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Fucking hell, I feel like an absolute pile of shit.
My name is Gabriel Pryce.
I'm the head chef and
co-owner of Rita's in Hackney, on Mare Street.
My name is Missy Flynn, I am co-owner of Rita's.
I run the restaurant day to day and
I also run the drink side of things.
I didn't have any kind of formal
training, as it were.
I lived in America for
five years, I went to film school, so
I was living there with a student visa,
which obviously didn't allow me to
get a proper job.
I didn't do anything illegal or anything, but
I just hung out in some kitchens with some guys.
It's fine.
But the food that I do is completely influenced
by my time in the States.
We call it modern American comfort food,
cuz everyone needs a tagline, but
it's a bit American,
bit European, all great British produce.
Really good suppliers and we do fried chicken.
It's everyone talks about all the time.
It's really good.
I work mostly in a Mexican bars and
restaurants.
What I wanted to bring today is that really fun.
Accessible cocktail menu.
It kind of mirrors what the kitchen does in terms
of seasonality.
Muslim Agave spirits are like tequilas and mescals
and I think that is the vibe of Reuters is like,
fun, interesting, party drinks.
Missing from this trio is Deano,
who is head honcho of big boss man.
Poppa.
Poppa.
It was kind of Deano's idea.
He was involved in birthdays,
the bar in Dalston.
We turned the old toilets behind the bar
into a kitchen for two grand, which was insane.
Originally it was supposed to just be for
a month to just look after the kitchen,
it was a pop up.
And then we left for a year.
It's just standing behind a bar in Boston
throwing fried chicken at drunk kids, which was-
It was really fun.
Loads of fun.
When we first opened, it was really rough.
It was like all out at the counter.
You'd just get like cutlery in the middle of
the table, and then I think people like
wanted it to be more of a restaurant, so
one day we just started setting the table.
The next day you've got water glasses on
the table now and now it's table service.
And it just kind of evolved.
And I think people wanted it to be like that.
And it just made sense to take out there and
do it completely.
We wanted someone's name so
it feels like someone's place.
You're going over there to thing's house.
Somebody suggested calling it Maggie's.
I said, I'm not calling Maggie's.
And then Missy said Rita's.
I'm, like, Yeah, Rita's.
And she just sounds like a nice broad.
Yes.
I haven't been out to eat anywhere for awhile.
So three or
four in one night is going to be pretty good.
I'm just going to prep up what we're going to eat
when we come back so
that I don't have to do too much.
I'm gonna prep some lamb shoulders.
They're gonna get braised all day and
all evening while we're out.
Then when we come back to them later all the meat's
just gonna come straight off the bone.
So that's that.
What's up, dude?
What's going on.
How are you?
I'm good, I'm good, it's Deano.
What we have in there? A with spice,
it's based on lime and spices and
everyone's favorite hot sauce.
She looks like she's been
making Cholula for a while.
Actually she's quite cute,
I'm coming for you Cholula.
Here you go, it's not a particularly attractive
drink is it?
I think it looks gorgeous.
This is our favorite drink it's called a poop
in the.
Cheers.
Cheers.
All right I'm done, you done?
Laura. Sick! Delux!
Some as well.
German whip.
Or with the blue leather.
I like this look.
Best school trip ever.
We got on the bus, headed over to Mangal.
It's been there about 25 years I think.
There's a lot of fantastic Turkish food
around here but, as far as we're concerned,
that's where it's at.
Fish mango First Ocakbasi Restaurant
in London, where you sit and
dine next to the grill and a open fire.
The guys yesterday were amazing.
Yes. The way they
look after you is the best here.
It's not transactional,
it's like you're in their space.
We don't see as a restaurant,
we see as our home, and you are my guests.
This guy, basically, is my dad.
He's here nearly 24 years.
But his English is not that good because he had
no time to go to school instead of cooking,
basically.
He was cooking too much.
So I think now, we're going to keep him for
next 10, 15 years ultimately.
So another one of these effers, classic,
nice Turkish deliciousness.
I'm so stoked for this.
I mean it's an honor to be taken care of that
well at Mango One, but to be given a Mango One
t-shirt is next level hospitality.
Simply the best.
Simply the best.
We cook everything on the grill.
Red peppers and
tomatoes, a little bit of salt, red pepper powder.
Chop it in very fine.
A bit of yogurt.
Melt butter.
Let's see what chef's got to say.
The that he did for us at the start.
That super smokey grilled aubergine with yogurt and
that fresh tomato salad.
Yeah. It's so good.
I had a feeling when we got that,
was gonna do a lot for us.
But I didn't think it was gonna be that much.
I mean, I've seen a mixed grill before, but
this makes the mixed grill that I want
is a pretty intense tower of meat.
Fucking hell.
Amazing taste of cooked over charcoal.
Anything cooked over charcoal,
it’s just delicious.
All the bread that soaks up all that nice.
It’s probably the best bit.
Better than the steak, better than the meat.
The juices. I think I'm gonna be more
hungover with meat than I am with booze tonight.
Pretty Sizable dent in it
though.
Thank you.
Have a good night.
Thank you.
Come see us on Street yeah?
Thanks very much.
Take care.
Ladies first.
We got back on the wagon and
headed over to Hill & Szrok.
It looks like a museum.
A museum of meat.
It's a really beautiful spot.
They do something that other people don't do,
to have a dedicated,
really high quality butcher shop.
Do a really high end product really well, and
then at the end of the day of working at
a butcher shop they turn around and they say,
this is how proud we are of our product.
We cook it and we sell it.
You can eat it here.
Come and have it.
Such a nice dinner setup as well.
Yes. Like,
so cute and Yeah,
it smells like wine.
I'll have a bottle, thanks.
We sat down to have the biggest steak I've ever
had in my life, ever.
100% ever. It's the biggest
thing I've ever seen.
All my days.
So that's it raw.
It's a little bit rare for me, though.
That's huge.
How do you like your steak?
Rare? Rare.
Rare? Rare is good for me.
Rare, rare.
Perfect.
All aboard, salt and pepper.
Butchers in the day, but
our passion do the whole carcasses, so
we have the whole animal, all the awful skin and
everything so we real roots level,
make called scratching between pate forms,
no wastage, everything is free range, grass fed.
It's a lovely quality stock,
very happy animals.
As many of the ingredients as possible
veg wise are English.
Some quality in house rules to keep
the menu nice and simple and
just try to adjust in the kitchen.
What the fuck?
It's a little mid evening snack.
Fucking A.
It tasted like butter made of meat.
So good.
I thought the whole thing was banging.
Like butter.
This is insane, Luka, this is unbelievable
Thank you so much.
This is just too much.
My old flat mates turned up there to try and
have a quiet dinner by themselves but
we decided to hijack it.
Take him with us.
Linda.
Linda, put it together.
We're going to Sober.
What we're doing now is pulling
ourselves together.
Handling our shit.
I'm not putting cigarettes
backward in my mouth.
I can't wait to go somewhere where you can
drink alcohol and eat some food.
Are you ready?
Am I right?
Am I right is what I meant.
Right?
Are you right?
You are right.
Are you right?
We are all right.
We are all right.
We've had nothing to drink or eat,
I assure you.
Well, come in.
Emma's my girl.
Emma is somebody I've got
to know just by being like hey, we
just opened a restaurant in East London.
I wanna meet you, I need some help.
Hang out with me please.
She's somebody I lean on a lot for
like, just advice.
And she's super fun as well.
Tonkoysu's a ramen bar,
specializing in Tonkoysu is a pork based ramen
with amazing house made noodles.
I don't know if you saw the noodle machine in
the back.
But after all that meat last night.
We thought we'd just go ahead and
get some snacks.
We have some croquettes and.
They're amazing, so they're like
a traditional croquettes, I guess.
But we like loads of crabmeat so
we have brown meat and
white meat and really crispy on the outside and
serve it a lovely sauce.
And then we add some drinks,
Japanese Bloody Mary.
And put duck sauce in, some soy sauce,
little bit of the pepper, I felt slightly drunk
when I left here, pretty drunk when we left
warmed up when we got to bloody Mary helped.
The next one Did not help.
Yeah, maybe feel some type of way.
This is the sake bomb.
The idea is now that and
then you wanna have
a little tap on the table.
The marksman who turned up,
so somehow it's done well with him.
We've got just people that we really respect
and admire to watch us smash a bunch of glasses.
And so we grabbed everyone else,
brought them on the giant white spaceship van with
blue strip lighting.
I feel like I'm in quasar Headed over to the other
way and our favorite perfect dive bar.
Went in and watched the Riddles play
The Riddles are a band fronted by Jimmy.
I don't know his last name because his last
name is always whatever the band he's in.
So he's currently called Jimmy Riddle.
I stood around doing that for a bit.
But I felt a bit sick.
I didn't have as much hair as everyone else.
So, I can't really head bang.
Yeah!
To Rita's.
Hair out.
Who's trying to be a hipster chef now?
Where's your tattoos bro?
Where's your tattoos bro?
Pick them up.
Threw them on the super bus and
headed over here for me to cook some food.
I was feeling a little bit ropy, but
I have a little bit of a thing,
when I walk into the kitchen,
I just kind of sober up a little bit.
This is all delicious, do you know about delicious?
This is delicious.
So this is the lamb that we put in today.
Early in the with all this delicious oregano,
nice Chipotle chilis.
Lamb's on.
There's a lot of sugars in there.
We've got the agave, we've got a little
sweet from the raisins and everything.
Just wanna caramelize some of those
sugars I've been braising with pineapple juice and
everything.
I feel like right now.
She never did this.
She never did this!
And then this, this is the beauty.
This is the wild guy so it's an emulsion made
with a house made mayonnaise,
also black pepper, wild garlic, and a finishing.
Fuck it smells so good.
Alright, this is delicious.
Who's hungry?
Come and get something.
Let me put these on the plate for the big dog.
Big dog's getting a plate.
Big dog.
The ethos behind what we do is to put ourselves on
a plate, and in a glass, and in a fun place, and
not be too fancy or over the top,
and just be a nice neighborhood restaurant,
somewhere where people in the neighborhood wanna
come and hang out.
That's it.
That's great.
I'm going to get some chips.
Are you actually getting chips?
Yes.
Do you want some?
No.