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The big summer music events in Victoria Park
The Wick Team
April 23, 2024
The architects behind Sadler’s Wells East made full, glorious use of a blank canvas at East Bank to conjure up a real stunner of building. Alongside the celebrated flexible auditorium, with its retractable seating, and the bright ‘n airy rehearsal studio complex up top, the public access foyer has also been cooed over by pretty much everyone.
It’s laid out in a generously sweeping L-shape; the signature open dance floor in the elbow, and a whole flank dedicated to the bar and restaurant, which spills onto a suntrap of a terrace, offering cinematic views across the water towards the looming heft of London Stadium.
It would be perfectly fine for the food and drinks offer here to be a sturdy parade of safe classics, simply filling stomachs before a performance and re-caffeinating the lunchtime laptop brigade.
However, the rather blandly named Park Kitchen & Bar (PKB) is actually anything but. Much like the architecture, and the commitment to bringing dance to the people of East London, the PKB at Sadler’s Wells East is big on ambition, delivered with creative panache.
Sun streams through the windows as we sit down to lunch, illuminating the whole room most attractively. Assorted tables around us babble with a mix of diners, ranging from the casual lunch-on-the-go crew through to jolly clusters of committed two bottles of wine/three course luncheoneers.
A pretty plate of whipped goats cheese with grilled peaches gets things off to a strong and intriguing start at our table; the cheese uncompromisingly ripe, the fruit acting as its delicate, sweet foil.
Alongside that – and totally irresistible for sharing – comes a showstopper of a calamari and chips, slathered with yuzu mayo and fabulous dollops of quality, chunky chilli oil.
An attractively multi-coloured ‘signature flat bread’ also impresses, with deeply rich roast aubergine, fresh spinach and ribbons of wafer-thin carrot, all pocked with ruby red pomegranate.
Any one of these light bite dishes would make for a luxuriant little lunch for one on its own, but my companion and I are moving into the ranks of the more dedicated dining demographic, and summarily decide to order some excellent rum cocktails specially created by the bar manager (all his libation creations are named after dance moves, too).
The thrum and collective stomp of more than one community dance class drifts through the foyer as we dine on, occasionally adding a little buzz to the otherwise very laidback feel of the space. It already feels a hugely successful realisation of the ground floor to welcome an all-day crowd with various motivations, not just as a pre-show gathering point.
PKB has a dedicated in-house baker, who passes by our table to explain his daily output, which includes an impressive variety of buns, baguettes and coming up with new sweet treat items each week. You can feel that the same creative ethos and dedication for dance has completely infused everything coming out of the kitchen.
The PKB cheeseburger is one seriously tasty example, the handmade brioche and perfect fries elevating it far from pub grub blandness and the quality of the beef shining through. All meats are suppled by local butcher Appetite, among a clutch of other local suppliers such as East London Liquor Company, Hackney Gelato and Dalston Soda.
And while looking overly worthy at first impressions, in its hairshirt granary bun (especially compared against the shiny, meat-filled brioche sensation), the portobello mushroom burger proves easily up to the same high and tasty standard, as opposed to being a mere veggie-friendly afterthought.
A deconstructed cheesecake rounds things off, its raspberry leather strips and muddled strawberries looking gorgeous in the relentlessly cheery sunshine. It would be easy to spend the rest of the afternoon here, gently sipping more coffee, or indeed a glass of vino, as more dance classes pass through and the bustle eventually builds towards the evening performance.
It’s a proper exemplary all-day hangout, complete with carefully pleasing touches like fresh water taps and unfussy wifi. Above all though, I’ll be back for the food and drink, which delivers a genuine all killer, no filler line-up.
Despite its frustratingly forgettable name, the Park Kitchen & Bar is something really special, which does the dizzying ambition of its home setting proud.
Park Kitchen & Bar is at Sadler’s Wells East, Stratford Walk, E20 2AR
Website & more info / Phone: 0207 863 8147
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