“Set to become this year’s hottest set of tables, 33 & One Third is about to open its doors in east London.
Based in a perfectly preserved Victorian pie and mash shop in one of Hackney’s edgiest and most bohemian quarters, nestled between a tattoo parlour and one of London’s oldest pole dancing clubs, 33 & One Third is breathing new life into one of the few authentic market thoroughfares left in the east end. It follows hot on the heels of the opening of boutiques by some of British fashion’s most cutting-edge labels, including Ben Sherman, Henry Holland and Jack Wills.
By day, the space will be an informal café, serving classics-with-twists: chorizo and chip butties and fantastical day-glo fairy cakes. 33 & One Third boasts the only under-10s coffee menu in London, from babyccinos to little-un lattes. By night, the space will transform into the area’s hottest destination dining room… get ready to form an orderly queue and wait your turn for the hippest strictly-no-reservations place in town.
33 & One Third is a whole new concept in on-trend dining, a 12 inch megamix of the speakeasy, the dive bar, the old school market caff and the school canteen. Diners are invited to bring their own vinyl to supper, with a variety of one-off theme nights planned, including Giorgio Moroder’s Movies, post-Mingus Joni Mitchell, David Bowie’s B-Sides and Viva New Wave French Pop. Les Rita Mitsouko lives!
A three-year-only pop-up, 33 & One Third will specialise in retro carbs and speciality cavas. The nostalgia-tinged small-bites list includes Mini Mother’s Pride croque-monsieurs and Alphabites with aioli. At the heart of the menu sits the risotto and French fries list, 20 slightly different kinds of risotto and French fries, all served on willow pattern saucers. Prices range from £7 to £18 per portion. Servers suggest five plates “if you’re peckish” and eight for a full dinner. From simple carnaroli with petits pois, and chips with gourmet ketchup, to a Milanese with Marsala, and sautéed truffled Jersey Royal fingers, 33 & One Third is a carb-loaders paradise. Get over that glycemic index and chow on down.
Echoing its name, the restaurant will serve 33 varieties of cava. Several will be available by the glass, including the on-draft Casa Ladron (£9.50 for a 100ml flute). Tasting flights will be available. Bottles start at £35, carafes (400ml) from £30.
33 & One Third will be the only restaurant in London to serve artisanal popcorn. The eight-course Showtime tasting menu (£38) incorporates the most innovative varieties – from trad butter and salted to miso and beetroot with goat’s curd.
Puddings include blancmange, Angel’s Delight and a range of gelatos and Ice Magics. There’s also the opportunity to put the finishing touches to your own Bird’s Trifle: Dream Topping and hundreds and thousands come served on the side.
Mixologist Hawley Crippen – of legendary Lower East Side NYC bar Clown Porn – has engineered a cocktail list that mixes vintage classics with offbeat surprises. Get ready for Very Dirty Martinis and the Jersey Shoreditch; it’ll blow your Breton stripes off.
The interior and art direction of 33 & One Third is by Peckham-based architectural designers FAD, using entirely found materials, from vintage sewing stools sourced from an old factory in Salford, to mismatched floral ceramics from hospice fetes and car boot sales in Essex. Diners will sit at the chef’s counter or at trestle tables adorned with Union Flag table cloths. Matching bunting has been commissioned from Monkey Face Mavericks, also responsible for the staff’s uniforms, described by the designers as “American Civil War meets Festival of Britain”.
The restaurant opens with an exhibition of Instagram shots of the 33 & One Third team’s tattoos.
True to spirit of its speakeasy roots, 33 & One Third will have no website or contact number and its address is not for publication.”
33 & One Third was invented by the Civilian team during a very jolly dinner at Changa in Istanbul last summer. We will be adding a chef’s table with a 15 course tasting menu and a 14 month wait for a wonky stool in the coming months