Just when it felt like Dalston couldn’t possibly fit another cool haunt along its lively streets, along came The Marquee Moon - another feather in the area’s bow of energetic restaurants and bars. The Marquee Moon is the latest brainchild of Stuart Glen and Eugene Wild, the team behind beloved east London club The Cause, who’ve joined forces with New Zealand chef Huri Rapana Neil, formerly of Portobello 177 and The Bull, to create a truly magical spot.
The Marquee Moon is housed in the site of The Marquis of Lansdowne, a historic boozer on Stoke Newington Road. The new owners gave the building a pretty extensive face lift, retaining many of the building's original features. The Marquee Moon is spread across two floors, with the dining room occupying the street-level space, sitting above an underground cocktail lounge, kitted out with sleek, Art Deco-inspired features.
Although a lot of air time is given to the menu, it wouldn’t be a Glen and Wild venue (who also run All My Friends in Hackney Wick, and The Greyhound in Peckham) if equal prominence wasn’t given to the music - a box-fresh sound system has been installed throughout the venue for a lineup of talented selectors to play esoteric hi-fi music into the wee hours.
In terms of food, expect British pub classics with innovative East Asian accents. Huri Rapana Neil’s menu ‘pays homage to the culture of Thai food in English boozers,’ with loud, bright flavours of Thailand, India and China meeting pub staples - as, for example, in the soda bread which is paired with a nori butter. The unmissable main event features Sai Ua sausage with kimchi gravy and mash, soy half chicken with scallion sauce, and dan dan noodles with a mysterious ‘moon juice’.
Dishes are designed to be shared, and the menu gets the party started with familiar starters with irresistible twists. Cured sea bream is served with miso milk and pickled fennel, alongside szechuan chicken drums, masala potato flatbread, and beef rendang pie.
For dessert, there’s a choice of rich pudding brulee and a negroni jelly sundae - a promising indication of the night to follow, and into the early morning…