Pie and a Pint' dining menus. An excellent pie and a pint (or a glass of house wine) for £10? Monday morning doesn't seem too bad after all.