Visiting Foley’s pop-up at John Lewis Gardening Society Oxford street

The rush of the city and the calm of a quintessential British garden all in one. Two things you would not put together but in the middle of Oxford Street the roof top of John Lewis has transformed for its second summer into ‘The Gardening Society’.

It is tranquil and so far from the streets below full of hustle and bustle. Encased in greenery, bird houses and places for you to perch. It is like walking through the wardrobe into Narnia! There is a little bar inside a shed called the Gardeners Arms, a main bar and restaurant and then summer houses which you can reserve and drink and dine in decked out to feel very rustic and authentic., it also has a nifty little ‘ring for service’ bell

There is ample to do up there, with events weekly and one off options too, which I have popped at the end of this post should you want to head along to them specifically. Or if you just want to sit back and admire the London skyline, it really is the perfect location to bask in the sun (when we get some of course) and catch up with friends or just take some time to yourself.

Jonny and I were lucky enough to grab some food and drinks to try while we were there the restaurant pop up we had was Foleys. This menu is now finished and a restaurant called Elephant has now set up shop for the second half of the summer until it finishes on 24th September.

The dishes were very small, and were quite pricey for what you got one small taco was around £6/£7 so it made it a bit tough to share. However the flavours were delicious, though we did end up going for dinner after as they didn’t fill the hole. The drinks on the other hand were normal priced at around £9 a cocktail I had two the first was of course a gin number and was fresh, light and crisp. The second Jonny had to finish as I didn’t realise there was tequila in it and that taste just does not bode well for me but if you like Tequila do try the Rosey Rose.

The menu features a Middle Eastern and Asian inspired taco experience, with 3 starters “Bits and Bobs”, is what they call it and a range of tacos. To start we went with the burnt chicken ends and the spiced sweet potato fritters. Both delicious and really flavourful, the fritters were light and fluffy and the mix of sweet, sour and varied textures was a real palette pleaser.We went on to pick 3 tacos, we choose Slow cooked Octopus, Goan Crab and Pork Belly as they had no sticky beef. Sadly we didn’t get to try the Pork Belly as a chicken taco came that wasn’t even on the menu but surprisingly the octopus was my top choice. It was decked with bok choi and a black homemade sauce which I could not tell you what it was but it was scrumptious. They also offered deserts but we opted to head home due to the large storm now brewing overhead.

If you are in the area do pop by, it is a lovely way to take a break from the day to day and if it is sunny catch some rays. It is only around for a little while so make sure you head over now before it is gone, hopefully if you can’t make it this sumemr it will be back again next year too.