Vegetarian burger concept Pure Filth to launch permanent site early next year
The duo say they have found a location in the capital - yet to be revealed - for the first bricks and mortar site of their new food concept. The pair are also close to lining up two more London locations, but are yet to sign on them.
Pure Filth is described as offering ‘healthy food to hedonists’ and was devised to tackle the issues of unsustainable global meat consumption, says chef and TV presenter Erskine.
“We wanted to come up with something vegetarian and nutritious that feels as opulent as having a beef burger. It is ‘dirty’ as a concept but the food is actually good for you.
“We are not saying the burgers aren’t fatty because they come with cheese but they have lots of micronutrients and have been cleverly built,” adds Erskine, who says they were more than a year in development.
“We didn’t want to go down the route of the Impossible burger, which uses meat substitutes, but instead wanted to come up with something more nutritious.”
The brand makes its first public outing later this month with a pop-up at London’s Tate Modern over three weekends (25-26 November; 2-3 December; and 9-10 December) where it will serve food from breakfast through to dinner.
Dishes will include breakfast offerings such as veggie sausage and egg on a carrot muffin with a house cheese slice, spinach and ketchup; a fudgy beetroot chocolate bran muffin; and a choice of red, green or black shakshuka.
Pure Filth will also serve a ‘umami rich’ signature Pure Filth burger made from black beans, black lentils, black quinoa and umami paste and also a vegetarian version of a Big Mac that comes served in a carrot bun and has a lacto-fermented burger sauce “that tastes exactly like Big Mac sauce,” says Erskine.
The burger contains at least three of the recently recommended 10 vegetables a day.
Sides include sweet potato fries, fried in peanut oil, with seaweed miso dust; greens with lemon, parmesan and almonds; and radicchio with radish, spring onion and mint. Dessert is an apple pie made with maca, spelt, coconut oil and coconut sugar.
The pop-up will serve meals, including a Pure Filth Happy Meal for £20 and a Brunch Muffin Meal for £15, with a salad, sides and a drink. A burger is expected to sell for around £9 at the permanent restaurant.
Erskine says she hopes Pure Filth could eventually rival some of the high street burger chains and that it takes a similar - albeit meat-free - approach to Chik’n, the ethical fried chicken chain that is currently being rolled out by Carl Clarke and David Wolanski.
“I’d like to see it competing with brands like Five Guys. From the Tate pop up we hope we can start an ethical vegetarian burger chain that will become a norm on the high street.”
Pure Filth’s menu for the Tate pop-up is vegetarian rather than vegan but Erskine says her and Ferguson are working on creating vegan alternatives to the cheese and aioli found in the burgers (although they can be ordered without).They believe they may be able to launch a fully vegan burger at the permanent site.
“The biggest trend last year was veganism, and next year it will be an even bigger trend," says Erskine. "When you look at what’s happening all over the world, vegetarianism and veganism are getting bigger and bigger.
“The reality is we all have to think about eating less meat.”
