Island Social Club’s Handmade Roti Skins Find a Permanent Home in Haggerston

A London-born Caribbean social club has found its first permanent base. It is described as “a contemporary social space that shares modern British Caribbean culture through food and drink.” It is the creation of two Londoners with Caribbean heritage, Marie Mitchell and Joseph Pilgrim, and will launch with 50 percent off food on 7 February 2019 at Curio Cabal — a cafe-by-day — on Kingsland Road between Shoreditch and Dalston.

The menu, overseen by Mitchell, the professional chef in the duo, is inspired by two previous Island Social Club projects, Rumshop and Rotishop. Each night, both rum and roti will sit alongside “a curated events programme, which together re-roots British Caribbean culture in Hackney.” The duo also run the Nyamming supper club series, which uses food, cocktails, art and poetry as a platform for children of the diaspora.

Roti skins — the cornerstone of the menu at the club — will be handmade and served with curries: curries which “touch on the varied and nuanced food of the Caribbean.” Mitchell also promises dishes taken from her bi-monthly supperclubs, Pop’s Kitchen. She says that all dishes are “mindful of modern techniques, local sustainability, and a touch of ital (Rastafarian vegetarian and vegan culture) spirituality. She will use the menu to explore migration and diversity within Caribbean history. Dishes will include:

• Jerk wings, and a pepper shrimp with the fruity heat of scotch bonnet and spring onion
• 24-hour marinated curry mutton, with prominent flavours of ginger and garlic
• Plantain both boiled and blackened on the griddle, for contrast in taste and texture
• Three house sauces: hot pepper, mango, and tamarind.

Island Social Club [Official]

Every Wednesday, the duo will run a roti night, with 50 percent off.

Drinks-wise, Pilgrim will lead the in-house rum bar, using the same ethos established at Rumshop — one that seeks to investigate the Islands of the Caribbean via family punch recipes and “banging sound systems.” The “progressive menu” will feature an extended rum collection, incorporate a punch recipe which takes 28 days to produce, and include “innovations” on Caribbean classics.

“We feel that our experience is distinct from anything we’ve experienced on the British high street. We want Island Social Club to become an establishment that is a clear representation of our modern London lives. But also a space where we can explore and share our brilliant Caribbean heritage, from island culture to contemporary Black British culture,” Pilgrim said in today’s announcement.

The social club will include 35 covers inside, plus an outside space that will open in the spring and summer. The as-yet unconfirmed events programme will include live music, exhibitions, discussion panels, poetry readings, and collaborations. “These events will harness a vast community passionate about pushing culture forward, and bring ISC’s ‘social club’ concept into fruition,” they said.

The official opening date is Wednesday 13 February 2019. The Curio Cabal residency (a one-time location for TāTā Eatery) will initially run for 12 months. Opening hours: 5 — 11p.m. Wednesday to Thursday; 5 — 12a.m. on Friday and Saturday. Closed Sunday and Monday.