Brewer Street: The food start-ups doing big business in breweries

Eating most certainly is not cheating, says Nicky Clarke
Beer and buns: Billy Smokes does the food while Howling Hops do the drinks at Tank Bar
Nicky Clarke29 February 2016

Smelling like a brewery is no longer a bad thing, it seems, as London restaurateurs and foodie start-ups are gravitating towards breweries to house their latest and greatest ideas.

It can be cheaper than setting up permanent premises and is free from the ties of a stand-alone restaurant, therefore making ever-more business sense for the city’s most exciting entrepreneurs.

Case in point is new BBQ concept Billy Smokes, the permanent food resident at Howling Hops Brewery in Hackney Wick, launched by Will Griffith last year after his growing passion for cooking with smoke and fire became too big to ignore.

Having set up shop in the brewery’s Tank Bar, Will serves his signature BBQ fare using sustainable, British ingredients and authentic, Americana cooking techniques. Must-tries include the likes of kid goat kebab – marinated, skewered and grilled over charcoal and wood then served with lemon ‘slaw with yoghurt in a flatbread; the smoked beef brisket sandwich – seasoned and smoked over oak for at least 10 hours then served with house pickles and BBQ sauce; and hot-smoked sausage sandwich – homemade, spiced and hot-smoked then served with winter ‘slaw and more of that beautiful BBQ sauce.

Billy Smokes: Will Griffith serves up meat that's made to go with beer

Ahead of starting up, the former scientist took a road trip across Texas and South Carolina where he learnt an important lesson: Americans placed just as much emphasis on their beer as they did their BBQ.

Will says: “It seems obvious to say that BBQ and beer go well together, but when both are ‘on-song’ as they are in the US, it really is a thing of beauty. Breweries make great spaces, too. I love a cosy pub, but the inner geek in me loves to be surrounded by the real kit that makes the beer. The same goes for BBQ, too, in that the best places are those where you can see and smell the cooking taking place. That’s why Howling Hops Brewery is a great place for Billy Smokes. They have great beer that is made right in the place the customer drinks it.”

Mick's Garage: Middle Eastern dishes at Crate Brewery

Another place doing something similar is Crate Brewery, also in Hackney Wick, which launched a drinking and dining complex a stone’s throw from where the beer is made late last year. Called Mick’s Garage, Crate looked to outsource its foodie offering by bringing on board Josh Katz and Mattia Bianchi, the talented team behind Middle Eastern restaurant Berber & Q in Haggerston.

The best craft beer pubs in London

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The weekend-only concept, Shukshuk, is delivered via a neat takeaway hatch with signatures such as Middle Eastern ‘slaw with tahini, saffron potato salad, braised lentils, Swiss chard and burnt ends. Accompanied by hunks of pitta bread, cumin salt and harissa, the food concept is proving popular pre-party fodder for east London’s coolest kids ahead of late-night DJs and dancing.

It’s not only third parties looking to take up residencies at London’s best independent breweries, either. Brewer bosses themselves are realising that there’s another revenue stream to be enjoyed if they extend their business to food as well as drink. Take Camden’s Daughter, a stand-alone offshoot of nearby Camden Town Brewery, which opened in October last year as a ‘beer and snack bar’ on Kentish Town Road serving wraps, mezze, sandwiches and fried chicken alongside its usual raft of Camden beer (Hells Lager, Gentleman’s Wit, Ink Stout et al).

Similarly, others such as Alan Yau’s Duck + Rice in Soho and Galvin HOP in Spitalfields both make a thing of beer dispensed via gleaming in-house tanks thus replicate the look and feel of a brewery restaurant.

In a city saturated with venues serving craft beer, Londoners now want to get even more up-close and personal with the source of their brews. And preferably, to have a bite to eat while they’re doing so.

Follow Nicky Clarke on Twitter @fri_child

Follow Going Out on Facebook and on Twitter @ESgoingout

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