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Acclaimed Spitalfields Restaurant Bubala Will Move Into Soho This Spring

Marc Summers and Helen Graham’s project will take over the former Vasco and Piero’s space on Poland Street

Hummus at Bubala in Shoreditch
Hummus at Bubala in Shoreditch.
Bubala

Helen Graham and Marc Summers won’t change a winning formula when they open their second restaurant in Soho this April. Bubala, which opened in Spitalfields in autumn 2019, will continue to serve a menu of bright, Sephardic-influenced vegetarian cookery when it moves into Poland Street. It takes over from Vasco and Piero’s, the beloved Italian restaurant forced out after a rent dispute with the building’s landlord.

The menu will bring over many of the east London restaurant’s greatest hits — beautifully crisp-yielding aubergines with date syrup and zhoug; potato latkes treated to the city’s favourite spud technique, the confit; and the flaky, laminated Yemenite Jewish pastry, malawach.

Bubala, like many restaurants in the city, adapted quickly and decisively to the Covid-19 pandemic. It brought in meal kits and home delivery, but also changed its model, introducing a set menu at dinner under the cute-yet-firm moniker, Bubala Knows Best.

Summers said that the restaurant represents the realisation of a long-, but carefully held ambition.

“It’s always been a long-term goal for Bubala to grow, but it’s a step that I wanted to take carefully and one that I didn’t want to rush. I feel like we’ve got the best possible team now and the site feels perfect. I just can’t wait to open and bring a bit of Bubala to central London.”

More soon.