Vesper: a bingeworthy addition to the Boxer set

Jackson Boxer was 25 when he started cooking at the renowned London restaurant, Brunswick House. Fifteen years later, he’s still running the Vauxhall institution, alongside a handful of others across the city – most notably Dove, in Notting Hill, famous for an off-menu burger that guarantees queues before every service. On 3 June, Boxer adds Vesper, a corner spot on Exmouth Market in Clerkenwell, to his roster. 

“It’s pretty much my favourite street,” Boxer says. “London is unarguably my favourite place in the world, and this is one of those rare spots that has modernised while defying the worst tropes of urban evolution.” The space, centred around a zinc-topped bar, is designed by Jermaine Gallacher, who scoured European flea markets for vintage furniture and fabrics. In the kitchen, Boxer’s sourcing philosophy remains intact – working with small growers and supporting regenerative agriculture. “The longer I do this, the simpler my tastes become,” he explains.

On Vesper’s menu, Boxer is most proud of the dishes that reimagine traditionally neglected ingredients – a slow-cooked chuck-eye steak, for instance, which is served in a cast-iron dish of baked saffron rice. There are also hits borrowed from Dove, such as a variation on the fermented potato pizzette, but with a topping of stracciatella and fruit mostarda rather than the burrata and mortadella of the original. And the chef’s cult burger? “It might take on its own character, says Boxer, “but it’s unlikely that there won’t be a limited number of off-menu burgers.”