Flora at Joy, London W10: ‘A momentary burst of feel-good’ – restaurant review | Grace Dent on restaurants
Anything goes, these days – so long as it means you can afford to keep the lights on
Only a bold heart would call a dining spot Joy in 2020. Some people will be upset you’ve even suggested it; others might expect you to provide it. But joy is exactly the emotion I crave right now. When I saw my friend Hugh marching through Joy last weekend, I was overcome with giddiness. It was six months since I’d last seen him. Now, here he was, strutting past a large table of organic farm produce from The Goods Shed in Kent for sale in the entrance, all set out like a 1980s methodist primary school harvest festival. Or at least how a harvest festival table was supposed to look: at my school, there would have been much more tinned rice pudding.
“At last,” Hugh said, then we picked up our menus and began gossiping, picking up from where we were pre-Covid. Joy is a different thing from happiness, and is much less oppressive in its demands. Joy is a momentary burst of feel-good – a menu, a glass of wine, friendship – that reminds us life is worth living.
The fact that Joy sells fresh vegetables, as well as offering a chance to order organic meat, is highly symbolic of hospitality land right now. This is the year for ripping up rulebooks and flying by the seat of your pants. Anything goes, so long as it means you can afford to keep the lights on, and we’re going to see more and more of it as time goes on.
This content was originally published here.