Oysters with Pickled Onion Monster Munch are London’s wildest snack

Crisps in a sandwich? Sure. We’ve all done it. Smooshing a Walkers into a cheese and pickle sarnie for some extra bite or chucking some Discos inside an egg mayo bap for some crunch. But crushed up crisps in freshly shucked oyster? We can’t say it had ever crossed our mind. Until now that is, when Whyte Rushen served up this leftfield culinary combo at his weekend pop-up in Dalston Roof Park.

Teaming up with the rooftop’s summer residents Gordos, Whyte Rushen’s special Sunday menu also included braised rabbit pizza complete with a dipping stock, but the main event was the oysters, which came topped with the very best flavour Monster Munch there is, Pickled Onion (an undisputed fact), scattered lovingly across a beautiful bivalve. Oof. 

“It works ego shatteringly well because after all, what is a Pickled Onion Monster Munch really other than just crunchy vinegar, and what goes perfectly with oysters? Vinegar, but what do oyster lack? Texture, a bit of crunch, so here ya go mate, honestly, stupidly banging,” wrote Rushen when he invented the snack earlier this year.

After cheffing at such noted establishments as Brat, Scully St James and Kerridge’s, Whyte Rushen’s pop-ups have been the stuff of foodie legend over the past few months, with Shepherd's Bush treated to a recent BBQ skewer-fest at Next Door Records (think lamb belly, mint, Guinness and sumac onions) as well as spiced duck pizza at The Hawk’s Nest, while over at Starfish Loves Coffee in Palmers Green there was a maple miso butter bacon and cheese chicken burger and a sweet and sour prawn toast pork cutlet sando at Long & Short coffee in Walthamstow. The man gets around. Lily Allen and her Stranger Things husband David Harbour even shared pics of themselves tucking into some Whyte Rushen toasted sandwiches on Hampstead Heath.

Want to try the most lusted after food in London? Of course you do. Most of Whyte Rushen’s pop-ups are a last minute situation, but watch out for his special sit-down dinner at Quo Vadis on September 8, which promises a menu of equal parts elegance and trash. "It's gonna be a meal that represents my London, my take on real British food that I ate growing up," Rushen tells us. "Expect elevated riffs on chicken shop classics as well as modern twists on dishes of a bygone era." Tickets for non-members of the swanky Soho club go on sale August 9. 

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