After a long wait, the award-winning chef Sally Abé will open her first standalone restaurant, a high-end British bistro reimagining traditional dishes such as lockets savoury and the penny lick.
Abé will launch Teal in Hackney in March, the Standard can reveal, and the chef is to put British produce at the fore, from Cornish mussels to Jersey royals, Scottish venison to English peas.
The restaurant — and concept — is a long-time coming. Abé has long told the Standard about her plans to open her own restaurant and serve dishes that “capture a nostalgia for classic British food”.
Snacks will include angels on horseback, devils on horseback, and lockets savoury, a dish that stems from the late Victorian tradition of serving “savouries” at the end of a meal.
Popularised in Jane Grigson’s Vegetable Book in 1978, lockets savoury combines Stilton, watercress and pears, the ingredients baked on country bread and served warm.
As for starters, Abé highlighted a classic Dorset crab royale, made with English peas and lovage, and baked bone marrow, something made famous at the British restaurant St. John.
Main courses will include a haunch of deer served alongside pickled walnuts and cavolo nero, and Cornish mussels with Jersey royals, cauliflower and sea kale.
Desserts will each be a play on British confectionery and childhood favourites. Modern, high-end takes on marmalade ice cream sandwiches and raspberry marshmallow teacakes will be central to the menu.
Abé will also reintroduce the penny lick to London dining, an ice cream icon of the nineteenth century. Street vendors in town would once sell single, dainty scoops of ice cream on little glass vessels — at Teal, they’ll cost £1, with all proceeds going to Hackney Food Bank.
It’s the first restaurant I’ve built entirely on my own, on my own two feet, and I’m hugely proud of that
“Opening Teal feels incredibly personal,” Abé told the Standard.
“It’s the first restaurant I’ve built entirely on my own, on my own two feet, and I’m hugely proud of that.
“After years of working in other peoples’ businesses and kitchens, this is me putting my name, my values and my voice into a space that’s truly mine.
“Teal by Sally Abé is about celebrating the best of British food, its history, its flavours, and its stories, while championing women, supporting good causes, and building a restaurant that feels rooted in its community.
“I can’t wait to open the doors in Hackney and show people exactly what I’ve been working towards.”
Abé arrives back in London after spending a year overseeing the food at the Bull at Charlbury, the Cotswolds pub operated by the high-flying Public House Group.
Before then, she led the kitchen at the Pem at Conrad St James, her first major project after her head chef role at the Michelin-starred Harwood Arms in Fulham.
Abé is recognised for her robust approach to food, where flavour, ingredients, and seasonality remains the central focus, and for championing female chefs.
She said she will continue to consciously hire women in the kitchen and mentor emerging talent, all of whom will work alongside Abé and newly appointed head chef Abbie Hendren, a London-born chef who joins from Sam’s Waterside restaurant in Barnes.
The wine will be overseen by Abé’s business partner Abe Drewery, who worked with the chef at the Bull. There’ll be a focus on champagne, rich, oaky chardonnays and bright Bordeaux reds.
Teal, named after Abé’s favourite game bird, will feature vintage Winchester stools around an oak countertop, pendant lighting and antique brass table lamps, Bentwood chairs and mustard yellow leather banquettes.
Artworks include striking black and white posters capturing moments from historical women’s rights marches.
Teal by Sally Abé will open on Thursday March 26 at 52 Wilton Way, Hackney, E8 1BG, tealrestaurant.co.uk
