Serving Assembly: Toklas
by Ben Sibley
The Strand's design-led restaurant, bar, bakery and grocery store. Serving Assembly House Single Espresso.
Twenty steps up from street level, on a covered terrace filled with lush plants and brightly-coloured, 1970s-inspired furniture, for a moment you could mistake your surroundings for the Mediterranean, not central London.
Perched on the western edge of 180 The Strand, Toklas is the first restaurant from Amanda Sharp and Matthew Slotover - founders of Frieze London.
Named after the infamous twentieth-century food writer Alice B. Toklas, the vast dining room and in-house bakery focuses on the highest-quality produce, presented with polished simplicity.
Head of Operations Claire Wright is supported in the restaurant by Assistant Manager Dominic Tooth (left and right in first photo). The food menu is fish and plant-based, and everything is sourced sustainably.
Downstairs, the in-house bakery - headed up by ex-Little Bread Pedlar Adam Sellar and Janine Edwards - is centred around premium citrus from Spain.
Serving up Assembly Blend and a rotation of single origins across both the dining room and bakery, Toklas is making a name for itself as a multi-faceted, diversified destination for food and coffee lovers alike.
Visit
Lunch from 12.00-14.30, Wednesday to Saturday.
Dinner from 17.30-22.00, Tuesday to Saturday.
Bakery open 8.00-16.00, Tuesday to Friday; 10.00-16.00 Saturday.