Ex-Roganic chef Ben Spalding to launch Islington pub with 580

Independent pub company 580 has joined forces with former Roganic head chef Ben Spalding to open a 25-seat restaurant and bar in Islington called John Salt.

It is the fourth site for 580, which also operates the Owl and Pussycat in Shoreditch and the Fellow in King's Cross.

"John Salt will feature serious cooking using rare ingredients," said Spalding, who also worked as chef de partie at Gordon Ramsay's Chelsea restaurant.

Diners can expect Spalding's "chicken on a brick" - a London house brick coated in a caramel glaze, pairing chicken liver mousse with crispy chicken skin, circled by a mix of sweet corn kernels, lingonberries, pearl barley and a white onion purée. Spalding said customers would be encouraged to "actually lick the brick".

London cocktail firm Soulshakers will take control of the cocktail menu, and the draught range will showcase local, national and global breweries.

By Neil Gerrard

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