On May 8, the London Brewers’ Alliance is performing the ultimate farm-to-fork feat by picking & delivering lavishly expensive hop shoots from Kent to the capital’s diners in just a few hours.
A HOST of London’s leading restaurants are rising to the London Brewers’ Alliance’s challenge to create dishes, almost on the spot, using the world’s most expensive vegetable – hop shoots.
Known to sell for nearly €1,000 per kilo[1] on the continent, the shoots are so expensive due to a labour-intensive picking process and extremely short growing season.
The initiative, called the London Hop Shoot Festival (@londonhop), provides the luxury delicacy – for free – to pubs, bars and restaurants and is designed to raise the profile of its member breweries and how delicious their beers can be when paired with food.
Venues that have signed up to the scheme include restaurants such as Fera at Claridges, Duck & Waffle, Gauthier, The Dairy, Alyn Williams at the Westbury, The Manor and Quality Chop House alongside a host of pubs & bars such as The Drapers Arms, The Bull in Highgate, The Florence in Herne Hill, The White Horse in Parson’s Green, Powder Keg Diplomacy, Temple Street Brewhouse in the City, The Bell in Walthamstow and The Hop & Berry in Islington.
Commenting on the initiative, London Brewers’ Alliance spokesperson Peter Haydon says: “Hop shoots give you not only the promise of something tasty to eat in the short term but the long-term prospect of the bine[2], from which they come, producing glorious hops to use in the making of beer.
“The idea is not only to showcase how delicious hop shoots are but to get restaurants thinking a little more about beer and its diverse potential as a food pairing and with nearly 80 breweries in Greater London alone, there are certainly plenty of brews to choose from.”
The initiative’s flying hop ambassador, beer & food expert Melissa Cole, adds: “Similar to asparagus in flavour, but with a slightly earthy element, hop shoots are delicious simply steamed & tossed in seasoned lemony butter; used like samphire in a delicate seafood risotto or you can even pickle them for use all year round.
“And there is a world of potential London-brewed beer matches for any hop shoot dish, whether it’s a light, lemony golden ale for the more simple preparations to intricate saisons and beyond to counterpoint more complex dishes.”
-ENDS-
Notes to editors
Social media account details:
Tw: @londonhop
FB: https://www.facebook.com/LondonHopShootFestival?fref=ts
IG: Londonhopshootfest High res photos will be downloadable from Flickr: londonhopshootfest
For further information please contact:
Melissa Cole on 07798 568400 or letmetellyouaboutbeer@gmail.com or Peter Haydon on 07973 465081 or aheadahat@gmail.com
[2]Bine is the correct spelling for the climbing plant of the hop
VENUES TAKING PART IN THE LONDON HOP SHOOT FESTIVAL
Central London | |
Fera at Claridges | Mayfair |
Alyn Williams | Mayfair |
Gauthier | Soho |
City & North | |
Duck & Waffle | City |
Quality Chop House | Clerkenwell |
Hop & Berry | Islington |
Drapers Arms | Islington |
The Bull | Highgate |
The Bohemia | Finchley |
Temple Street Brewhouse | City |
The Bell, Walthamstow | Walthamstow |
The Rosemary Branch | Islington |
The Smokehouse | Islington |
The Beehive | Tottenham |
South/South-West | |
The Manor | Clapham |
The Dairy | Clapham |
The White Horse | Parson’s Green |
Red Lion | Barnes |
The Candlemaker | Battersea |
The East Hill | Wandsworth |
The George & Dragon | Acton |
Smokehouse | Chiswick |
South/South-East | |
The Florence | Herne Hill |
The Royal Albert | New Cross |
East | |
The Prince Arthur | London Fields |
The Shacklewell Arms | Dalston |
Pub on the Park | London Fields |
The Approach Tavern | E2 |
The Adam and Eve | Homerton |
Melissa Cole – Beer writer, sommALEier & Certified Cicerone®
M: +44 7798 568400
W: www.letmetellyouaboutbeer.co.uk
Tw: @melissacole
Author of Let Me Tell You About Beer
Imbibe magazine Educator of the Year 2013