McCarthy’s is a new Irish bar and deli in Tooting, a part of London I used to visit often. Back then I’d drive down from Clapham to get £1 samosas and a “roly poly”, or seekh kebab wrapped in a naan and baked in the tandoor. Truly remedial. Tooting feels a world away now — a schlep on the Northern line, on our hellish Tube system that hardly works. But that part of town is always a worthwhile venture, first for South Asian food but now also for McCarthy’s.
The bar is the latest development in London’s new-found obsession with Irish culture. The Irish diaspora has been running the capital’s hospitality scene for decades but the unruly fetishism for Guinness, Tayto crisps and chicken fillet rolls is a more recent thing. In Dublin last weekend I was told by Bord Bia — the Irish Food Board — that the UK now accounts for 17 per cent of all of Ireland’s food and drink exports. Curiously, it’s caused some trademark infringement cases lately, with London pubs switching to Irish Tayto crisps rather than the ones produced in Northern Ireland. God knows if this is nonsense but I hope it isn’t. I also hope the Northern Irish company employs the services of Liam Neeson to check proceedings.
