berberandq-blog

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Warm up this weekend with a piping hot pan of Shakshuka! 🌶🍅🍳 . Only available at brunch, 11-3pm Saturday & Sunday. 😋 . 📸 @tomsdinner (at Berber & Q)

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We threw a Pita Party...

For the second year now, we invited some great chefs from the London food scene, and asked them to create their perfect pita. Each week a different guest pita was on the menu at Shawarma Bar, and on Sunday 4th February we threw a Pita Party where guestd had a chance to try all four of them and even a surprise dessert pita from our Head Chef, Vicky.

We had a blast and we hope everyone that came down did too. Never have so many pitas been stuffed in such a short space of time! The pita factory line was flying for both our lunch and dinner service.

A big thank you to all chefs involved from team Berber. David Carter (Smokestak), Nud Dudhia (Breddos Tacos), Sarit Packer and Itamar Srulovich (Honey & Co.), and Oded Oren.

Until Next Year...

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Feasting at The Grill House

Yes, we are still predominantly a no reservation restaurant. We’ve always liked the idea of you guys just rocking up and getting a table. However, we know there can be a little bit of a wait sometimes before you can get stuck into your meat trays, and we’d hate for people to be discouraged from coming to the arch with a large group of your pals...

That’s why we introduced our group dining offers! If you’re planning a party, or if you’re on a strict time frame to get fed before a night out, we didn’t want you guys to not have Berber & Q as a solid option for your festivities.

We offer feasting options, which allow 6+ people to share either a whole shoulder of delicious smoked lamb or a full rack of juicy beef short ribs. Please remember though, we’ll need 48 hours notice to get these big hunks of meat ready for your party.

We also offer a prix fixe set menu option, which allows groups of up to 14 (maybe even more if you ask nicely) a chance to dine with us too. Our set menu changes quite often, so please check on our most recent sample menus on our website before you book.

Feeling hungry? Ok, then just head over to our website, and scroll down to our Group Dining section, you should find all the information you need there, and can book online. Easy!

See you down at the arch...

Please note, reservations are available for dinner Tuesday - Sunday between 6 - 6.45pm and anytime between 11am - 3pm on the weekend.

If you have any other queries or are having trouble using our online booking system, please email reservations@berberandq.com

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OFF-MENU with Josh

ARIANA II, 241 Kilburn High Road, Kilburn, London NW6 7JN

One of my favourite joints in London is the Afghan restaurant Ariana II in Kilburn. It’s their second restaurant, the original hailing from the upper West side of Manhattan. It always seemed like a strange choice of location for the second outpost to me. Even the most fervent and devoted fans of Kilburn High Road (there can’t be many) must admit it’s a far cry from Uptown Manhattan. But then the restaurant is always busy, so look who had the last laugh.

Plus they make the most outrageously good Kadoo (pumpkin) Buranee – which is a starter of mashed pumpkin, delicately spiced, mixed with olive oil and topped with yoghurt. I can eat that stuff with a spoon.

It is here that I also first learned the joys of Mantu, steamed pastry stuffed with lamb mince and topped with meat sauce, lentils, and yoghurt. I’m assuming it’s a close cousin of the Turkish version called Manti. Don’t ask me how I figured that one out.

For the main course, try any of their grilled meats and you won’t be disappointed. The lamb tikka kebab is melt-in-your-mouth soft and almost other worldly. I have no idea how they make it so tender and tasty.

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From Souq to Sour

Another electronic artist we’ve grown considerably fond of is Viken Arman. More and more we keep finding Dj’s and producers who seem to be marrying electronic beats with more traditional and cross cultural sounds. This is something we’ve instinctively grasped hold of as it reflects a lot of what we’re into at Berber & Q.

Parisian based, and of Armenian descent, Viken refers to himself as a “creative traveler from the Caucasus mountains” His roots seep beautifully into both his productions and his Dj sets, whilst still maintaining an elegant grasp on contemporary electronic music. His most recent release came off of a label we’ve loved for a long time,  All Day I Dream.

Viken Arman - Life EP

Viken has set up a recently launched label in Denatured, bringing together a group of like-minded artists and is also heading up a series of parties under the SOUQ banner. We were fortunate to get ourselves over to Paris for a really special one earlier in the year, which felt very much like “if Berber & Q did parties…” Since then, our respect and admiration have stuck on this guy and we’ll be looking forward to seeing what else he comes up with. We’ve even got our fingers crossed for a SOUQ festival in London at some point, where we’ll be more than happy to fire up the grill! Let us know Viken ; )

You can check out a sterling live mix of his recorded earlier this year at Katerblau, Berlin…

VIKEN ARMAN Live Set @ KaterBlau (Berlin)

And if you want to see something really special, take a look at this…

And now, like Guy Gerber before him and the summer fling with Kraak & Smack, Viken Arman becomes another DJ immortalised in Berber cocktail form. It's a juxtaposition of ideas, taking a traditional bourbon sour, but making it more light and refreshing and a lot more green!

Available now in Berber & Q - Grill House, this is the “Viken Almond” - Four Roses bourbon, fresh cucumber, almond orgeat, lemon, whites & sugar.

By Danny

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1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair

Those of you with a keen eye will have heard us banging on about London/Moroccan artist Hassan Hajjaj recently. And also about his shop come studio in Shoreditch (Larache)

Well, I went to visit Larache recently, and to my surprise found the man himself casually packing up various works, backdrops, and rugs. Good timing too, as he informed me the reason his shop was such a mess is that he was preparing for his first exhibition in 12 years! Lucky I dropped in that day, or I may never have heard about the London Contemporary African Art Fair…

Hassan’s exhibition and the art fair will run from October 5-8 at Somerset House in London.

Get the lowdown and get involved over here

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Post Burning Man

Burning Man 2017 is now over.

We had to sacrifice a member of our staff from Shawarma Bar, Michael, to it. No-one knows what would come back of that once tall Irish man; is he going to hand in his resignation for a different and better life? Is he going to guide us to a new existence, connecting and believing in something we’ve not discovered as yet?

We’re going to find out who and what Michael has become on Thursday night, but for now what we have of Burning Man, are the first mixes that are starting to appear on all sorts of platforms on the web. 

This is a very exciting time for anyone with a passion for electronic music, because the sounds generated at Burning Man are very difficult to recreate in any other party or festival around the globe. When you hear a Burning Man set from a DJ you love, you instantly know that there will be something unexpected and magical throughout it.

One of our favourite DJ’s, Oceanvs Orientalis, has recently uploaded a very long set from his 2017 appearance at Burning Man Tierra Bomba. 

This is part of a new project of his, called Kanto Records which “represents a contemporary music and arts understanding that does not believe in genres and aims to enjoy music without restraining it in pre-existing moulds.“

Kantocast 001 - OVO - Extended Dj Set - Tierra Bomba - Burningman 2017

Enjoy!

By Mattia

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Lunch at Shawarma Bar

We’d hate for you to miss out on your Berber & Q meat & mezze fix just because you’re hungry before dinner time. We’ve got you covered at our sister site Berber & Q - Sharwarma Bar where we’re open for lunch Monday to Saturday 12-3pm.

We can make it easy for you with our set lunch menu option for £19 for groups of 6 or more which includes Hummus, a selction of mezze, and a selection of mains.

We also have take away options if you’re in a rush to get back to the office. Any stuffed pita and mezze for £10, or Tahini hummus, pita, Israeli salad & pickles for £7.50.

Head over to our WEBSITE to see our full lunch menu, and come and find us at 46 Exmouth Market, Clerkenwell, London EC1R 4QE

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Get In The Sea

Despite multiple taunts from the Woodfired team, we didn’t actually ever “Get in the sea”. We did, however, take our Berber & Q cooking mentality down to the North coast of Cornwall for a beautifully sunny weekend at the start of June when we teamed up with Ben Quinn and the Woodfired Canteen crew to do two days of outdoor BBQ feasts for some lovely folk from the South West.

We settled in very quickly to the Cornish way of life, with the tempo dropping drastically from the fast paced hustle and bustle of London hospitality. We absolutely love what Ben has set up down there, and just as quickly bought into his ethos and approach to what he wants to do with food. Good food, community, and good times with friends is paramount with the Canteen team, and we couldn’t agree more.

We were lucky enough to test their new home for the summer at Porthmeor Beach, St ives. Josh and Shaun brought some Middle Eastern flavour, as the guys cooked over open fire creating a simple yet delicious seafood BBQ menu, using fresh local supplies and utilising the beautiful weather whilst overlooking the ocean. 

You can see some snaps of that right HERE and HERE

On day two, we headed south to the Cornwall county city of Truro, to set up the Drumbecue’s in the garden of grill restaurant, Hubbox. Big thanks to all the team there, who were a big help and a pleasure to work with. Our cauliflower made it to Cornwall that day with a more Berber approach to the menu, which we served up to guests into the evening on yet another gloriously sunny day and night.

HERE’S how that looked

We had an amazing time, and would just like to re-iterate how thankful we are for the experience. Ben, Sammy, Evie, Cat, Soph and everyone involved are a wonderful bunch and are doing a sterling job. If you’re in that part of the world, you’d be hard pressed to find something better to do than to enjoy a Woodfired Canteen set menu dinner. They’ll be running two sittings each Tuesday & Thursday from their new home overlooking Porthmeor. GET INVOLVED!

As well as that, they’ll be doing all sorts of weird and wonderful dining experiences other collaborations, including with Wild Wine Club, Smokestak, Quickes, Hidden Hut and some great Cornish based Charities.

Keep up with what they are doing over at canteencornwall.com

And follow them on Instagram to avoid missing out.

By Danny

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Fahrelnissa Zeid

If you find yourself in London between now and October, I’d say it’d be worth a trip to the Tate to explore artist Fahrelnissa Zeid and her work.

Born into an elite Ottoman family, and then later marrying into the Hashemite royal family of Iraq, she lived quite the life. Best known for her large-scale abstract paintings, but also drawings, lithographs and scultptures. Zeid’s art blended the Middle East and West, and reflected her life which took her around the world from Istanbul to Paris, Iraq to Berlin and from Painter to Princess.

Ahead of a visit, have a look at this short documentary from Tate, giving a little insight in to to the lady herself.

Fahrelnissa Zeid is running from now until 8th October at Tate Modern, Bankside, London, SE1 9TG

You can book tickets HERE

By Danny

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Skateistan

I’ve always enjoyed skateboarding. Never quite grasped it myself, but as an avid snowboarder when i was younger, I had friends in the scene and a big respect for the sport. Still to this day I enjoy watching skate videos and competitions and seeing people push the boundaries of extreme sports. Now probably after one day trawling through a digital sea of trick video’s, I stumbled upon Skateistan.

Now it’s one thing to get a kick out of watching the sport progress physically as the years go by. But it’s quite a more inspiring experience to see how it’s now helping young people in a country torn apart by conflict for over 30 years...

“Skateistan is an international organisation that provides education and skateboarding instruction to youth in some of the most volatile places in the world.”

Skateistan was set up by Oliver Percovich, you can read about his story here. 

What an amazing thing to do. To take skateboarding into Kabul, Afghanistan, not only as an activity but as a tool to help better the lives of the young boys, and predominantly girls, living there. Obviously this story won’t have been smooth sailing. To endure the risks in these volatile locations and to commit to such a great cause is an amazing achievement. Keep up the good work Oliver, and everyone over at Skateistan. We need more of this in the world.

Check out Skateistan HERE, and if you can find it in you, maybe even donate a little.

Also, there’s this beautiful short film you should watch...

By Danny

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Mangal Mondays Highlights

Each Monday in June we let one of our favourite Chefs take over the kitchen at Berber & Q. They came, they cooked, and they smashed it. We had a blast, the food was great and we hope everyone that managed to get a ticket enjoyed it as much as we did.

Big thanks to Oscar Holgado, Nicholas Balfe, Andrew Clarke and Ramael Scully.

Here’s a taster of what went down in the arch for our Mangal Mondays...

Video by - Remi Bernardin

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Okro’s Wines

Our Mangal Mondays series of events has come to an end on the 26th of June, and we had a blast collaborating with some great chefs, which happened to be lovely people to work and hang out with.

For this series I came up with a wine list of Georgian, Greek and Turkish wines only; guests had to find their way getting out of their comfort zone and picking bottles made of obscure grape varieties - to us - such as Rkatsiteli, Shavkapito, Xinomavro, Yapinkak and many more.

It was fun even though I’m almost certain that the 75% of guests cursed at me throughout the entire evening.

One of the highlights were the wines from Joni Okro. in Georgia, a family-run cellar in the small town on Sighnaghi in the Kakheti region of Eastern Georgia. Joni established in 2004 the estate which covers 5.5ha of vineyards, where he works with six Georgian varieties of grapes: Rkatsiteli, Mtsvane, Saperavi, Budeshuri, Tsolikouri and Tavkveri. It’s all about natural wine growing and wine making and no additives or sulphur are used in the making of the wine.

Georgian wines? Using Doug Wregg (Les Caves de Pyrene) words:

‘Georgia is, of course, the birthplace of wine and the country with the oldest and most continuous tradition of winemaking. The etymology of the word ‘wine’ is said to stem from the Georgian word govino. Wine for Georgians is much more than just a beverage. Historically, wine was not only the basis of economic wealth, but also part of spiritual culture.’

‘Joni’ Okro is one of the most respected natural winemakers in Kakheti, where he concentrates on traditional long skin contact amber wines; like many other producers in Georgia, the focus of winemaking lies in the passion for ancient winemaking rituals. That implies fermentation in Qvevri and several months of skin maceration.

His wines are sourced from cool high altitude vineyards instead of the warmer plains his wines retain freshness and vitality and have concentration levels rarely seen. He also works with grapes from Kartli and Imereti. His vineyards are farmed naturally and zero additions ensure the wines remain ‘alive’ in the bottle.

Joni shares his time between his job in Tbilisi as a Telecommunications Engineer, farming and producing his traditional family wines and recently running a popular tasting room and restaurant above his cellar in Signagni.

What a guy!

By Mattia

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Smokable & Co.

There’s few Palestinian producers and hip-hop artists that you can sometimes hear playing in the background when you visit Shawarma Bar.

Our favourites so far are Smokable, Edd Abbas and Stormtrap Asifeh... 

Here’s a couple of songs for you:

Smokable - Now & Then

Edd Abbas - Armeed (Prod. StormTrap)

As I was trying to get some history of Palestinian hip-hop before writing this, I found out about this movie called Junction 48 from Israeli director Udi Aloni, that might help us to give a bit more context to these beautiful and deep sounds.

By Mattia