Chef Adam Handling to open largest site with Frog E1 relocation

Renowned London chef Adam Handling will move his first award-winning restaurant The Frog E1 to a new, larger site at 45-47 Hoxton Square in July.

The building, which sits on the corner joining Hoxton Square, Rufus Street, and Old Street, will be home to the newly named The Frog Hoxton as well as a new Bean & Wheat, Adam’s sustainable coffee shop and deli, and a brand-new bar concept, Iron Stag.

The three individual venues will have their own separate entrances on three different streets to distinguish each experience. Handling will be overseeing all operations at the site, alongside newly-appointed executive chef Daniel Watkins who will have responsibility for the food offering across the three venues.

Working with Handling on the beverage offering for the group will be bartenders Rich Woods and Matt Whiley. The Frog E1’s current head chef Jamie Park, will maintain his role at The Frog Hoxton, and the rest of the restaurant team will be moving to the new site too.

The Frog Hoxton restaurant will have 60 covers and will serve its usual a la carte and tasting menus alongside a bigger focus on large sharing plates. Iron Stag’s design and menus will be designed by Handling in collaboration with Rich Woods and Matt Whiley.

Seating 100 – 120, the bar will be open six days a week from Tuesday until Sunday and serve a selection of curated bar snacks designed to complement the drinks including the bar’s own casked whisky.

Handling’s zero-waste coffee shop and deli Bean & Wheat will also open in Hoxton, and includes a new and extensive craft beer offering with a fully licenced bottle shop. The beer library will be made up of offerings from smaller producers that the chef has hand-selected to promote and support, and all bottles will be available to take away.

The addition of the Hoxton site will take Adam’s total number of venues to six, including: The Frog Hoxton, The Iron Stag, Bean & Wheat, Frog by Adam Handling, Eve Bar, and in December, the food and beverage outlets at Belmond Cadogan Hotel in Chelsea.

Handling said: “This is my biggest venture yet and it’s a very personal project for me. I’ve learned so much from past ventures and whilst I’m proud of them all, I’ve delegated too much of the design concepts to outside companies.

“The Frog E1 was originally supposed to be a test project on a temporary basis, but it became so successful we kept extending the lease. Now, we want to give it a permanent home to give it the revamp it needs.”

He added: “E1 was my first independent restaurant, and it’s been a great testing ground for what we do best. I want to take everything that people love about it and are familiar with, but slightly elevate the offering, and make it even better.”