What’s the draw
It’s worth braving the dodgy alley off a Dalston street corner for POND, a new Hawaiian restaurant from the brains behind Duke's Brew & Que. It serves up hefty, traditional Asia Pacific dishes with a generous dollop of US-style hospitality. And not a hula skirt in sight.
What to drink
The cocktail menu comes via Manhattans Project's bar residency, and is chock-full of diehard classics with modern tweaks. The 8 Rum Mai Tai is a dangerously guzzle-worthy highlight: a blend of Tiki rums, almond syrup and citrus. For something healthier, it’s all about the chilli-infused Mexican Green Juice. With tequila, obvs.
What to eat
Spam. Nope, we’re not kidding – it's one of Hawaii's national treasures and at POND it comes in the delectable form of shrimp-fried spam fries. Our smokey Tonkatsu short beef rib came glistening in a sweet grape tonkatsu glaze, sitting on top of roasted potato mash and okonomiyaki - an excellent savoury waffle. Dessert is an obscene chunk of chocolate biscuit crammed full of ice cream, accompanied by salted caramel popcorn and toffee. Oh, aloha!
Drinks and dinner for two: around £75. G2, Stamford Works, 3 Gillett St, London N16 8JH; pond-dalston.com.
