Hong Kong's Black Sheep Restaurants to showcase two brands before UK launch

Its New Punjab Club and Ho Lee Fook brands will pop-up at London’s Carousel this July and August, each running for a week-long residency at the Fitzrovia restaurant space serving exclusive menus using produce from the British isles.

New Punjab Club is focused on the flavours of liberated post-colonial Pakistan and India with a hot clay tandoor at its core. Led by chef Palash Mitra, its cuisine draws on the history and nostalgia of Mitra’s childhood and him cooking alongside his mother and grandmother while growing up in eastern India of Bengal and Gujarat. Mitra worked at London restaurants The Cinnamon Club and Gymkhana before joining Black Sheep in Hong Kong.

New Punjab Club will take over the space at in Fitzrovia from 17 to 26 July serving a Punjabi menu of traditional regional dishes such as bhatti anda - tandoori cooked tamago eggs finished with Devon crab, peas and a dusting of lime; and sarson jingha (pictured above) using cardinal prawns, soft cheese and kasundi mustard made with tumeric, ginger and fresh chillies.

Two of the restaurants’ signature dishes will also appear on the menu - masalewali chaanp, a tandoor-prepared lamb chop servedalongside ember-roasted onion; and tandoori machli, a seasonal catch prepared with burnt leeks, a samphire ajika and house-made dill raita.

Ho Lee Fook will pop-up between 27 July and 5 August and will serve chef Hong Kong-born chef ArChan Chan’s Cantonese cuisine. Chan’s London menu will showcase signature dishes including steamed live razor clams, glass noodles, aged garlic and soy sauce, spring onion; and French toast with molten salted egg yolk, smoked maple syrup, toasted coconut finished with a coconut sorbet (pictured below).

Other dishes will include twists on Hong Kong staples including a charcoal-grilled Berkshire pork char siu with a honey and mustard glaze; lobster toast, traditionally served as prawn toast, with a red dragon mayonnaise and shaved cabbage; and a signature wagyu beef short rib with crispy potato, and a honey and pepper sauce.

Black Sheep Restaurants was founded in 2012 by Syed Asim Hussain and operates more than 35 different concepts across in Hong Kong. The group is planning to open a restaurant in London next year that it says might be inspired by either of the two concepts it is showcasing in the capital, or a completely new one.