Sparrow restaurant, Lewisham

Sparrow restaurant is gaining a name for itself for spearheading a culinary renaissance in Lewisham with its focus on high-quality small platters and British produce.

But the fine dining establishment in Rennell Street is letting its hair down tonight as it hosts a night dedicated to pies to mark British Pie Week.

Co-founder and head chef Terry Blake will welcome Holborn Dining Room’s Calum Franklin into the kitchen to cook up a stack of artisan pies.

Fifty per cent of profits from the night will go to Bloom Bakery, a Lewisham charity helping local unemployed people enter the hospitality industry.

Terry said: “I’m a New Zealander and us Kiwis love a good pie – devoting a whole evening to it seems like a perfect night out.

“We’ve also been planning on a pie focussed lunch menu for a while, so it’s fantastic that there’s a week out there already celebrating a food we love.”

The evening will kick off with a welcome rum and sherry cocktail based on Sparrow’s apple pie recipe, followed by Sparrow’s light, crisp pie with trotter, leek and coolea for starters.

Pie maestro Calum will take charge of the main course, bringing seasonality and his expertise to the table with a dry aged mutton, wild garlic and morel pie in a butter puff pastry.

This will be accompanied by a selection of Sparrow’s signature sides, including Berkswell beans and crushed buttered turnips.

Finally, sweet toothed Terry, previously a head pastry chef, will be rounding off the evening with a black sesame, banana and passion fruit dessert encased in a biscuit crust.

There will also be a vegetarian option with a leek and wigmore pie with a dash of truffle oil for an indulgent starter, followed by Calum’s Jersey Royal, wild garlic and morel pie.

Terry’s partner and Sparrow co-founder Yohini Nandakumar said: “We are such big fans of Calum, his skill in pastry work is just jaw dropping, so we’re really excited to be having him at our little kitchen.

“Even better that the charity to benefit from the evening are doing great work in the area.”

Bloom Bakery is a social enterprise running courses for local unemployed people.

They are staffed entirely by volunteers and the money raised will help them grow their training and aim to support 50 people towards employment in hospitality next year.

The pie night will have two sittings, the first at 6.30pm and the second at 8.30pm.
Tickets are £35 including a welcome cocktail and three course meal.
To book, email reservations@sparrowlondon.co.uk