Key Points
- Chef Sally Abé, an award-winning chef with experience at top venues like The Harwood Arms (retained Michelin star), The Pem at Conrad London St James, and The Bull at Charlbury, has opened her first solo restaurant, Teal by Sally Abé, in Hackney, London.
- Teal is located at 52 Wilton Way, Hackney, E8 1BG, and opened on Thursday, 26 March 2026.
- The restaurant is named after Abé’s favourite game bird, the teal, not the Pantone colour, and champions British ingredients focused on quality, seasonality, and sustainability.
- Menu highlights reimagine British classics: snacks like angels on horseback, devils on horseback, and lockets savoury (Victorian Stilton, watercress, and pears on toast); starters including Dorset crab royale with English peas and lovage, baked bone marrow; mains such as haunch of deer with pickled walnuts and cavolo nero, Cornish mussels with Jersey Royals, cauliflower, and sea kale; desserts like marmalade ice cream sandwiches, raspberry marshmallow teacakes, and the penny lick (Victorian-style ice cream for £1, with all proceeds to Hackney Foodbank).
- Abé works alongside head chef Abbie Hendren, who joins from Sam’s Waterside in Barnes, and continues to hire and mentor women in the kitchen.
- Business partner and wine director Abe Drewry, formerly at The Bull, oversees wines with a focus on champagne, rich oaky chardonnays, and bright Bordeaux reds.
- Interior designed with sister Alice Webster: bottle-green walls with black-and-white posters of historic women’s rights marches, Bentwood chairs, mustard-yellow banquettes, vintage Winchester stools around an oak bar, pendant lighting, antique brass table lamps, marble tables, café curtains, capacity for 25 diners, Abé’s favourite cookbooks, and pot plants.
- Abé’s memoir A Woman’s Place is in the Kitchen reflects her feminist approach, detailing her rise from Midlands girl cooking Smash to fine-dining success and efforts to improve kitchens for women.
- Early review by David Ellis of Evening Standard praises Teal as “astonishingly, masterfully good,” highlighting dishes like lockets savoury (pear and Stilton on toast), bone marrow with snails, garlic, and parsley (“nutty, buttery taste”), mussels with Jersey Royals, and beef sirloin with short rib.
- Abé described opening Teal as “a dream 20 years in the making” and “incredibly personal,” stating: “It’s the first restaurant I’ve built entirely on my own, on my own two feet, and I’m hugely proud of that. After years of working in other peoples’ businesses and kitchens, this is me putting my name, my values and my voice into a space that’s truly mine.”
- Teal aims to celebrate British food history, flavours, stories, champion women, support causes, and root in the Hackney community.
Hackney (East London Times) April 4, 2026 – Acclaimed chef Sally Abé has launched her first solo restaurant, Teal by Sally Abé, at 52 Wilton Way in Hackney, marking a pivotal moment after two decades in top kitchens including the Michelin-starred Harwood Arms and The Pem at Conrad London St James. The venue, which opened on 26 March 2026, champions sustainable British ingredients and reimagines nostalgic dishes like lockets savoury and the penny lick, with proceeds from the latter supporting Hackney Foodbank. Abé, known for retaining a Michelin star at Fulham’s Harwood Arms and her feminist advocacy via memoir A Woman’s Place is in the Kitchen, has created a space reflecting her personal voice, designed with sister Alice Webster.
Who is Chef Sally Abé?
Sally Abé’s career trajectory exemplifies resilience in the male-dominated fine-dining world. As detailed in her memoir A Woman’s Place is in the Kitchen, Abé rose from a Midlands girl who “used to cook herself Smash to get by” to one of Britain’s most successful fine-dining chefs.
She arrived in London in 2007 at age 20 for a placement at The Savoy, then joined Gordon Ramsay at Claridge’s.
After five years, she became Technical Food Editor at Great British Chefs before returning as Sous Chef at Elystan Street under Phil Howard. In 2016, Brett Graham appointed her Head Chef at The Harwood Arms, London’s only Michelin-starred pub, where she retained the star and secured its position as the UK’s top gastropub in Estrella Damm’s Top 50 Gastropubs.
Subsequently, Abé served as Consultant Chef at Conrad London St James, launching The Pem and other concepts after a £1.75 million investment. She then oversaw food at The Bull at Charlbury by the Public House Group (behind The Pelican). Throughout, Abé has championed female chefs, consciously hiring women and mentoring talent.
What Inspired the Opening of Teal?
As reported by the Evening Standard, Abé has long planned her own restaurant to serve dishes “capturing a nostalgia for classic British food.” In an Instagram announcement covered by The Staff Canteen, she shared:
“I’m so excited to finally be able to share I’m opening a restaurant, on my own! Today I got the keys to Teal. My restaurant that I have been dreaming of for 20 years is now becoming a reality.”
Abé told the Evening Standard:
“Opening Teal feels incredibly personal. It’s the first restaurant I’ve built entirely on my own, on my own two feet, and I’m hugely proud of that. After years of working in other peoples’ businesses and kitchens, this is me putting my name, my values and my voice into a space that’s truly mine. Teal by Sally Abé is about celebrating the best of British food, its history, its flavours, and its stories, while championing women, supporting good causes, and building a restaurant that feels rooted in its community. I can’t wait to open the doors in Hackney and show people exactly what I’ve been working towards.”
Hot Dinners quoted Abé describing Teal as
“about celebrating the best of British food, its history, its flavours, and its stories, while championing women, supporting good causes, and building a restaurant that feels rooted in its community.”
Where is Teal Located and What Does It Look Like?
Teal occupies 52 Wilton Way, London E8 1BG, in vibrant Hackney. The Evening Standard described the interior: vintage Winchester stools around an oak countertop, pendant lighting, antique brass table lamps, Bentwood chairs, and mustard yellow leather banquettes. Artworks include striking black-and-white posters capturing moments from historical women’s rights marches.
Wallpaper* reported that Abé designed with sister Alice Webster, featuring bottle-green walls, black-and-white posters of women’s rights marches and slogans, evoking a British take on a French bistro. Bentwood chairs pair with mustard-yellow banquettes, vintage Winchester stools at an oak bar lit by natural light by day and antique brass lamps by evening. Webster explained:
“‘Overall,’ Webster explains, ‘we wanted to keep the design a little more minimal to reflect the core concept of the restaurant and Sally herself: good, honest food that doesn’t take itself too seriously. It’s meant to feel like a little place for locals to come for dinner, that also happens to serve top-tier food in a relaxed and informal setting.’”
David Ellis of the Evening Standard noted simple decoration with teal panelled walls, Abé’s favourite cookbooks amid pot plants, marble tables, cute café curtains, and room for just 25 diners.
Webster incorporated teal bird’s green and orange into pieces from HK Living, Alice Palmer, and Pooky lighting.
What is on the Teal Menu?
The menu emphasises British produce like Cornish mussels, Jersey Royals, Scottish venison, English peas, Dorset crab, haunch of deer. As per the Evening Standard, snacks include angels on horseback, devils on horseback, and lockets savoury—a Victorian classic of Stilton, watercress, and pears baked on country bread, popularised in Jane Grigson’s Vegetable Book in 1978.
Starters feature Dorset crab royale with English peas and lovage, and baked bone marrow, inspired by St. John. Mains: haunch of deer with pickled walnuts and cavolo nero; Cornish mussels with Jersey Royals, cauliflower, and sea kale. Desserts play on British sweets: marmalade ice cream sandwiches, raspberry marshmallow teacakes.
The penny lick, a 19th-century street vendor ice cream in dainty glass for £1, donates all proceeds to Hackney Foodbank. Wallpaper* called the food “refined retro”:
“If it’s British, seasonal and nostalgic, it’s probably on the menu here. But while there’s a hefty dose of dinner-party retro and 1980s children’s party – snacks of angels or devils on horseback; desserts of raspberry marshmallow teacake and marmalade ice-cream sandwich – ingredients are put together with an eye for integrity, not irony. So, Cornish mussels come with Jersey Royals, cauliflower and sea kale, and a haunch of deer with pickled walnuts and cavolo nero: dishes in which complementary and contrasting flavours are held in beautiful balance.”
Who is on the Teal Team?
Abé leads the kitchen with head chef Abbie Hendren, London-born and previously at Sam’s Waterside in Barnes. Abé commits to hiring women and mentoring emerging talent.
Business partner Abe Drewry, who collaborated at The Bull, manages wines: “There’ll be a focus on champagne, rich, oaky chardonnays and bright Bordeaux reds,” per the Evening Standard.
How Have Critics Responded to Teal?
David Ellis of the Evening Standard reviewed on 1 April 2026:
“Teal is also astonishingly, masterfully good. It is simply decorated — guess what colour the panelled walls are — with Abé’s favourite cookbooks breaking up the pot plants. Marble tables, cute café curtains, room for just 25. The food is doubtlessly meant to be the point, but none of the dishes are overworked ornaments… Instead, you’re always gleefully wondering what’s coming next.”
He praised lockets savoury
(“slices of pear folded into blistered stilton on toast, offered freshness and funk side by side”),
bone marrow with snails, garlic, and parsley
(“Might Abé be the only chef cooking bone marrow properly in London? Lately it has been altogether too much like snot on toast. Here it was a yellow flickering into gold, with a nutty, buttery taste. With the snails, the sensation was not dissimilar to being shaken by the lapels and screamed at. ‘You want flavour?! We got flavour!’”),
mussels (“A glorious, ragtag mess of Cornish mussels out of their shells with sweet Jersey Royals, cauliflower and spikes of romanesco broccoli was a triumph of comfort”), and beef sirloin with short rib and onion
(“Wild garlic was shown off to rare, potent effect with two ruddy-cheeked slices of beef sirloin arriving with luscious short rib and a half an onion as sweet as unexpected flowers”).
He noted Goldilocks portions and called it “unmistakable, idiosyncratic, singular.”
Wallpaper*’s Ben McCormack highlighted Abé’s ongoing feminism and the penny lick’s charity tie-in: “A guilt-free dessert may be Abé’s greatest legacy yet.”
What Role Does Sustainability Play at Teal?
Sustainability underpins Teal, with British, seasonal ingredients prioritised. The penny lick donates fully to Hackney Foodbank, linking nostalgia to community support. Abé’s ethos, honed across venues, focuses on flavour, ingredients, and seasonality.
Why Did Sally Abé Choose Hackney?
Hackney aligns with Abé’s community-rooted vision. Broadsheet noted the site reflects her passion for British dishes amid Hackney’s vibrant scene. The area’s focus on sustainable food, per Sustainable Hackney, complements Teal’s ethos of nutritious, accessible, sustainably sourced fare.
