Welcome back to The Slice!
The month of March means Pancake Day (we’re still stuffed from yesterday!), St Patrick’s Day and spring is on its way – but it’s also when International Women’s Day takes place. Celebrated across the globe, it marks the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. It also marks a call to action for accelerating women’s equality and equity.
Across London, there’s loads happening. It sees talks, events and parties take place on and around 8 March, like KERB’s All-Women Food Market. And there’s an extra special empanada raising money for Endometriosis Action Month.
We also give you the lowdown on Gordon Ramsay’s new restaurant opening – we’re talking a melt-in-your-mouth sushi selection and more.
Plus: Find out which cult favourite Indian restaurant is venturing into the world of breakfast for the first time.
Read on for a whole range of recommendations for March 8 and 9, handpicked as always by The Slice.
Welcome to the Slice
The Slice is your weekly guide to what’s happening in London, so if you’re looking for restaurant reviews, drinks deals or just a great new exhibition to visit on a rainy Saturday in the capital, we’ve got you covered.
Click here for this week’s edit of the best things to do in town.
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This week in London
If you’re looking for something to do this weekend, here are 11 of the best activities, dining, and drinking spots in the capital.
1. Try Borough Market’s Greek gem OMA
Oma was the word on the street in 2024, and I mean that literally – every time I walked through Borough Market, I’d overhear someone waxing lyrical about it. That hype has only intensified this year as Oma scooped a Michelin star, instantly becoming one of the capital’s most affordable spots with the accolade. And craving Greek food after a recent foodie trip to Crete, I knew there was only one place to go.
The concept is sharing plates, and there’s lots to fight over: sweet red pepper dip with soft Greek cheese and hazelnuts slathered onto pillowy bites of charred laffa bread; oxtail melted into orzo pasta and topped with a meat-filled shin bone; silky olive oil-laced desserts. But beyond elevated Mediterranean plates, OMA has nailed their laid back, relaxed style, inviting you to spend the afternoon enjoying everything: your meal, the wine, the sleek, slightly futuristic surroundings.
If you don’t manage to get a booking – and it will be tricky – Agora downstairs is the noisier, more casual option, with a focus on the grill and quick turn around times. Don’t be put off by the queue outside – order a plum margarita to your place in line and prepare for a knockout dinner.
Small plates from £10. 2-4 Bedale Street, Borough Market, SE1 9AL (above sister restaurant AGORA). Book here.
2. Eat at Chishuru, the West-African restaurant breaking barriers
Last year, Adejoké Bakare, the founder and head chef at Chishuru became the first Black woman in the UK to be awarded a Michelin-star. She has also won CODE Hospitality’s prestigious Woman of the Year and the best new chef award in the UK’s Top New Restaurant Awards. Adejoké grew up experimenting with foods for her family, and the experimentation carries through into Chishuru, with an ever-changing menu.
From the lunch menu, the staple Akara has had its latest update, made with either chicken & duck liver parfait, or mushroom parfait, hibiscus & timur pepper relish (take your pick). And the Sinasir is now being served with butternut squash taushe, pumpkin seeds, pickled & candied chillies. You can read our review of Chishuru, The Slice’s Pick for 2024, here.
Set lunch menu, £45pp. 3 Great Titchfield Street, Fitzrovia, W1W 8AX. Book here.
Looking for a women’s only kitchen?
We visited Darjeeling Express, which has the only all-female Indian kitchen in the world. Women who work there are given time off for period pain, fair pay, and they don’t take late tables so staff and guests can get home safely at night. And the restaurant has the royal seal of approval thanks to the King’s visit for Ramadan last week.
Look out for Metro’s interview with Asma Khan, who is using delicious food as a vehicle to liberate marginalised women and honour those who came before them.
3. Celebrate International Women’s Day 2025 in the capital
Firebird & Friends
Best for: fiery all-female cooking
On 8 March, Firebird’s Firebird & Friends series is going international. Join chic restaurant Firebird and chosen chef Savannah Hagendijk from Amsterdam’s Restaurant de Kas for an exclusive menu at the female-owned venue.
Expect Firebird’s signature smoky flavours, plus wine pairings from co-founder and head sommelier, Anna Dolgushina. Inventive dishes like the yakitori-style skewer of mussel and pumpkin with kumquat will grace the menu.
Tickets, £75pp. 8 March. Book here.
KERB All-Women Food Market
Best for: supporting women entrepreneurs
A fabulously curated all-women trader line-up is what you’ll find at KERB’s next market. Expect Japanese and Jamaican fusion by mother-daughter founded Banzai Kitchen (we bet you’ve never tried karaage chicken with fried plantain before). You can also expect aromatic dishes by chef Amani, inspired by her childhood in Iraq – and beef birria tacos by Erika from Banzai Kitchen.
KERB. 6 March, 11:30am-2:30pm. Fleet Place, Blackfriars. More info.
Mama Shelter’s Festival of Women Events
Best for: going IWD big
As Mama’s Festival of Women returns for a second year, there are tons of events to get excited about – it’s all happening. From self-empowering life drawing and stand-up comedy to live DJs and female-led supper clubs, women and girls are invited to take part in a series of celebrations. Tonight, listen to live music by Graziella – who will bring the sounds of funk, soul and R&B together – and friends. Or on 26 March try a cosy evening of reading, completely alcohol free.
Mama Shelter. Find out more here.
4. Eat at Gordon Ramsay’s new restaurant (the highest in Europe) Lucky Cat
Gordon Ramsay’s fourth and latest Lucky Cat opening on the 60th floor of 22 Bishopsgate (the tallest building in the City of London) is the highest restaurant in Europe. Your ears know this before you do, popping just in time for a good blasting when you enter the restaurant. (In fairness, the DJ turned down the volume at our request.) The panoramic view of London, and the restaurant itself is achingly stylish with an exciting, nightclub-style buzz about it.
With so many dishes on offer, largely Asian-inspired and designed to be shared, it’s a savvy move to choose one of the ‘Taste of Lucky Cat’ menus. We opted for the ‘Signature’ (£125pp), which gives you a comprehensive tour of some of the chef’s key dishes. Standouts from our menu were the melt-in-mouth sushi selection (that tuna sashimi!), hand dived scallops, and super-tender Chilean seabass, all washed down with a savoury nori martini and a herbal bottle of Chinon. You could also get a whole suckling pig via the ‘Feast’ menu (£185pp), or watch the sushi chef do his thing at the open sushi bar. This Lucky Cat is tons of fun.
‘Taste of Lucky Cat’ menus from £75pp. Floor 60, 22 Bishopsgate, EC2N 4AJ. Book here.
5. Kricket is launching breakfast
Cult fave restaurant Kricket is launching Kafé – a cafe/bar in Shoreditch. And they do breakfast! Think Kedgeree featuring Andhra-spiced rice and lentils and fried eggs with tomato chutney. Book here.
6. Try Lina Stores mimosa cake and support women survivors of war
This March, Lina Stores is serving up slices of their delicious mimosa cake at their Brewer Street, Marylebone and King’s Cross delis (£4.50 per slice), with £1 from each going towards supporting women survivors of war. But that’s not all: On 8 March, Lina Stores will gift mimosa flowers to women who visit any Lina Stores branch.
7. Try Kêu‘s new branch in Borough
Kêu has just opened a new branch in Borough, complete with viewing window to get a peep of the hand-pulled noodle process. It’s going to be a real experience! Find out more here.
8. Try an extra special empanada, raising awareness for Endometriosis Action Month
This empanada is a little special. Partnering with the Vagina Museum, De Nada has created the Vulvanada, featuring peaches caramelised in ginger and cinnamon. It aims to raise awareness of Endometriosis Action Month, to help people better understand the condition.
Available 6-31 March, £3.75 (£2 from every sale goes to The Vagina Museum).
9. Experience the London Underground like never before
You’ve been on the Tube before, but not like this… Explore engineering and the London Underground with the London Transport Museum. You’ll see a birds-eye-view of driving the Tube, experience hopping into the driver’s seat of their Elizabeth line train simulator and plenty more.
10. Explore a Caribbean living room
A new exhibition honouring the contributions of the Windrush Generation transports you to a Caribbean living room in the middle of the 20th century in London. The FREE exhibition also features a reading from the best-selling novel ‘Twenty-Eight Pounds Ten Shillings, A Windrush Story’ by Tony Fairweather.
The Visitors’ Book Café at Woolwich Works. Until 16 March.
11. See Much Ado About Nothing
Hotshot director Jamie Lloyd is back on form with his latest Shakespeare take – a high-camp production of Much Ado (aka the Bard’s greatest rom-com) full of flamboyant disco-flavoured costuming and hip-thrusting, bum-shaking dance routines, starring the A-list duo of Tom Hiddleston and Hayley Atwell.
As Benedick, Hiddleston is joyfully self-regarding, riffing off his Hollywood heart-throb status and flirting with the audience – as well as unbuttoning his shirt to reveal his abs at one point. Meanwhile, Atwell matches his stage presence with a delightfully spiky performance that also locates the vulnerability beneath her character’s bravado. Then when they finally kiss, after so much badinage, their chemistry fizzes.
The impact is sometimes lacking, but come the party-on-down finale, which sees the audience on its feet while Mason Alexander Park performs 00s floor-filler When Love Takes Over, it’s impossible not to be swept away by the giddy euphoria of it all.
Limited tickets from £59.50. Until 5 April. Theatre Royal Drury Lane. Book here.
The Slice’s tip: Sign up for LW Theatre’s Lottery for the chance to buy two £29.50 tickets at midday, every Friday for the following week of performances.
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