Jimmy Garcia launching new pop-up in South Bank igloos

Garcia described the venture “a bit of the Alps in London”
Winter wonderland: how the pop-up will look

A pop-up restaurant where Londoners can dine in giant snow globes over-looking the Thames is launching this winter.

London chef Jimmy Garcia is opening his Lodge On The River, which he describes as “a bit of the Alps in London.”

Located next to the South Bank Centre, it will consist of a canopy-covered bar and street food venue on the ground floor, a 30-cover restaurant called The Refuge above and four translucent, snow globes that can be booked for up to ten people dotted along the river. The globes, which look a little like igloos, originally appeared on the river banks last year.

The Refuge will serve small plates to start such as mulled wine cured Gravlax salmon, served with poached pear, rapeseed oil croute and lemon crème fraiche; and game terrine served with bacon crumb, plum jam and brioche toast. The main course will be a traditional cheese fondue, served with a selection of Spanish charcuterie, new potatoes, bread and side salads.

Completing the menu, which will cost £40 a head, will be a winter spiced creme brulee.

A similar menu will be served in the private dining snow globes, which are made from PVC, with the option of “upgrading” the menu to include a selection of canapes and Côte de Boeuf with charred broccoli, salted almonds and chili butter. There is a minimum spend of £500 in the pod.

The downstairs section of the Lodge, called the Winter Grill, will serve £10 street food dishes including a raclette burger, the wild boar and apple hot dog and Aspen Fries – chips topped with Parmesan and Truffle oil. In the bar, hot cocktails including mulled wine and cider, a warm mojito and a warm spiced rum concoction will be served around fire pits.

Mr Garcia, 30, who has been hailed as “the king of pop-ups”, said his latest venture was inspired by his ski season where he first fell in love with cooking.

The chef, who started his first pop-up in his home in Balham, south London, several years ago, said: “The whole thing is inspired by my ski season and eating and drinking that that involves. It is like bringing a bit of the Alps to London. The pods are PVC so you can sit and look at the river while you dine which will be amazing. They will be there for NYC, can you imagine anything better than sitting there watching the fireworks? I think people will get really excited about them.”

The Winter Lodge follows his pop-up grill-it-yourself barbecue restaurant in the same location which took place over the summer. From November, Garcia is also doing a pop up eatery at a pop-up Curling venue at Roof East in Stratford, east London.

The Lodge on the River will launch on November 10 and run for the rest of the year. For more information, visit jimmyslodge.com

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in