It’s Tourist Time and your Gull’s favourite season when we birds get busy and clear the streets of the best leftovers we can find. Leaving the chips and kebabs for the teen gulls, your Gull has swooped down to Seven Dials in search of richer pickings at pop ups at The Canopy and Puck. 

Now, the gulls were all a-squawk when word got out about the closing of 64 Degrees with its superior snacking opportunities for the more discerning scavenger. So, to find the Great British Menu winner himself popping up at The Canopy in our very own Dials this late summer was greeted with the loudest of caws. This man can cook! Your bird is waddling in his wake as he plans his next restaurant experience later this year. 

Popping up at Puck, Marc and Amy at Sedap are following the London trend of excellent Malaysian street food with tofu satay, nasi kerabu and oyster mushroom rendang giving a modern spin on the traditional fare. Your gull can report that the kuih dadar, the rolled crepe infused with pandan juice and filled with grated coconut in Gula Melaka is the kind of dessert to make a bird’s spirits soar. Expect regular pop ups there throughout the autumn.

With a taste of the East in her beak, your Gull catches a thermal over to The Lanes, stopping briefly to sniff out Patio, the new deli/wine bar/café/’cool place to hang’ replacing Grocer and Grain on Upper Gloucester Road. Opening at the end of September, it promises to be a much-needed tasty space to meet by the train station. 

Landing in Ship Street, your Gull finds Bookie, founder and executive chef at Namo Eats at The Eagle and junior co-owner at No No Please has just finished a stint at The Sidewinder and opened her own restaurant, Namo at 24 Ship Street. On Thai small plates with seasonal ingredients woven into the dishes, the menu is largely from her home in the north of Thailand and reflects more of who she is than she’s been able to show under the wing of the previous establishments. Your Gull was particularly pleased to hear that she plans to bring her Thai cookery classes to Ship Steet, making it a place where people can enjoy good Thai food and share stories of the culture and roots behind it, just as Great Uncle Gulliver used to do for us young gulls on the back of his travels. 

A sated bird, full of excellent scraps and meaty stories of culture and enterprise, your Gull glides home against a setting sun, tucking a happy head under a weary wing. The tourist season may soon be winding down, but the scent of Octoberbest is already nestling in her nostrils and feeding her dreams.