Papi

What’s the draw

If East London restaurants were to caricature themselves, it’s likely Papi would be the resulting venue. It was launched by two men; one who opened a dining pop-up called Hot 4 U and served esoteric food that felt extremely tongue-in-cheek and yet entirely serious, the other who opened much-loved natural wine store Wingnut Wines, known for stocking some of the best sulphite-free drops that have become so synonymous with Hackney.

The food is bold and interesting and plays on the area’s love for idiosyncratic combinations (take, say, the cheeseburger tartare, or the potato garlic bread topped with whipped cheese), and the music gets steadily louder over the course of the evening (the chefs may also moonlight as MCs, through a microphone that, the first time you hear it, will likely induce your fight-or-flight response). But in amongst the fun and frivolity, this is a restaurant to take seriously (partly because it does so much of the opposite). There’s no need for pomp or circumstance here when the food and wine speaks so firmly for itself.

Rabbit Kielbasa

Garlic bread and cheese

What to drink

Charlie Carr, very much the wine-o of this duo, knows his bottles. With an affinity for the interesting and natural, he manages to source vibrant bottles that intrigue and delight, while avoiding any of the overly-funky, why-does-it-smell-like-cow-shit aroma, or the cider-ish palate. His familiarity with the wine list he’s curated became clear when he recommended a few bottles to us; each suggestion came with an anecdote or in-depth information about the winemaker and the vineyard itself, as if Carr has visited it in person, or they’re a close friend (maybe he has, maybe they are).

Downstairs, slightly squirrelled away and there for you to stumble upon when you totter down to the photograph-covered loos (keep an eye out for a salmon-shirt-adorned Rick Stein) is a little pocket of a bar, the perfect spot to slide up to for a pre-dinner cocktail, or settle into for a post-dinner piss-up, should things have not already gotten rowdy enough upstairs. It serves a concise selection of the food menu upstairs, with a focus on great cocktails from the drinks side of things, or the option to just continue to make your way through Carr’s beautifully-curated wine list.

What to eat

Perhaps it would be quicker to turn this into an outline of what not to eat which would be a simple, one-word answer: nothing. This is punchy food that delivers big-time on the flavour front without feeling like a gimmick or too much. It pulls on a multitude of flavour influences, from Thai to Spanish, but nothing feels out of place or incorrectly curated. Quite the opposite; the lemongrass and chilli smoked rabbit kielbasa (zingy, spicy, whack-you-round-the-face kind of good), doesn’t feel like an incongruous prelude to Palourde clams with fermented pepper romesco. Rather, they feel like cousins, or close friends, because there’s enough of a connecting thread in both ingredients and excitement that it all feels cohesive.

That being said, if the kielbasa is on the menu, order it. It will whet your palate in the best of ways. The langoustines? Get them too. Potentially the most reasonably priced plate of these crustaceans that I’ve seen in a while, they are a rare occasion in which chef Matthew Scott steps back on the flavour front and lets the ingredient do the talking, adding just a hint of tosazu (dashi vinegar) and chives to elevate the natural sweetness of the crustaceans. The aforementioned Palourde clams are a necessary addition too – don’t forget a side of sourdough to mop up the sauce; you’ll want to savour every last drop. Oh, and the butter that comes with that bread is made with cream, buttermilk and a fermentation made from the leftover bread.... yep. Like I said – this is food to take seriously, even if on the surface it seems playful.