Food for thought – Honey & Co.
Sarit Packer & Itamar Srulovich are a culinary power couple. The duo moved from Israel to London to pursue their long-held ambition to open up their own Middle Eastern-inspired restaurant. In June 2012, they opened up Honey & Co. in Warren Street, Fitzrovia. Since then, the couple have also opened up a deli (Honey & Spice) and a grill (Honey & Smoke), all within a stones-throw of each other. They have also published three cookbooks, and their fourth is due to be released in May 2021.
I meet the pair over Zoom, where I find them both hunched-together in the sunbeams of their South London flat. We talk about food influences, and for both Sarit and Itamar, the influences can be traced back to their childhood. Sarit grew up in Northern Israel, where her earliest food influences came from cooking with her mother. It was here that she developed a fascination for “all the gruesome jobs” such as mincing meat (perhaps this serves as an explanation for her avid vegetarianism since the age of 10). Meanwhile, Itamar who was born in Jerusalem, recalled strong memories of flipping omelettes with his dad and chopping salad with his mum. The two met when they were both working at Joya, an Italian restaurant in Herzliya.
After discussing romances igniting over kitchen stoves, we talk about the name. “Well, we got “honey” as we allegedly come from the “land of milk and honey”, but the name was taken, so we added “& co,”” recalls Sarit. Although simple, the brand name is perfectly suited to Sarit and Itamar’s brand – they are honey-sweet, welcoming, and bounce off each other like a competitive game of table tennis. The raison d’être of their restaurant is a sense that you “are coming to our home for dinner”, explains Sarit. “One day, our front of house, Rachel, instinctively drew up a chair to a table to take an order – it’s very Israeli, not very English. Back home people are so familiar with you, you know their life story – well, that’s the essence of Honey & Co.”
According to Itamar, the majority of their recipes are traditional: “80% of what we do is something we know from home. In Tel Aviv, street food is king, a £3 falafel is as good as an expensive one over here. So, it’s a matter of taste and the food we know – it’s just a matter of getting the version that suits, seasoning and cooking to how we like it.” Sarit interjects: “20% is experimentation. Let’s say Itamar wants to try out a miso and walnut cookie – we try it, add different nuts, chocolate – we play. But really, the restaurant also dictates a lot. If something’s too spicy, we amend, if it’s too mild, we add. If someone says, “it was good but…”, we work on the but.”
Lockdown restrictions have devastated the London restaurant scene and for many restaurateurs, the end of lockdown could not come sooner enough. Sarit explains how Honey & Co has coped: “We’ve had to adapt quite a lot, we are a small company so we can do takeaway, we have our deli and our online shop, but we would usually meet hundreds of people a day. It’s hard for the energy of a restaurant to not have customers and have feedback. People buy our products and thank us on Instagram, but it’s not the same – we miss seeing them eating and enjoying the food.”
Itamar concedes that he has found lockdown difficult: “It’s horrible, the mental toll will be the reckoning. It’s so hard seeing the restaurants close and staff being made redundant. Hospitality is also all about interaction; you thrive off talking about food, holidays and cookies – I miss that.”
After speaking about the ingredients they couldn’t live without (tahini, cumin, lemon, garlic, olive oil, almonds), I ask them the ultimate foodie question. If it was their last evening on this earth, what would they eat?
For Sarit, her starter and main would be anything-Japanese, but particularly sushi finished off with a box of chocolates from a “high-end chocolatier”. For Itamar, to start with, he would have fresh calamari and fried anchovies followed by Nigella Lawson’s marmite linguine (you “haven’t lived” until you try). For pudding, Itamar swears by Honey & Co’s miso, chocolate and walnut cookies – naturally finished off with a glass of milk.
Honey & Co is less of a “restaurant” and more of a supper club, a venue with all of the taste and energy but none of the snobbery or formality. I tell Sarit & Itamar that once lockdown is lifted, the first-place families and friends will head for is a restaurant like theirs, where they’ll catch up over mezze platters and sweet pastries. “We think it’ll explode when it opens again!” Sarit tells me. Sarit is right, once this lockdown is over, be warned of the buzzing crowds that’ll swarm to restaurants. Like bees to honey.
Honey & Co is currently cooking up meals – delivery or pick-up – for people to enjoy at home. Delivery is within 12 miles of Honey & Spice, which covers most of London. Their book Chasing Smoke: Cooking Over Fire Around The Levant is out May 13th, 2021. Available for pre-order now.
Stuffed Aubergine Boats
Serves 4 as the only main or 8 as part of a larger spread
For roasting the boats
4 small aubergines
4 tbsp olive oil
1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed
a generous sprinkling of salt and pepper
For the filling
1 large onion (about 140 g / 5 oz), peeled and finely diced
3 tbsp olive oil
400 g / 14 oz minced lamb
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp baharat spice mix (see page XX)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp turmeric
2 tsp tomato paste
4 tbsp water
For the topping
10–12 cherry tomatoes, halved
80 g / 2¾ oz feta cheese, crumbled
leaves from a few sprigs of parsley, chopped
Method
Heat your oven to 220°C/200°C fan/gas mark 7. Halve the aubergines lengthways. Use a small knife to score the flesh of the aubergines in a criss-cross pattern, taking care not to cut through the skin.
Mix the olive oil with the garlic, salt and pepper, and brush very generously all over the flesh of the aubergines.
Place on a tray in the oven and roast, cut-side up, for 15–20 minutes or until the flesh is beautifully golden and feels soft when pressed. Remove from the oven.
In the meantime, place the diced onion and oil in a frying pan over a high heat and cook until golden.
Add the minced lamb and salt, keep the heat high and use a spoon to break the meat into little pieces so that it starts to brown. Mix in the spices and cook for 3–4 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste and water, and continue to stir while it cooks for a further 3 minutes.
Spoon the mince onto the roasted aubergine boats, using up all the mixture, and spread to cover the cut surfaces.
Top with the tomato halves and feta, and return to the oven for 10 minutes. Remove and sprinkle with the chopped parsley just before serving.
Pistachio, cardamom and rose marzipan
Makes about 20 pieces.
Ingredients
160 g / 5¾ oz ground pistachios (use a food processor or a spice grinder)
130 g / 4½ oz icing sugar
zest of 1 lemon
½ tsp ground cardamom
1 tsp rose water
juice of ½ lemon (you may only need a splash or two)
To garnish (optional)
40 g / 1½ oz pistachios, roughly chopped
a handful of dried rose petals
Method
Mix the marzipan ingredients together using as much lemon juice as needed to combine to a smooth dough.
Work it by hand to help the oils come out of the nuts to create the perfect paste. Tear off pieces of about 15 g / ½ oz each and roll into balls.
You can roll these in chopped pistachios or rose petals or both, or you can shape them any other way you prefer.
Recipes from Honey & Co At Home by Sarit Packer & Itamar Srulovich (Pavilion, 2018)