Traditionally speaking, Croydon isn’t a part of London that brings to mind a sense of culinary ingenuity. Well, hold on: there are good family run Turkish restaurants, and a fairly historic red sauce Italian in Bagatti’s on South End; west Croydon has numerous low-key joints of fine Sri Lankan cooking and there’s Caribbean and its many marvels too. But restaurants that might one day seduce the coldest of Michelin inspectors? Date night spots flogging Korean fried cauliflower and pan-fried scallops, purpose-built to pull in the Instagram crowd? Behave.
But that’s changing. Croydon, for so long devoid of a Birkenstock scene — you know the sort, who you were queuing for flatbreads with in Stoke Newington last weekend — has something new and buzzing about it. Suddenly, there is a suggestion of chic. It is the arrival of Birch in Selsdon (126 Addington Road, CR2 8YA, birchcommunity.com) that affirms such a disarming sentiment. The private members’ club, workspace, gym and restaurant complex might sound familiar — there is another in Cheshunt, just north of Enfield, manned by the inimitable Robin Gill — and this one is another in the same guise, every bit a bucolic escape for young professionals intent on sipping martinis in the leafy cradle of suburbia.
This second Birch, a separate business — it is a franchisable operation — has Lee Westcott on the pass. Trained under the Galvin Brothers and for years both Tom Aikens and Jason Atherton’s top man, Westcott is the chef who earned a Michelin star at Pensons on the Worcestershire-Herefordshire border. And now he’s in a moneyed but once stagnant enclave of Croydon, accessible only by bus and round the corner from a Waitrose. The borough hasn’t seen anything like it.
“I wouldn’t have considered coming here 10 years ago, no,” Westcott says. It was the greenery that got him. “I was quite sceptical originally,” he admits. “But there’s this beautiful place here, and once you arrive, I thought it was a no-brainer. It feels like you’re in the countryside, but you’re 30 minutes from central London. It’s the best of both worlds.”
Westcott leads two restaurants at Birch: Elodie, his tasting menu-only flagship, and a more casual brasserie in Vervain where, he says, he has conjured up a masterful rotisserie chicken among other laissez-faire delights.
Elodie is where the chef is turning cards and showing his hand. For £69, which buys eight courses, diners might enjoy Cornish crab with confit tomatoes and chamomile, pea and cod’s roe croustades, and Herdwick lamb with green olives, Jersey royals and fermented leek tops. It is sensational cooking making true use of foraged ingredients from the hotel’s 220-acre estate.
Westcott and his team are out there each day working through mud, straightening the caterpillar tunnels. “It’s farm-to-fork and sustainability here,” Westcott says. “We’re utilising the land and picking wild garlic, elderflower, fig leaves, three corner garlic, cherry blossom… the list goes on. We’re pickling and preserving, making syrups, eating with the seasons, and building a larder. Ultimately, we want this to be a destination — we want to become a community for locals and somewhere people want to visit for a weekend away.”
Is he looking to give Croydon its first nod from Michelin, then? The borough has never had a Bib Gourmand, let alone a star. He’s coy. “This is a huge project. Accolades aren’t my priority, but we are looking ahead and awards do help businesses. Every chef wants recognition and I’ve not been cooking for the public for two years [instead doing private catering], so being here with such a great team is exciting and rewarding.”
Elodie, where Nordic techniques meet the estate’s Croydon provenance, is a sweeping room with an elegant cocktail bar. It is one of many facets of the hotel and club set in a historic building that had become dreary and forgotten. Once a grand country estate — Henry VIII apparently brought mistresses here — its 181 rooms and endless hallways were hardly the talk of the town. Today, Birch — now clad with Scandi furniture, a wellness centre, workshops and cocktail menus — is a modern machine in a previously haunting out-of-town locale.
Birch already boasts 700 members. Young professionals pull up in Audis to inspect MacBooks before taking a pottery class in one of the hotel’s rooms. There is yoga, naturally; a swimming pool is almost ready. It feels very different to 25 years ago, when I last visited.
Michael Wilson, head bartender across Birch’s numerous bars and who grew up down the road in Purley says creativity is proving to be a driving force. “Eating out and socialising here has mostly been about average Sunday roasts; good food out here isn’t easy to come by,” he says. “But there is a community here and there’s clearly demand. I’m not sure many might have expected a co-working place with gin and nettle leaf cocktails and DJ nights, but it’s buzzing now. The place has been rocking.”
It isn’t just Birch. In Croydon town centre, a change is beginning to take shape. Sure, lively Boxpark (99 George St, CR0 1LD, boxpark.co.uk) has been a fixture of East Croydon station for some time now, but two minutes walk away is Fern (100a George Street, CR0 1GP, fernlondon.co.uk), a breezy, high-ceilinged neighbourhood restaurant serving Cobble Lane charcuterie, Rock oysters and Creedy Carver duck. The owners, Andrew Taylor and Aiste Bart, also operate nearby Mr Fox (34 Surrey Street, CR0 1RJ, mrfoxcroydon.co.uk).
Then there is The Store (73 South End, CR0 1BF, thestorecroydon.com), another modern venture very much kitted out for young professionals eager for date night without the train journey.
Nick Walker, a local and the man behind Twitter account @daytimesnaps, says: “There have always been decent family restaurants in Croydon, it’s not been a total desert. But yes, there’s definitely something happening. There are places you wouldn’t have imagined before. There are restaurants now opening up for a younger audience. I think the town centre is shifting, gradually.”
As rents rise and Londoners eye more affordable living quarters, Croydon is opening up. And it’s getting ever easier to find a decent martini and a slice or two of focaccia. Next time you’re down, keep an eye out for the Michelin men.
