Last Updated on February 8, 2022
The Odd Five Ways Menu: Fighting Food Waste is as Delicious as it is Fun!
As a woman who rarely gambles, I am nevertheless willing to bet that almost every Londoner has seen an advert for Oddbox whilst waiting for a delayed tube, bus or train. As we’ve all learned on our daily commutes, their mission is a moral one. To rescue the ‘odd’ and surplus, veg from farmers, delivering it straight to your door, hoping to cut down food waste emissions. What a lot of us may not know, however, is that Oddbox have launched their first restaurant collaboration with London’s pioneering fully vegan pub in Hackney, The Spread Eagle.
This collaboration feels like it is in perfect harmony. The Spread Eagle and Oddbox share a commitment to fighting food waste, they work directly with producers and focus on seasonal goods, all with the aim of caring for the planet, and providing quality grub. Using Oddbox’s unused produce, The Spread Eagle’s executive chef Gina Hopkins has created a delicious five-course menu devoted to the humble carrot called ‘Odd Five Ways’. The menu is a modern take on the classic ‘pork four ways’ developed by top chefs to demonstrate the many ways that pork can be cooked and served. In this case, as you’ve guessed, carrots, a veg box staple, are used five different ways to show off their delightful flavours and all-round versatility.
Sitting down in The Spread Eagle you are immediately struck by realising that you are in a cosy pub. Meal or no meal, this feels like a perfect local haunt with IPAs on tap and friendly staff. With a list of delicious sounding house cocktails, and funky décor, The Spread Eagle’s brand of vegan drinking feels deliberately fuss-free, and it is undeniably charming. The ‘Odd Five Ways’ includes a delicious carrot juice cocktail, mixing King’s Ginger with Quince & Cinnamon Bitter liqueurs, garnished with a cute faux carrot on a stick. Sweet, but not too sweet, the Ginger Cat Cocktail, was a delicious aperitif that showed off the wintery spices in the spirits, and actually felt healthy? Something I have genuinely never said about anything alcoholic, and probably won’t again anytime soon – unless I finally cave, and start taking my morning Pret ‘hot shot’ with vodka.
The aperitif was served alongside crunchy kale with a carrot and clementine relish. Here, the carrot took a back seat and kale was the star of the show. Salty, crunchy, flaky, though admittedly hard to scoop the relish with due to its frailty, once in the mouth, it was a delicious way to start the meal.
Next up we were treated to deep-fried Brussel sprouts topped with crispy onions and served with sumptuous beetroot, celeriac and carrot dipping sauces. These sprouts, I tell you, were no soggy addition to Christmas dinner, they were crispy and earthy pearls worthy of praise and were paired extremely well with the veggie purees.
The penultimate course was the one I looked forward to most, a lip-smacking roasted spiced potato and carrots. Just for context, I want to compare this dish to going to your vegan friend’s house for dinner. Sometimes, as a meat eater, you are compelled to fib that their cooking really didn’t ‘miss’ the meat, or that whatever goats cheese substitute they’re using tasted ‘just like the real thing’. With this dish, you could say the exact same things, but they would, in fact, be true. The oat yoghurt used as a bed for the spiced potatoes tasted, and felt, exactly like real yoghurt; creamy and tangy, it complemented the cumin and coriander tastes in the root vegetables. It was absolutely delicious, and something that could be easily recreated at home, using the veggies found in your average Oddbox.
Given the strong theme throughout this meal, you’ve already guessed what was for dessert. The classic British favourite, carrot cake, with a twist. Created using other root veggies, vegan cream cheese frosting and a sticky poached nectarine, it went above and beyond to impress. Malty and sugary, it finished both me and my guest off, both of us declaring that everything was delightful and that we will be back in future if we are in the Hackney area.
The ‘Odd Five Ways’ menu is £30 a head and will be available for one week between February 2ndthe 8th. If you’ve got nothing planned this Tuesday, I’d rush on over to The Spread Eagle website (link below) to bag your wintery vegan feast. If you’re busy, maybe book for a Sunday roast. My mouth is already watering.
224 Homerton High Street
London
E9 6AS
Oddbox Website: https://www.oddbox.co.uk
For an alternative plant-based restaurant, check our review of Koju Hampstead
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