Clerks House: Robin Gill's new restaurant is an edible history of the spirit of London

Those doubting Farringdon to be the hottest place to eat out in London right now should check themselves. Another new restaurant, this time led by chef Robin Gill, will launch at the London Museum on November 28.In his first interview about the project, Gill says the restaurant, called Clerks House, will “tell the story” of the city’s storied culinary past, drawing inspiration from immigration, London café culture and the city’s historic markets. A daily breakfast will include sausage butties, smoked trout on sourdough and a modern take on the institutional Billingsgate bap, made with hand-dived scallops, bacon and roe butter. Lunch and dinner will bring Brick Lane croquettes, a Chelsea bun rarebit, beef and oyster pie, devilled kidneys and a spiced fishmonger’s stew. Clerks House, will ‘tell the story’ of the city’s storied culinary pastDan Rampat & Robin Gill “We want to show respect for the area,” Gill tells the Standard. “It’s about British and Irish cooking, produce and seasonality, honouring Smithfield Market and being proud about our food. We’ll be doing Alanna oysters from Carlingford Lough in Ireland, an amazing beef and Guinness pie, and we’ll bring bread from Darby’s bakery (Gill’s restaurant in Nine Elms) each morning.”Gill, who’s launching the restaurant as part of a four-site development at the new London Museum alongside hospitality group Green & Fortune and its chef director Dan Rampat, says the food will be “comforting, nostalgic and thoughtful”. Pork will come from The Ginger Pig butchery, cheese from Paxton & Whitfield, seafood from Celtic Fish, and pulses from Hodmedod’s in Norfolk. There’ll be an emphasis on the capital’s neighbourhoods and their own traditions, “drawing on the foods and communities that have shaped the way London eats”.Alongside Clerks House will be a cocktail bar, Bartholemew’sBartholomew's“The space is a restaurant, but bleeds into the museum,” says Rampat. “There’s a big open kitchen. I think it’s about eating history, delving into the old school, considering topics such as immigration and the city’s hospitality scene and the lasting imprint that’s had up to now.”Alongside Clerks House will be a cocktail bar, Bartholemew’s, a 24-hour alcohol-free café and social space called Temperance Cocoa Rooms — inspired by Victorian venues that encouraged sobriety — and The Roost, an incubator kitchen for emerging food talent, with rotating residencies and mentoring. Bar snacks will also be referential, from Morley’s flour-fried oysters to a Bangladeshi-themed afternoon tea. Events will be integral to the venue too, with DJ nights (in collaboration with Morley’s), exhibitions (including one on pie and mash), poetry nights and literary talks.Clerks House also marks the return of Gill’s legendary Bloodshot Supper ClubClerks House Clerks House also marks the return of Gill’s legendary Bloodshot Supper Club, a series of evenings that went on into the early hours, and then often continued until breakfast. A one-off is planned, though the Standard was advised by the London Museum team that it won’t be quite the same as previous iterations: “The idea is to capture the spirit of the original Bloodshot nights, potentially with a late-night ticketed after-party at Bartholomew’s.”Clerks House and the other hospitality spaces will launch alongside the museum proper, a monumental £437 million development in Smithfield. It’s another promising addition to a part of town that will also soon welcome The Poet, a new pub from the team at Hackney bistro Sune, and B Penhale, the chef Elliot Hashtroudi’s eagerly anticipated sequel to his hit French restaurant Camille.