Restaurant Review: Flash in London

By JAMES COLLARD
The New York Times
Published: Dec 14, 2008

Flash can be seen as all kinds of things. It is that 21st-century creature, a pop-up restaurant, popping up in an august institution founded in London almost 240 years ago, the Royal Academy of Arts. You could practically call it an installation, since everything from the wooden boxes lining three sides of the dining area to the menus is decorated with the work of artists including Alexis Teplin, Simon Popper and Gethin Moller.

And it is definitely a scene, given its fashionable flavor, from the “psychedelic Death Star” chandelier by Giles Deacon, to the strenuously hip-looking young fops and flappers seated beneath it.

Flash is also a fine place to eat, as would come as no surprise to anyone who has dined at Bistrotheque, the restaurant, bar and cabaret space operated by the Flash restaurateurs Pablo Flack and David Waddington in an East End backstreet. When it opened in 2004, Bistrotheque seemed a bit like an object lesson in how not to start a successful restaurant — hard to reach, being some distance even from Hoxton, the East End's fashion and gallery quarter; and hard to find once you got there, given that there is no sign to distinguish the post-industrial building, beyond the sounds of jollity within.

But the two restaurateurs emerged from a Hoxton scene that prides itself on being edgy, where nightclubs close down as soon as a less in-the-loop crowd cottons to them. So hard to find was good, as was the bistro-style food by the brilliant young chef Tom Collins. Soon Bistrotheque attracted everyone from Kate Moss to the art dealer Jay Jopling and remains a hub of the East End scene.

Mr. Collins's cooking alone made it worth a recent trip to Flash, namely a starter of Dorset crab (£12.50, about $18.35 at $1.50 to the pound), then duck confit with mustard sauce, which helped soak up two Flash Ritas (tequila, winter berry purée and cranberry, topped with a flower). The puddings, as we English call desserts, were amazing.

But the final serving at Flash will be the tableware, fixtures and fittings, including Mr. Deacon's chandelier, all of which go on sale when the pop-up winds down next month — after a final night that Mr. Flack is calling “Flash Trash.”

Flash is open daily for lunch and cream tea, and for dinner except on Tuesday and Wednesday until Jan. 15. It is at Burlington Gardens, London W1, at the rear entrance of the Royal Academy. For information visit www.bookflashnow.com.

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