Latest opening: Sune
What: A small neighbourhood restaurant in Hackney that takes its name from the Old Nordic word for son. On buzzy Broadway Market, Sune (pronounced like sooner) offers a creative modern European menu alongside a 100-bin natural wine list. Currently open Wednesday and Thursday evenings and all day Friday and Saturday (opening hours are likely to be extended soon), the 36-cover venture offers à la carte alongside a set menu and will soon introduce a brunch menu.
Who: Sune is the debut solo restaurant project for high-profile sommelier Honey Spencer and her partner Charlie Sims, whose CV includes senior FOH roles at Copenhagen’s Noma and London’s Mãos. Spencer - whose CV includes Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen, Sager+Wilde, Nuala and Noma’s Mexico pop-up - will continue in her role as wine director for The Palomar and Evelyn’s Table operator Studio PASKIN for the time being and is also set to oversee the list at July, an upcoming Fitzrovia restaurant and wine bar that takes its culinary inspiration from Alsace. The kitchen at Sune is being led by chef Michael Robins, who previously spent two years as head chef at Hackney restaurant Pidgin. Having recently returned from his homeland of Canada, Robins has also cooked at Acme Fire Cult and Akoko.
The vibe: Most recently Japanese restaurant Mio Yatai, Sune is an attractive but low-key space with floor-to-ceiling windows that look out over Broadway Market to the front and Regent’s Canal to the rear (there is also a terrace that will seat 20 in the warmer months). Design features include reclaimed timber floors and table tops and an open kitchen pass.
The food: Sune’s tight, regularly-changing menu isn’t a million miles away from like-minded East London restaurants such as Brawn, Westerns Laundry and Primeur (which Spencer and Sims rate highly) but is less Eurocentric in its approach with Sydney’s laid back yet gastronomically ambitious neighbourhood restaurant scene apparently a big influence. Dishes include smoked eel Caesar salad; grilled pork chop with prawn and lemongrass sauce; egg chips and anchovy; and a dairy beef tartare that is paired with a Rockefeller toastie. Given the calibre of who is involved things are pretty affordable, with smaller plates in general ranging from £8 to £15 and generous larger plates costing between £20 and £29.
To drink: Spencer’s wine list is said to ‘champion wines which are bold and full of natural vigour’. While the list is exclusively natural, the focus is on the cleaner, less cider-y end of things. Entry level prices are surprisingly accessible, with white and red still wines starting at £29 a bottle (both are made by Spanish producer Finca Venta Don Quijote).
And another thing: Restaurants led by two high profile front-of-house people don’t come along that often. Acknowledging this, the pair say that the focus on who’s cooking in the kitchen sometimes ‘leaves a restaurant’s hospitality overlooked’. This is a fair point, especially given that most diners put great service ahead of great food. “The most fundamental quality of a neighbourhood restaurant is that it’s somewhere you want to always go back to and feel like it’s yours,” says Sims.
A full interview with Honey Spencer and Charlie Sims will be published later this week
129A Pritchard’s Road, London E2 9AP
www.sune.restaurant
