Euphorium Bakery founder, Daniel Bear and hospitality finance director Atif Amin (Chilango, Hakkasan, Ping Pong), will launch their first fast casual and cashless modern carvery concept on Tooley Street, London this summer.
The unique licensed carvery will serve high-protein meals in the form of ‘carvepots’, from breakfast through to dinner. Impeccably sourced fish, meat and vegetarian options are hand carved, pulled and prepped by experts on customer-facing carving podiums, and served with spices, rice, relishes and roots.
Diners can tap, grab and go in seconds courtesy of a high-tech one-step, one-price ordering and cashless payment system. Patrons complete their transactions in advance then help themselves to a drink, a ‘carvepot’ from the self-service system, a roll and a sauce before leaving or taking a seat at a counter or table. All-day ‘carvepots’ are priced at £6.95.
Creative all-day combinations include smoked pork leg with apple slaw, crème fraiche, piquillo peppers and pineapple ketchup; roasted tofu with sesame seed crust, tamari, ginger and turmeric root; or salmon gravadlax with leeks, fennel, radish, chopped egg, dill and mustard.
The breakfast pots continue in the same vein with the likes of Cumberland sausage meatloaf with ground Landroc pork, nutmeg, sage and a whole loin of dry cured bacon with a Seville orange marmalade glaze, served with sides such as bubble and squeak and rumbled free range eggs.
Daniel Bear, founder of Carve comments:
“For years the concept of carvery has had a bad rep but we aim to put it back on diners’ foodie lists. Carve is food for the way we like to eat now – high protein, fresh, fast guiltfree food. We’re focused on food not service, we put our money into ingredients and hand carve everything in full view, there’s no backstage. Cash-free payment and one-price ensures an efficient customer journey and we are confident that this will be embraced by increasingly health-conscious time-poor Londoners.”
Designed by Melt Design Hub (MDH), the 134m2 minimalist space is dramatic yet functional, sleek and urban. Materials include painted blockwork, concrete, charred wood and steel rods to create a dark, atmospheric and urban space. The focal point of the design is the raised 10m long customer-facing carving podium complete with a counter clad in blackened charred wood reflecting the roasting process the meats go through. Customers are greeted inside by a series of tall metal carve ‘totems’ – touch pay stations made of black hot rolled steel to allow the messaging from the tablets to jump out. A large communal table, seating 15, is made from off-cuts of timber whilst the floor is marked with ‘knocked back’ arrows defining the direction of movement and reinforcing the quick, easy, efficient customer journey.
Carve aims to have 30 branches in London over the next three to five years.