Caravel

Barge eating par excellence from brothers Fin and Lorcan Spiteri on the hippest stretch of Regent’s Canal.

What's the draw

The dining room, for a start. Touted as one of the most romantic dining rooms in the Big Smoke, Caravel is situated in a big red barge named Poppy which resides beside Studio Kitchen between Haggerston and Angel. A higgledy-piggledy pop-up this is not. During the evenings, you’ll find tables clad in white cloth and the room softened with candlelight. Warm wooden floors and potted plants give Caravel an easy opulence, while energy spills out of the barge’s hindquarters, where you’ll find chef Lorcan Spiteri helming the kitchen. There’s a playfulness apparent in the porthole rose windows, which depict less-than-bucolic canalside scenes such as a pike taking a bite out of a tinny, a pigeon hoisting a cigarette, or an eel improbably sheathed in a discarded condom.

What to eat

Fin and Lorcan Spiteri are sons to co-founder of St John and hospitality legend Jon Spiteri. They’ve brought their culinary legacy to bear with Caravel, which is largely inspired by the food they loved in their youth. Lorcan has worked at some of the city’s top modern british kitchens, namely Quo Vadis, Oldroyd and Rochelle Canteen, and demos a confident hand as head chef. Take note of these two must-order items, indispensable to any visit: the potato rösti, which arrives with a hefty dollop of sour cream and caviar, elevates comfort food to artform, while the sesame prawn toast with chilli jam takes a westernised Chinese mainstay and makes it bistro fare. Elsewhere on the menu, Lorcan has leaned into seasonal selections, with springtime signifiers such as wild garlic and pea croquettes padding out guinea fowl or freshly-picked asparagus with anchoïade, soft boiled egg and picada. A main of spinach and ricotta gnudi with peas, broad beans and sage follows suit, however we were particularly pleased with a heartier dish of onglet served with wild rocket and a pickled walnut dressing, the deep astringent flavour of which played a finessed foil to the offal-adjacent cut.

What to drink

Brother Fin is in charge of the drinks, drawing on experience working at 69 Colebrooke Road, Untitled and Rochelle Canteen at the ICA. Anyone wanting a refreshing preprandial eye-opener should consider the Paper Chaser, crafted with aperol, bourbon, blood orange and lemon – £1 of each sale goes to the charity Cook for Ukraine. Wines lean low intervention. A light and bracing muscadet from Sevre-et-Maine was a supple partner to the lighter, greener dishes while a trepat from Catalunya, Spain had an effervescent savour that paired well with the steak. We’d be remiss not to mention Bruno’s. Taking over the barge next door, it serves cocktails and snacks. With excellent selections such as hot buttered rum and Club Catalan, it’s the perfect spot to pitch up pre or post meal.