Fink’s founders to open Saltine in Highbury

Mat Appleton and Jess Blackstone will launch modern neighbourhood restaurant Saltine in Highbury this October offering seasonal, contemporary cooking.

The duo have teamed up with head chef Phil Wood, previously of Spring and, most recently, St John Marylebone, who will create a menu of seasonal dishes led by provenance and sustainability, using whole animals from select farmers.

Open all day, it will offer a lighter lunch menu and a full restaurant menu in the evening as well as have a coffee, grab-and-go lunch and a small pastry selection available throughout the day. Sample dishes on the launch menu will include starters of cured bream with fennel seed saltine; little gem, cod cheeks and green goddess; and pumpkin scapece with hazelnuts and parmesan; and mains such as slow roast lamb with braised wax beans and green anise; pigeon, corn, miso butter, hazelnuts; and mackerel, spigarello and chickpeas.

The wine list will draw from Europe’s best small independent producers, with a strong, but not exclusive, steer towards low-intervention wines.

The venue will feature a more casual bar area at the front that leads back into a glass-roofed dining room.

Fink’s operates four cafes in north and east London.