Inside Kentish Town's new Belly - and the return of a legendary street feast
Plus: a Holloway food & drink crawl from Nag's Head to Provisions, the history of the Gipsy Queen in pictures, and inside Camden Arts Project
Welcome to the summer issue. I’m pleased to say that this Substack, currently published four times a year, remains free to read for all. Approaching our 15th birthday — about 150 in indie publishing years, let’s face it — Kentishtowner is by far North London’s longest running food, drink & culture title.
However, with almost zero advertising, the more readers who are able to donate, the higher the chance there is of our survival for another twelve months. So, if you appreciate its continued existence, you know what to do. Thank you so much for your support.
Is this Kentish Town's best new opening since The Parakeet?
A towering frozen custard profiterole in a glistening pool of fish sauce caramel really shouldn't work — but, if you’ve eaten at Belly, you’ll already know it does. In all its salty-sweet glory.
This dessert is just one of the creative dishes at a new Kentish Town Road restaurant that blends French and Southeast Asian traditions. It’s the brainchild of Omar Shah, restaurateur behind several long-running joints nearby, including Guanabana, the legendary Bintang — which dates back almost forty years to 1987 — and new openings Hoodwood and Mama & Sons.
Christened Belly, the bistro centres around wood-fire cooking, occupying the spot where his long-running ramen shop Ramo once stood. Stepping into the intimate 35-seater room, its interior undeniably leans into a Parisian aesthetic, with clean white tablecloths, bentwood chairs, and plenty of natural light.
Blending modern Filipino and European cooking is admittedly a new one on me. But the succinct menu is clearly articulated, with intriguing descriptions of the half dozen smaller dishes and four larger plates, plus a handful of sides.
Fans of all things piscine, my partner and I began with cured scallops: warmed through with a vinegar and fermented shrimp coconut sauce, these slid out of their shells as smoothly as oysters.
Kinilaw is the Filipino word for ceviche, and ruby cubed smoked trout, marinated in a vivid orange sauce of coconut milk, lime and coriander, proved a refreshing palate-cleanser with a requisite hint of fire.
Sure it was a humid evening, but we still enjoyed the caldereta, pictured at the top of this issue, a stew typical in both Spain and the Philippines. The seafood version here (rather than a more traditional meat affair) was pressed onto us by the friendly server — and I can understand why. A hearty medley of clams, mussels, baby squid, tomatoes and red peppers, its gentle flavours were turbo-charged by a dollop of prawn head aioli, while a squeeze of calamansi, similar to lime, added a sharp note of acidity.
An umami-laden highlight? Belly’s elevated take on a fish burger: a chunk of cod tempura, the flesh just opaque, was held within a pandesal slider (a Filipino breakfast roll) and doused with ikura (salmon roe) tartare sauce and a slice of that plastic American cheese we all know and love. The result? Utterly moreish: apparently, they only make a handful a day, so when it's gone, it's gone.
The only slight misstep was the thinly sliced wood-fired wagyu picanha, a little hard work, and not quite delivering a hoped-for beefy hit, although its velvety bistek sauce (another Filipino classic) reached deliciousness of celestial proportions, with its tangy, sweet-sour balance of soy, citrus, garlic, and pepper.
And our two sides worked perfectly: nutty pink fir potatoes smothered in kombu butter (we polished off the lot), and a crisp bitter leaf salad to cut through the richness.
Cocktails include a negroni made with Pandan gin, while wine starts at £8 a glass (£36 a bottle); recommended is the organic Austrian orange wine Judith Beck Traminer (£11 a glass), and the French Languedoc red (£9).
Service, headed up by extremely chilled manager Aliya, was so warm it made us want to return in a flash. This is brave cooking — and surely the best new opening in Kentish Town since The Parakeet back in spring 2023. Plates cost from £8-31. Follow @belly_bistro, 157 Kentish Town Road, NW1
Thanks to Belly for hosting us on this occasion.
Rossella’s alfresco feast returns
It’s long been a locals’ secret, with its easygoing southern Italian cooking headed up by charismatic owner Luca Meola. But did you know Highgate Road trattoria Rossella launched as far back as 2011?
Fast forward a decade to 2021 and, during Covid, its dining room doubled in size, and an adjoining in-store deli opened, specialising in hard-to-find Italian ingredients and artisanal hampers.
Now, in summer 2025, a big annual date is back for the first time in years. Sunday 20th July sees the return of Rossella’s alfresco dining event, a vibrant day-long celebration of “food, community and togetherness "inspired by the long-table street feasts of rural Italy”, says Luca.
Taking place from 1pm to 7pm, Alfresco 2025 will see rows of communal tables stretch across the street in front of Rossella, welcoming neighbours from Kentish Town, Highgate, Camden and beyond.
You can tuck into the outdoor Italian buffet, pictured above, including their tasty pizzas, antipasti sharing platters, seasonal small bites and indulgent Italian desserts, all paired with live music and a roaming balloon artist included in their ticket. The event will take place, rain or shine, under gazebos.
It’s actually Rossella’s first alfresco celebration since the pandemic, with previous events consistently selling out and becoming a summer staple. This year’s return is particularly meaningful.
“Growing up in Italy, food was never just food, it was connection,” Luca says. “After everything the community has weathered these past few years, it felt like the right moment to sit down at the table again, together.”
Alfresco 2025, Sunday 20th July, 1-7pm, at Rossella, 103 Highgate Rd, NW5. Tickets here. @rossellanw5
From Nag’s Head Market to Provisions — a Holloway food and drink crawl
The last time I wrote about Holloway Road’s Nag’s Head was – astonishingly – back in 2013, when Kentishtowner used to run what we called a “Free Weekend” section. This weekly slot gently guided readers away from the twin postcodes of NW5 and NW1 into somewhere adjacent that was equally interesting.
A return to the market — and junction itself, named after the Nag’s Head pub which closed back in 2004 — has been on the cards for a while. The other Saturday my partner, who lives nearby, and I started our mini adventure at the area’s newer streetfood market, The Junction. This slither of a space is packed with a dozen outlets, and busy too.
The must-visit stall is Happy Dim Sum, one that I’d seen frequently on socials. And sure enough, it didn’t disappoint. One of their bestsellers is the cheung fun: the slippery steamed rice noodle rolls yielded an indulgent mix of juicy prawn and egg, slathered in a home-made soy sauce, a pot of hoisin on the side.
After a pint on the terrace at the Swimmer at The Grafton Arms — a North London institution that’s remained unchanged for 25 years — our next stop was the revamped Nag’s Head Market itself.
Half a century old this year, thankfully it’s retained a healthy mix of nearly 50 traders, from hair salons to butchers. In the last few years, more foodie streetfood outlets have inevitably opened, along with a first floor food hall, The Upper Place, that, on our visit at least, was a little under-occupied and empty.
The hyped place in 2025 is Proper Tacos, a tiny spot overrun with customers. We joined the queue, but service was quick, and the blue corn tacos were filled with meltingly soft slow-cooked beef suadero, pork carnitas and marinated chicken. All around us, punters sipped daytime cocktails, while we necked Mexican beer Modelo. Heck, there was even live Mexican music. It was a vibe, an instant holiday in N7.
Our last stops were on Holloway Road itself. After a two-thirds at craft beer bar IndieBeer – which the owner said had been there for eight years, unbeknownst to us – the final destination was, of course, the mighty Provisions.
This is one of North London’s most respected wine bars, with food in the evenings currently handled by Topa, a Basque residency — Topa meaning “cheers” in Basque — which hopes to bring “a taste of San Sebastián’s vibrant food scene.”
Although chef Chino González was born and raised in Buenos Aires, he started his cooking journey at Michelin-starred restaurants in both the South of France and northern Spain.
In residence for two months, and focusing on seasonal ingredients, a mixed plate of pintxos (£17) seemed to be the obvious way into his cooking (and also all we had room for after the previous dishes). The six bites included spicy harissa lamb, creamy stracciatella topped with olive and anchovy, mackerel devilled egg, mussels escabeche and a particularly good black pudding, pear and pine nuts.
Sitting in the window counter, it was fun to people-watch, too. Provisions itself is quite a scene, with folk crowding round barrels, benches and tables on the wide pavement. As we drained our carafe, it occurred to me – as it often does — that it’s always the underrated streets in the capital that over deliver.
Topa is taking a break this month but returns in August. Meanwhile, Provisions has a deli menu in place. @provisionsldn
Gipsy Queen closes: its fascinating history, from 1850s to today
Gospel Oak pub the Gipsy Queen is close to my heart: I lived nearby for well over a decade and, during that time, from the noughties to the teens, witnessed a trio of incarnations. And now its current chapter is at an end.
Known for over a hundred years as its original moniker, the Gipsy Queen, a boozer has occupied the site since the 1850s – although the current building in fact only dates back to 1930s.
Look at this amazing pic above: back in the early 1950s, a group of Gipsy Queen regulars here pose tidily for the camera, about to embark on a bean-feast down in Margate or Brighton. Note the accordion, barrels, suits, smiles and shiny minibus.
And, lest we forget, this was before the 1960s rebuild of Gospel Oak, so Lismore Circus and its surrounds would have still been peeling Victorian terraces. It formed part of the short Gipsy Terrace, whose two remaining original houses still stand. This particular image was found in the Camden archives in Holborn by a zealous CAMRA member.
Irish family the Brownes took it on 1991, renaming it The Westport Inn after their hometown in County Mayo. Around that time there were reportedly bare knuckle fights in the cellar and “the owner was so scared he allowed his Alsatian to roam the building.”
Browne senior, however, managed to turn it into a traditional neighbourhood favourite for 22 years, until it closed for refurbishment late 2013. It was briefly reborn under his son Thomas as The Bluebell, before sadly closing in 2014.
It then entered its current era: Joel and Suzy Czopor, the visionary team from the smash hit pub The Grafton, rescued it and restored its original name.
Their simple — though time-consuming — task was to strip the pub back to basics: exposed brickwork, original fireplaces, reclaimed Victorian wooden floors, and a tiled “bar apron”. An open kitchen occupied the back of the pub, while the very lovely, leafy courtyard, was cleared out and revived, with space for a whopping 90 people.
A couple of years later, they in turn sold it to a small indie pub group with boozers in places like Ally Pally and Muswell Hill.
Last autumn, the Gipsy had a spruce-up with quirky new signwriting by artists and refreshed interior. “The next evolution of the Gipsy Queen is a new partnership between Christian Arden (Chicago Rib Shack) and me,” said head honcho Stevie Thomas. I visited a couple of times during this last iteration – and it was busy enough — but it shut its doors a month ago.
While rumours abound that a new operator has already stepped in, the fight is now on to get it recognised as an Asset Of Community Value.
And you may have seen this week that the latest pub to close nearby is, of course, The Stag, which shuts its doors on August 25th. So thank goodness, if you live round those parts, the rebooted Lord Southampton is thriving.
Camden Art Projects must-see show — and Little Pedlar cafe
It’s pleasing to see one of NW5’s most iconic Victorian buildings home to a new cultural hotspot. Housed in the recently vacated former Zabludowicz gallery, Camden Arts Projects is a brand-new not-for-profit creative space “dedicated to showcasing the works of both established and emerging artists and filmmakers,” says manager Pat Casey.
And its first major exhibition punches pretty high, with work from Turner Prize-winning artist Martin Creed. Curated by Hala Matar, the inaugural exhibition featured Creed’s interactive installation Work No. 3891 Half the air in a given space (2025), where the room is filled with hundreds of balloons.
Transforming the gallery “into a sensory-filled environment,” the artwork invites visitors to step inside, move through and physically engage with the work in a playful and tactile way. This exhibition marks the first time the artwork has returned to London since its presentation at the Hayward Gallery in 2014.
On my visit, as the only sole adult sans kids, it was an experience itself, with proud parents filming their excited kids enjoying the display.
But what of the historic pile? Built in the late 1860’s in the Corinthian style, it was a place of worship for almost a century before the London Drama Centre took over in 1963. For forty years the likes of Colin Firth, Pierce Brosnan, Tom Hardy and Helen McCrory rehearsed there.
The building was reinvented as Zabludowicz Contemporary art gallery in 2007, and now, as CAP, its renewed vision includes the addition of a film screening room.
Don’t miss the exterior, with Creed’s neon text illuminating the façade. Spanning over 12 metres, it’s inspired by “reassuring yet ambiguous words” from Creed’s past personal conversational exchanges. To me, it recalled Tracey Emin’s striking neon work (‘I Never Stopped Loving You’) in Margate outside the Turner.
And finally, if you’re as peckish as I always am, the cafe has had an overhaul too. Bermondsey-based bakery Little Bread Pedlar is another reason to hang out in the atmospheric foyer space. Known for its artisanal sweet and savoury pastries, there’s fine coffee to sip after you emerge, dazed, from the white sea of balloons.
The exhibition ends on July 27th. Free entry. Camden Arts Projects (CAP) is open 9am-6pm, Wed-Sun. Follow @camdenarts176
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Belly might be my fav spot of the year!
Love this! Reminds me of the Prawns with Fiori Di Sale recipe I adapted from hit NYC restaurant Il Buco for easy home cooking! check it out:
https://thesecretingredient.substack.com/p/get-il-bucos-recipe-prawns-with-fiori