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Live-fire restaurant from Andrew Clarke and Daniel Watkins, at 40FT Brewery in Dalston, where the chefs offer a new veggie-centric approach to BBQ, and where beer by-products are used to make ferments and hot sauces.

survey result

Summary

£56
   ££
2
Average
3
Good
2
Average
* Based on a three course dinner, half a bottle of wine, coffee, cover charge, service and VAT.

A live-fire restaurant at 40FT Brewery in Dalston, from Andrew Clarke and Daniel Watkins, where the BBQ offers “an emphasis on veg (although meat is also available)”, and where beer by-products are used to make ferments and hot sauces. It’s a “fun” and “innovative” place, but not always a consistent one. Top Menu Tip – “Coal Roast Leeks and Pistachio Romesco were amazing. Marmite/Pecorino on Sourdough a must”.

Summary

£55
   ££
2
Average
1
Poor
3
Good
* Based on a three course dinner, half a bottle of wine, coffee, cover charge, service and VAT.

“Don’t be put off by what looks like a dodgy side street to get there”, say fans of Andrew Clarke and Daniel Watkins’s Dalston BBQ, who say that the “great food cooked with fire and flames” (and served “in the classic small plates style”) justifies eating “in a tent! in January!” (“you get blankets… it’s worth it and fun”). And there’s “amazing vegetarian options as well as the fish and meat”. But other diners in our annual poll are less sure. “Haphazard” or “too-cool-for-school” service is a recurrent theme. And overall ratings were dragged down by the minority who found the food itself to be “a real let down” (“considering everything is prepared over coals, it was not the charry interesting place we’d heard of, in fact somewhat bland”).

Summary

£41
    £
* Based on a three course dinner, half a bottle of wine, coffee, cover charge, service and VAT.

Vegetables are centre-stage at Andrew Clarke and Daniel Watkins’s vibey Dalston BBQ, which – with its mostly outdoor set-up in a former car park, live-fire cooking, impressively bearded chef, and extensive microbrewery beer selection (40FT Brewery’s Steve Ryan is a partner) – reads like a checklist of East London clichés. It opened in April 2022 too late to generate feedback in our annual diners’ poll, but all the newspaper press critics are impressed, with The Evening Standard’s Jimi Famurewa declaring: “It has the spirit, soul and craft of a serious restaurant, coupled with a vibrant, veg-heavy menu that feels like pyromaniacal Ottolenghi.”

For 34 years we've been curating reviews of the UK's most notable restaurant. In a typical year, diners submit over 50,000 reviews to create the most authoritative restaurant guide in the UK. Each year, the guide is re-written from scratch based on this survey (although for the 2021 edition, reviews are little changed from 2020 as no survey could run for that year).

Have you eaten at Acme Fire Cult?

The Bootyard, Abbot Street, London, E8 3DP

Acme Fire Cult Restaurant Diner Reviews

Reviews of Acme Fire Cult Restaurant in E8, London by users of Hardens.com. Also see the editors review of Acme Fire Cult restaurant.
Martin B
Weird and wonderful flavours licked by flam...
Reviewed 21 days ago

"Weird and wonderful flavours licked by flames. (Marmite bread with pecorino, slapped watermelon and pickle). Scruffy but deeply cool surroundings and lovely service. Brief but interesting wine list. Epic pork chop. "

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What the Newspaper Critics are saying

Evening Standard

David Ellis has revised his opinion of a live-fire grill restaurant he dismissed on his first visit three years, declaring after a couple of recent meals that its B-movie “cult” branding, dubious location down an unmarked alley, and the fearsome appearance of bearded and inked founder Andrew Clarke added up to a misleading front.

Clarke “looks like the chef for a motorcycle gang who might also knock out Pantera covers on the weekends. His are tattoos on a teddy bear: he is among the most thoughtful, considerate chefs I’ve met.” Vegans, vegetarians, pescatarians and those on gluten-free diets are well looked after here. 

Yes, David’s pork chop was “gorgeous”, but it was the fermented pumpkin hummus that was “revelatory”, while Marmite bread topped with pecorino and flooded with Acme’s homemade Marmite, made using leftover yeast from the 40ft Brewery next door, was “a triumph of umami”.

David Ellis - 2025-07-06

Prices

Traditional European menu

Starter Main Veggies Pudding
£4.00 £13.00 £6.00 £8.00
Drinks  
Wine per bottle £53.00
Extras  
Service 12.50%
The Bootyard, Abbot Street, London, E8 3DP
Opening hours
MondayCLOSED
Tuesday5:30 pm‑11 pm
Wednesday5:30 pm‑11 pm
Thursday12 pm‑4 pm, 5:30 pm‑11 pm
Friday12 pm‑4 pm, 5:30 pm‑11 pm
Saturday1 pm‑11 pm
Sunday12 pm‑4 pm

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