North African-influenced French bistro, Blanchette Brick Lane, has teamed up with East End neighbour and award-winning bar, Callooh Callay, for an exclusive cocktail pairing menu. Available for one week only from Monday 4th – Saturday 9th June, the bespoke menu will be served at Belle Époque-inspired Blanchette Brick Lane.
Named after the famous exclamation in Lewis Carroll’s classic nonsense poem ‘Jabberwocky’, iconic London cocktail bar Callooh Callay opened on Rivington Street, Shoreditch, in 2008, and is still recognised world over for its creative drinks menus and bar tender alumni. Blanchette Brick Lane, meanwhile, joined the Shoreditch community in 2016, owned by the three Alary brothers and fondly named after their mother. Both brands encompass the same ethos of serving good quality, inventive food and drink in a relaxed yet vibrant setting.
This ethos will be brought together by a special pairing menu, which will feature a selection of eight innovative cocktails developed by the Callooh Callay team to thoughtfully match eight dishes by Blanchette’s Chef Director, Tam Storrar. The suggested pairing for Blanchette’s signature Frogs legs with bois boudran (£6), for instance, will be the Blackcurrant Channing (£14), a refreshing mix of Blackcurrant eau de vie and wild blackberry liqueur topped with champagne. Meanwhile the Rosita (£11), a cocktail of mezcal, cherry juice, hibiscus, blood orange and lime juice, will draw upon the Northern African flavours in Storrar’s Merguez sausage roll with harissa mayonnaise (£6).
For diners looking for the full pairing experience, a tasting menu will be available for £65 consisting of five courses with matching drinks. The pairings have been selected from the wider menu to provide a perfect overview of Callooh Callay and Blanchette’s offering, from aperitif through to digestif. Roasted beetroots, marinated feta, hazelnut and honey filo pastry, for instance, will be served alongside the Aged Vieux Carre, a mix of Peated scotch, bourbon, sweet vermouth, cognac and Benedictine, whilst Duck breast with tarragon jus and pickled peach will be served with a Plum Blossom Fizz of whiskey, plum wine, rosa vermouth, lemon juice, egg white and soda. To finish, a Baked chocolate pot with salted caramel sauce will be paired with a nod to Blanchette’s French roots – a dessert wine of Pineau Des Charentes Vieux Blanc.
The full pairing and tasting menus will be available exclusively at Blanchette Brick Lane from 4th – 9th June, 17.30 – 23.00. Cocktail prices range from £9 – £12, with individual dishes priced between £6 and £15.50.
Blanchette Brick Lane is delighted to welcome Callooh Callay in this exploration of some of the very best of East London’s thriving food and drink scene.
