This November, Stevie Parle and Tom Dixon will bring their critically-acclaimed hub of food, plants and fun - JOY - as a pop-up restaurant to Sotheby’s New Bond Street for a special five-day dining experience from 18-22 November. To celebrate the company’s Modern British Art Week, chef Stevie and long-time collaborator British designer Tom Dixon OBE will immerse JOY in a gamut of artworks by the giants of modern British art, from Henry Moore to Howard Hodgkin and Bridget Riley, which will later be offered through a series of dedicated auctions during Sotheby’s Modern British Art Week (18-24 November 2021).
“Modern British is something both me and Stevie can buy into,” says Tom Dixon. “It exists in contemporary design and food culture right now, so there’s a hook that’s fairly obvious. And with Sotheby’s promoting what is rare, or unique, we find in foodstuffs and design.”
“I think what we do sits really well in the British modern sensibility”, agrees Stevie. “But I think the point of what we’re doing is the same as always really, we just want to create amazing experiences for people, lift people up, have some fun and maybe give Sotheby's a bit of a jolt!”
Speaking to the collaboration, Frances Christie - Sotheby’s Deputy Chairman, UK & Ireland - said: “Stevie Parle and Tom Dixon’s JOY pop-up encapsulates the fun that comes from bringing together so many different elements of British creativity – and what better pairing for their next unique experience than works by some of the best British artists working over the last century. There is something magical about dining surrounded by paintings and sculptures, and we are so excited to offer this opportunity to food and art lovers across London.”
The JOY pop-up will serve a concise à la carte breakfast and lunch menu, as well as host five intimate supper clubs in the evenings, cooked by Stevie. Staying true to JOY’s ethos, the dishes will comprise ultra-seasonal and rarely found ingredients, such as: mushrooms from the woods in Stevie’s garden; giant wild sea bass from small, Kentish fishing boats which moor in Margate; huge Langoustine caught with traditional creels from pristine Scottish waters; and chopped raw beef from Duncan Anderson in Kent, seasoned with Stevie’s home-pickled elderberries and beach-combed seaweed.
Speaking to the menu, Stevie said: “It’s a really incredible time of year to be cooking some special meals. I want to make the most perfect risotto with a deep delicious chicken broth, finish it with yellow Kentish jersey butter and three year old parmesan, and cover it with white truffles brought directly from the nose of Fellipe - the Lagotto Romangolo truffle dog in Umbria - to Sotheby’s.
I’ll be baking almost extinct apple varieties, and huge fragrant quince from the national fruit collections at Brogdale. Probably into a pie or a galette. I’ve recently found a new egg farmer and his eggs somehow taste even better than my own chickens’ and they warrant a delicious nutmeg custard tart with some prunes soaked in Julian Timperly’s 10 year old cider brandy”.
The lunch menu will include dishes such as: Finely chopped belted Galloway beef, pickled elderberries, cured egg yolk and crisp bread (£12); Smoked eel, beetroot and horseradish (£12); Ribollita and just-pressed Tuscan olive oil (£9); Wild Margate sea bass steamed with cep, thyme and Nyetimber (£32).
Supper club menus include dishes such as: Creel caught large Scottish langoustine roasted with butter and seaweed; Risotto bianco with 5g white truffles*; Venison loin roasted with bacon, chestnuts, sage and barbera and Nutmeg custard tart, prune d’agen soaked in Somerset cider brandy and the four course menus are priced at £95 pp.
Styled by Tom Dixon, the immersive restaurant will feature the designer’s unique pieces, which will be available for sale via Sotheby’s concurrently. Diners will be seated on Tom’s sculptural ‘HYDRO Chairs’, a 100% recyclable product created in collaboration with the world’s largest aluminium producers, Hydro, launched earlier this year. Tom’s simple, sleek ‘Tube Tables’ will also feature, each topped with a rare, oriental marble named Primavera. In an alternating bright green colour, which is ground with white inlays and thin black veining, every tabletop is completely unique. Illuminating the space will be Tom’s light sculptures, CODE, produced together with Austrian architectural lighting specialists Prolicht. JOY will be completed with a sea of luscious, rare specimen plants and sought-after vintage Willy Guhl planters from the restaurant.
- BOOKINGS ARE NOW OPEN. TO MAKE A RESERVATION, CLICK HERE -
