While in London learning all about sold out hotels and hard-to-get Olympics passes, I got an insider tip about a fabulous fish factory that was cheek-by-jowl to the Olympics Stadium. I whipped out my Oyster Card, hopped the Tube and found myself in the new Games zone: an area of former factories and stevedore sites, next to a winding industrialized tributary of the Thames where Olympics ferries are already docking in advance of the big show.
H. Forman and Sons is a family-owned smoked fish and delicacy firm that was previously located smack at the site of the Olympics stadium. In exchange for moving its century-old concern, the company got a brand new facility on “Fish Island,” an islet that overlooks the brand new stadium.
Forman’s Restaurant with a balcony and tableside views of Olympic Park is now the closest venue to the Stadium. They do dinners, lunches and brunches (featuring their world class smoked salmon, of course) and also have a huge art gallery and rooftop garden upstairs.
The company also has a big plot of land that it plans to turn into a media center and corporate facility during the Games. While security at Olympic Park is strict and you can’t get physically inside, the restaurant offers sweeping views of the construction and a gritty but glam industrial atmosphere that trendy Londoners are taking to heart.
Let the games (and the bagels and lox) begin.
Photo credits: Gretchen Kelly
