If secret pop-ups are revving up London’s dining scene, so are secret bars and speakeasies. They are only held two-three times a year.” We leave it at that. But you will have to come back to attend one of those. “In fact,” says a fellow diner, “the big thing these days are two-three-day pop-up camps, based on film themes.Įverything from the way the venue is designed to people in costumes to the food is around that theme. There is smoked scallops with vanilla and sweet corn, freekeh or green wheat (an ancient grain, newly fashionable) and cod with pesto, Argentinian beef with spaghetti and truffle oil and even cauliflower in a mole sauce.Įverything is lapped up by enthusiasts, many of whom go from pop-up to pop-up every weekend, looking for their next exotic high.

It’s the first time that I am sitting down to six courses of what can only be described as modern Argentinian. Argentinian food, in contrast, is rarer to come across. Mostly this means Peruvian, Peruvian-Japanese or ceviche bars sprinkled all over the city. South American cuisine has been trending in London for a while. The evening we go in, Peter and his partner Tim are playing hosts with an Argentinian chef cooking.

The owner of the flat, Peter (he introduces himself sans a last name) sets up the pop-ups as collaboratives with freelance chefs. Only those clued in on the city’s underground dining scene seem to be in the know - as yet.

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