A New Yorker whose attempt to create bagels like those he had grown up became a viral success is opening a new outlet.
Fashion photographer turned "accidental" restaurateur Dan Martensen was blown away by the success of his Primrose Hill bagel shop when it opened last September.
The project sprang from the New Yorker's experience of hankering after his favourite hometown snack during lockdown.
Stuck in north London, he tried the various bagels the capital had to offer before teaming up with Caravan's head baker Jack Ponting to create what Dan calls "the right crusty malty exterior with a moist and chewy interior."
The delivery service gave way to a bakery and all day cafe in Regent's Park Road, which went viral on social media and has seen punters regularly queueing out of the door for its bagels loaded with schmears and the likes of whitefish, bacon and egg, and smoked salmon.
On August 5, he will be opening a new new 500sq ft bagel shop at 120 Kensington Park Road, near Westbourne Grove.
“When we opened last year, we could only hope for a positive response. We knew we loved the product, but to see London embrace us has been truly amazing," Dan said.
"We could not be more excited to open a second location in Notting Hill, a neighbourhood we love."
Martensen, who has photographed everyone from Ed Sheeran to Winona Ryder and Naomi Campbell, told the Ham&High at the Primrose Hill opening: "I was locked down and couldn't fly home. I missed bagels with the works, done in the right way, so here I am owning a bagel shop. I didn't choose it, it kind of chose me."
He added that in New York, bagels are "not so much of a Jewish thing, it's an everybody thing. You will see everyone from a Jamaican builder to an Indian banker standing in line for a bagel. That's the beauty of the bagel shop. It's a culture."
It's Bagels has found favour with Alexa Chung, Laura Jackson and Daisy Lowe, with the new site featuring the classic range of freshly baked bagels and sandwiches including The Works (cream cheese, lox, onion, capers, lemon, tomato), BEC (bacon, egg and cheese) and the Salt Beef Bagel (pulled salt beef, French’s mustard, house pickles, shaved red onion, kewpie mayo, melted Swiss cheese).
New for Notting Hill in collaboration with cult favourite Secret Sandwich Shop is a classic cold cuts bagel, The Grinder, filled with mortadella, salami, turkey, provolone, spicy iceberg slaw.
The new location includes a café that can seat 14 and room for 16 on an outdoor terrace, with the retro design modelled on the bagel shops and all-night diners of New York's suburbs and work on the walls by Dan’s friends and colleagues from his years working as a photographer in the city, alongside a collection of personal photographs, album covers and posters.
It’s Bagels Notting Hill opens on August 5 at 120 Kensington Park Road.
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