The Foragers @ Dead Dolls Club

The Forages is a food venture rom duo Gerald Waldeck and George Fredenham who started it with the ethos of being self-sufficient in as many areas as possible and to create a food offering that was based around utilising as much wild & free growing fruit & vegetation that they could find seasonally. They have also set up a network of local hunters from which we source a wide variety of game & fish.

The Foragers and eatery and cocktail club Dead Dolls Club have paired up for food and cocktail matching. The partnership formed around a shared interest in recycling and developing something a little different. The partnershop has meant they can cocktail match and cross over on the menus e.g. providing wild ingredients  for cocktails including Woodruff Syrup for the Cooks Ruin.

Recently I had the fortune to visit and sample some of the food and cocktails. The quality of the ingredients shone through, I’ve never tasted such buttery butter beans, and the food was fresh, inspired and delicious, Honey comb, goats cheese and fennel made for an amazing desert. All matched nicely with the Dead Dolls cocktail menu.  as well as being very reasonably priced (starters/desert at around £6 and main £11.50 (veggie) £15 (meat)).

Razor clams, chorizo, capers, lemon

Beetroot, goat’s cheese, pickled deceivers, candied walnuts

Bavette, wild horseradish, chips

Cooks Ruin: Gin, grapefruit and woodruff syrup

Fresh honeycomb, goat’s cheese, fennel

The kitchen is currently serving small plates on a weekday and roasts on a Sunday (lots of yorkies). There are more plans in the pipeline and potential future collaborations with the Dead Dolls Club, so keep an eye on them for updates.

Dead Dolls is open:
Weds / Thurs: 6pm- 12.30am
Fri/Sat: 5pm – 3am
Sun (for Roasts): 1pm – 11pm

If you are interested in foraging, The Foragers run outings, find out more here: http://the-foragers.com/hunt-with-us/ (plans for London wild food demos are in the pipeline)

Or check out George’s reading list:

Food for Free, Richard Maybe ISBN 1850520526
Forager Handbook, Miles Irving ISBN 9780091913632
Wild Food, Roger Phillips ISBN 0330280694
The Wild Flower Key, Francis Rose ISBN 0723224196
Wild Flowers of Britain Roger Phillips ISBN 9780330251839
How To Identify Edible Mushrooms, Patrick Harding, Tony Lyon & Gill Tomblin ISBN 9780007259618

Tommy (head chef – now head of food). Gerald & George