Papi: Pandemic troublemakers’ restaurant is a fun, flirty hit

Professional funmakers Matthew Scott and Charlie Carr’s new permanent spot in London Fields is all business, but a whole lot of fun, writes Hannah Twiggs

Clove is in the air: the garlic ‘bread’ at Papi is setting a new bar (Hannah Twiggs)

My visit to Papi, the first permanent restaurant from Hot 4 U’s Matthew Scott and Wingnut Wines’ Charlie Carr, in London Fields, turned out to be a lesson in why pairing your guest with the restaurant is just as essential as pairing Cab Sav with steak. Missing the mark is frustrating for all parties.

The error is mine. As a not at all cool person, I wanted to bring a cool friend along to a reservation at cool new Papi – not realising that the menu was so heavily seafood focused and forgetting her aversion to anything remotely fishy. We lived together for two years and I couldn’t even persuade her to be in the same room as a piece of baked-to-smithereens salmon. Inoffensive prawns, perhaps? Fuhgeddaboudit.

Alas, we’re here now, at the two-chef counter, which is the best seat in the house – in bantering distance of Matthew and co – and also the sweatiest, even during this pitiful excuse for spring. We’re quickly told fans are being installed for summer, if it ever arrives. On this occasion, it was also the most depressing as I had a front row seat to all the delicious things we weren’t ordering. A mound of clams drenched in bright, briny red pepper romesco. Huge langoustines, naked but for dashi vinegar and roe. Oysters… sigh.

Papi is the product of a love story between two lockdown success stories – no, we’re not done hearing about those just yet. While Hot 4 U’s Scott and Eddy Tejada were bursting onto London’s reinvigorated delivery scene with zero waste and zero f***s menus (think garum Pom Bears and whisky bone marrow luge) in the early days of lockdown, Wingnut’s Carr was popping up across the city with his no holds barred approach to championing underrepresented natural wines, often in nothing but leather hot pants. A partnership was born, peculiar pairings were made and a few years later they secured a full-time spot to continue shenanigans on Mentmore Terrace. With the also very cool Brat x Climpton’s Arch and Beyond down the road, they’re in good company.

They’ve also grown up a little, not that the natty wine-glugging, vape-guzzling hipsters in this part of Hackney needed them to. Behind a glass front emblazoned with a giant pink Papi is a pared back little space with colour blocked walls, dinky wooden tables and low hanging lamps. The only indication that this could be home to the pandemic’s favourite poster boys is the thump of disco bangers in the background. Let the food take centre-stage, then.

The ABC sauce on the tomatoes is worth licking off the plate (Hannah Twiggs)

And though I am forced to make decidedly unfishy choices, it does. Rebel coppa with mustard seeds gets us salivating. Hunks of winter tomato (better than summer’s, I’ll be taking no further questions) and shredded shiso leaves are glazed in a holy trinity of kecap manis, black garlic and black vinegar. We lick the plate clean. Scott points out a bottle of the stuff on the counter. I consider necking it. I’m happy to be persuaded out of my resentment for garlic bread when a grilled, fermented (squidgy and cute) potato cake topped with whipped ricotta and wild garlic arrives. As the cool kids say, it slaps.

Smoked rabbit kielbasa, a kind of Polish sausage, is a DIY job – wrap it up in leaves of lettuce and shiso and dunk in the sauce – and a little too punchy for my tastes, though it’s encouraging to see they don’t just limit themselves to subtleties. I manage to sneak in the sea bream escabeche with reduced rhubarb, which even my fussy guest enjoys. She has the audacity to eat half of it. Whether that’s testament to the chefs or the threat of being dumped as a dining partner by me is anyone’s guess.

There’s not much one can say about a bowl of custard and rhubarb, one of two desserts, but the other, a chunky waffle with Vacherin cheese ice cream, and a chewy, boozy little prune had even this dessert-hater nodding with satisfaction.

Sea bream escabeche and gambas farcelette are some of the seafood dishes I managed to sneak in (Hannah Twiggs)

If the food is fun to eat, the wine is just as fun to drink (when isn’t it?). A glass of Ad Naturum Blanc from Chateau Lassolle is a surprisingly perfect aperitif; it’s skin contact, but drinks more like a rich, rounded white wine. It’s not a solo act, though; better enjoyed with food. My snobbery shows when Carr suggests orange wine with dinner. I hear it’s good though I’ve never had a good one, but the Favonio from Moscato Bianco is really rather good. It’s aromatic, balanced and crisp, with hits of stone fruit and pink grapefruit. It’s one of those wines that performs just as well with meat as it does with seafood, so an excellent suggestion for today’s capricious ordering.

The rest of the list is well balanced – though aficionados might struggle to recognise any of the usual faces – that takes itself just the right amount of seriously. With only three by the glass and the cheapest bottle starting at £38, though, you’ll feel the hit on the bill. That’s sort of the whole point. With a constantly changing menu, the wines are selected with precision and not likely to be seen again unless you seek them out. If you’re after a cheap and cheerful Savvy B, go elsewhere.

But if you’re after guaranteed great vibes with a dose of nostalgia, you’re in the right place. They’re serious about food and wine, but just as serious about giving you a good time. Get a counter seat to watch the magic happen, while away the hours at a window table or head downstairs to the bar for the start of a special night out. Go hungry, go open minded. Don’t take someone who doesn’t like seafood.

All that to say, reader: I’ve booked another table and I can’t wait.

Papi, 1 Mentmore Terrace, 373 Mentmore Terrace 1F, London, ENG E8 3SD