Earthy respite

The Hart, Logma Café Bistro, Dory’s Margate, books gift guide, Holland Park properties, Treehouse Hotel Manchester, MORE

Dec 17, 2025

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FOUND GIFT GUIDE • The Nines

Food books

The Nines are FOUND’s distilled lists of the best in London and further afield. Additions or subtractions? Hit reply or found@foundldn.com.

BiBi The Cookbook: Stories from my Bibi (Chet Sharma), coffee-table cookbook feat. star dishes from the Mayfair Indian restaurant, plus well-written stories from chef Sharma
All Consuming: Why We Eat the Way We Eat Now (Ruby Tandoh), fascinating, in-depth essays on global food culture & history, from TikTok trends to bubble tea
Kapusta: Vegetable-Forward Recipes from Eastern Europe (Alissa Timoshkina), colourful, seasonal recipes centred around 5 key vegetables: cabbage, beetroot, potato, carrot and mushrooms
Tart: Misadventures of an Anonymous Chef (Slutty Cheff), chaotic, highly readable memoir from a young female cook in London
Strong Roots: A Ukrainian Family Story of War, Exile and Hope (Olia Hercules), moving memoir from London’s beloved Ukrainian cookbook author
I Regret Almost Everything (Keith McNally), warts-and-all memoir from the British restaurateur behind New York restaurants incl. Balthazar
Between Two Waters: Heritage, landscape and the modern cook (Pam Brunton), brilliantly written exploration of Scottish food culture w/ stories from Brunton’s time at Loch Fyne restaurant in Inver
Padella: Iconic Pasta at Home (Tim Siadatan), pasta dishes from the popular restaurant group, incl. iconic pici cacio e pepe
Around the Table: 52 Essays on Food & Life (Diana Henry), no recipes, just delicious wisdom and stories, each short enough to dip into

Want more cookbooks? Check out FOUND NY’s roundup.

WORK • Wednesday Routine

Natural evolution

JESS BLACKSTONE & MAT APPLETON • co-founders • Fink’s
Neighbourhood you work in: Stoke Newington, Highbury & Finsbury Park
Neighbourhood you live in: Finsbury Park (Jess), Archway (Mat)

It’s Wednesday morning. What’s the scene at your workplace?
Jess: Mat and I opened Fink’s in a derelict shop in 2014, and since then we’ve grown to five sites and opened an in-house bakery and our sister restaurant, Saltine (whose last service will be Sunday, 21 December after two beautiful years).

I live next door to our original Fink’s, so I start with a coffee there, then pop down to the kitchen to chat with the chefs. This morning I went to the bakery (just down the road) to try a new bun we’re developing. Chatting to the bakers who’ve been in since 4a makes me feel like a slacker. Then I walk through the park to Fink’s at Clissold House, our newest and biggest baby. Within moments, I’m trying a new dressing and tackling questions about pension schemes and tripped circuits.

After years of working behind the counter and in the kitchen, we now have an office on the top floor of Clissold House, a beautiful Georgian manor house. Our amazing, elegant room has huge shuttered windows looking out over the park – it’s all trees and sky. I can hear the wind, squawking parakeets and a few voices chatting – it’s bucolic.

What’s on the agenda for today?
Jess: Wednesday is our big meeting day, so everyone’s in. Chefs, bakers, head barista – it’s livelier than the rest of the week. Today I’m working on a new salad, and trying to get an errant signwriter to come back and fix a wayfinding sign pointing in the wrong direction. We’re already outgrowing our new in-house bakery, so most days there’s discussion between me and Mat about its evolution.

Any restaurant plans today, tonight, this weekend?
Jess: This weekend, I’m going to Legado because Marina O’Loughlin said to, and I do everything she says.
Mat: I celebrated a family birthday at The Newt in Somerset. They do a great set lunch for £50, and you can spend hours walking around the grounds and gardens. In London, I’m itching to get to The French House again. I crave a boozy lunch there once the nights draw in.

How about a little leisure or culture?
Jess: I’m hoping to get to the Studio Nicholson sample sale, does that count as a sporting event? I loved Jenny Saville at the National Portrait Gallery and I’m looking forward to Catherine Opie’s show there too.

Any weekend getaways?
Mat: I grew up in Somerset, so I go back as often as I can. It’s become more bougie since I moved to London, and places like Bruton and Frome have a DFL (Down From London) vibe. There’s still plenty of old Somerset charm off the beaten track if you’re willing to go a bit further from Castle Cary station, though. Pubs like The Lord Poulett are worth the effort.
Jess: It’s embarrassing as a lifelong Londoner, but I’ve only really discovered Paris in the last few years. Before opening the bakery, I made a patisserie-based walking tour and took the team on a recce, which was a great way to see Paris. I was there more recently with my girlfriend for a weekend too. It was the Fête de la Musique, where people play music outside, which is the most French thing I can imagine. Groups of Parisians were literally singing aux Champs-Élysées in the street, as if we were in a really naff film.

It’s worth queueing for the famous Chez Alain Miam Miam sandwich, though probably more for the fun of it than the actual sandwich. For a classic, casual bistro with really good cooking, go to Chez Nenesse. Café Le Deux Gares, right by the stations (a last pitstop before you head home) has an excellent set lunch menu, and not an English voice to be heard. My favourite bar is Le Sully – cheap, full of old men who look like they’re discussing Sartre (although they could be talking about their verrucas, my French isn’t good), and the right blend of welcoming and anonymous. We once ended the night with the Fink’s team at a bar covered in pictures of the Pope, but I couldn’t tell you where it was...

What was your last great holiday?
Jess: Lanzarote. I couldn’t believe how wild and beautiful most of the island is, given its reputation. It’s volcanic so the whole place looks like Mars, and it’s peppered with these slightly Bond-villainy clifftop viewpoints where you can sip a cocktail observing the wild, volcanic landscape. For elegant luxury, stay at Hotel César, a whitewashed fisherman’s cottage in the tiny village of Playa Quemada, right on the edge of the water with huge volcanic hills behind. There’s also La Casa de los Naranjos in a slightly dusty but very chic colonial house in a quiet town in the north. Buena Vista Suites are beautiful contemporary houses set in the middle of a volcanic vineyard. Every morning, you’re greeted in your suite by two friendly labradors and an incredible breakfast on handmade ceramics.

What’s a recent big-ticket purchase you love?
Jess: I recently smashed a goose lamp that my dad had bought in the ‘70s. My family was relieved to be rid of it but I scoured the internet for a replacement and am once again the proud owner of an original 1970s Gladys the Goose.

What store or service do you always recommend?
Jess: Manufactum, a department store of the best of everything. Not the fanciest or the coolest – just the best. Best lamp, best sock, best potato peeler, best bed, best soap. The physical store in Berlin is amazing, but you can get it all online.

Where are you donating your time or money?
Jess: I support St Mungo’s homelessness charity, and a family in Gaza directly through a journalist friend.
Mat: At Fink’s, we regularly raise money for the Hackney Food Bank.

WORK & PLAY LINKS: Designs for new public square next to St. Paul’s Cathedral get greenlit • Startup Vertical Aerospace sets 2028 debut for flying taxis in London • Inside Columbia Road’s Ishkar, hub for Afghan crafts.

REAL ESTATE • First Mover

Three for-sale properties in Holland Park that recently came to market:

→ Holland Park (Holland Park) • 2BR/1BA/1R, 90 m2 flat • Asking price: £1.55mn • raised ground floor apt in detached stucco with communal garden access • Ownership type: leasehold • Agent: John D Wood.

→ Royal Crescent (Holland Park) • 3BR/3BA/3R, 184 m2 terraced house • Guide price: £3.2mn • refurbished Grade II listed with principal BR spanning 1st floor • Ownership type: freehold • Agent: Savills.

→ Somerset Sq (Holland Park, above) • 5BR/3BA/2R, 230 m2 terraced house • Asking price: £4.75mn • 4 floors with private garden and off-street parking • Ownership type: freehold • Agent: Strutt & Parker.

CULTURE & LEISURE • Gimme Gimme

Steeleye Span • Cadogan Hall (Kensington) • Fri @ 730p • centre gallery, £34 per
Spike and the Gimme Gimmes • O2 Forum (Kentish Town) • Sat @ 7p • downstairs standing, £46 per
Kids in Glass Houses • Dirt 15th Anniversary Tour • O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire (Shepherd’s Bush) • Thu @ 7p • stalls standing, £35 per

GETAWAYS • Manchester

Urban oasis

Downtown Manchester isn’t exactly a haven of nature, but the new Treehouse Hotel, opened in March, brings a sense of earthy respite. Its plant-filled lobby is surprisingly peaceful, just a step away from the busy shopping streets nearby. The rooms, which have views of the surrounding skyline, are quirky and whimsical, with patchwork bedspreads and reclaimed wood furnishings. It plays on Manchester’s down-to-earth appeal, with upscale touches like a well-stocked minibar and an impressively large gym.

The real draw is Pip, the lobby restaurant helmed by local chef Mary-Ellen McTague. A veteran of the city’s culinary scene, she matches flavour with sustainability, part of Treehouse Hotel’s general ethos. The menu emphasises local favourites, like an indulgent Lancashire hot pot and a gooey side of cauliflower cheese made with snappy Old Winchester. Weekends bring a Sunday roast, but the seasonally inspired dessert selection is always available, including the treacle tart, one of McTague’s signature sweets.

My stay was short and sweet, but long enough to persuade me to return for the urban tranquillity and great food on offer. –Emily Zemler

→ Treehouse Hotel Manchester (Manchester) • 14-15 Langham Place • king rooms from £299/wknd night.

GETAWAYS • Intel

SAIL AWAY: The owners of hit Margate seafood bar Dory’s are closing that restaurant in March and moving their neighbouring, sister spot Angela’s into the bigger space between the two. Dory’s fans will still be able to get hold of the popular raw, pickled and cured dishes in the new space. Follow for updates. –Laura Price

GETAWAYS LINKS: In Cornwall, Nathan Outlaw closing Outlaw’s New Road, plans new spot • Across six interconnected townhouses, new hotel Zetter Bloomsbury sets March 2026 opening… while The Newman Hotel in Fitzrovia will open in February • Air France opening posh new lounge at LHR.

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RESTAURANTS • First Word

Good neighbours

The Skinny: Public House Group has had a busy year. In April, it added The Fat Badger to its portfolio of London pubs, which includes The Hero and The Pelican. In October, it launched nomadic dining experience Bushcamp, powered by Cotswolds haunt The Bull. Simultaneously, the team unveiled its latest London venture, The Hart.