As the most ambitious project undertaken by chef Adam Handling, the new The Frog Hoxton officially opens today, with the Iron Stag bar and Bean & Wheat coffee & beer opening on 6 August – three distinct eating and drinking options under the same roof, offering relaxed, sustainable dining.
The food offering at Hoxton has been carefully developed by Handling, in collaboration with The Frog E1’s Jamie Park, who will be continuing his Head Chef role at The Frog Hoxton, and newly appointed Executive Chef for the entire Hoxton venue, Daniel Watkins.
At The Frog Hoxton, guests can expect the same vibrant and refined style of cooking found at the previous The Frog E1 location (pictured), but with an added emphasis on communal, sustainable dining. Described by Handling as “how I would want to eat out”, the new menu will feature epic sharing plates that celebrate and encourage a zero-waste approach to eating – think, wood-roasted monkfish with tandoori-spiced butter, and BBQ lamb, olive, courgetti.
These sharing dishes will sit alongside an accessibly priced, six-course tasting menu, featuring tempting new dishes such as beef, kohlrabi, shoots, smoked egg, and yeast roasted cauliflower, kimchi, as well as legendary Frog E1 favourites, like those cheese doughnuts and chicken butter.
Downstairs at Handling’s brand-new bar concept, Iron Stag, Executive Chef Daniel Watkins has been given free rein to develop an entirely original bar snacks menu that complements the bar’s distinctive drinks menu – which will offer a modern showcase for whiskies, focusing on innovative high balls and cocktails.
In collaboration with two legends of the bar industry, Rich Woods (aka The Cocktail Guy) and Matt Whiley (aka The Talented Mr Fox, behind Scout), Handling has come up with heaps of innovative surprises – from celebrating his heritage with a Scottish Porn Star Martini using Iron Bru, to offering whisky soda cocktails on tap, with individual taps installed at every bar booth.
Naturally, with such a unique drink offering at Iron Stag, Watkins has devised a menu of similarly inventive dishes. Offering simple yet modern twists on traditional bar snacks, highlights on the bar menu will include beer crisps with smoked cods roe and haggis bonbons with garlic, all developed with a focus on using seasonal and sustainable ingredients.
Moving from its original Artillery Passage location, Handling’s sustainable coffee shop turned craft-beer shop, Bean & Wheat, will continue the emphasis on reducing waste at Hoxton. Handling will be implementing a recycling initiative to sustain Bean & Wheat’s craft beer library, encouraging customers to bring their empty beer bottles back in exchange for free coffees.
What’s more, with Bean & Wheat now in the same building as two of Handling’s other venues, the transportation of surplus food and off-cuts to Bean & Wheat (to be used in delicious salads, sandwiches, parfaits and preserves) will be even easier, allowing the team to bring together elements from each site into one cohesive, sustainable operation.
The restaurant group’s no-waste ethos has also been amplified at Hoxton through the installation of a state-of-the-art food lab in the Frog Hoxton kitchen which will be used for the brining, curing and fermenting of fresh foods – as well as the creation of the venue’s own home-brewed kombucha.
Having been inspired by regular trips to Nordic and Scandi restaurants Dill and Noma (both Michelin-starred), Watkins brings an invaluable understanding of clever preservation techniques to complement Handling and Park's passion for eliminating waste in the hospitality industry.
The pioneering food lab will be used to preserve fresh produce in nutritious, interesting ways, which can then be used across all three of the site’s venues.