NUNO MENDES is the hot chef of the London year and he is coming to cook in Hackney.
The man from Viajante in Bethnal Green made the Marylebone restaurant Chiltern Firehouse a must for Kate Moss, Rihanna and myriad other members of the moneyed New Establishment, who have an insatiable need for new venues where they can parade for the paparazzi before getting something to eat and drink.
Non-slebs have to book months ahead for the Firehouse, but happily for Hackney foodies, kitchen-king Mendes, who lives in Haggerston, will be on a stall in Broadway Market, near London Fields, this Saturday 29 November 2014.
With young Portuguese chef José Avillez, he wants to give market-goers a taste for Iberico pork sandwiches.
Avillez, El Bulli-trained, is also a qualified sommelier who runs four eateries in Lisbon, one of them Michelin-starred, owns a takeaway, a pie chain and a consultancy business, writes books and has his own TV show. And that is how you work a 16-hour day.
Mendes also has an El Bulli background and has previously shown a desire to cook in Hackney, as readers of this site will know.
The visit to Broadway Market this week is part of a Portuguese-government-backed season of events to introduce Londoners to the gourmet surprises of Portugal.
David Altheer 251114
* Taste Portugal will be at Broadway Market E8 4PH Sat 29 Nov 2014 1pm-4pm
* Backstory: Foodies, rejoice
* Emboldened underscored words in most cases indicate a hyperlink, a reader service rare among websites. If a link does not work, it is probably because the site to which the URL refers has not been maintained.