For more than a decade, Lardo has brought the good times to Hackney – and now it’s taking its signature irreverence and playful Italian-ish food south of the river. On November 13 owner Nathan Woodhead, head chef Marta Sandini and their team will open Feral, a restaurant in recently rebooted Peckham pub John the Unicorn on Rye Lane.
Feral will take over the pub’s upstairs space with a dining room, kitchen and Negroni bar, and its bar snacks will be available throughout the rest of the boozer. This is food designed to be enjoyed with drinks – starting with the house signature, the “folds”. They’re folded flatbreads made to be held with one hand, so the other is kept free for holding a Negroni or pint. The folds’ fillings will be big on comfort: there’s the Cheese & Pickle (cacio e pepe, caramelised onion and house pickle); Carbonara (guanciale, egg yolk, pecorino and black pepper); The Kebab (spiced lamb, pickled onion, cabbage, ranch and hot sauces); and the Chicken Shop (jerk chicken thigh, cheddar, garlic sauce and parmesan).
The rest of the menu is similarly playful. Expect pub snacks like truffle cacio e pepe arancini and five-spice lasagne skewers, as well as heftier dishes such as gnocchi with vodka sauce and spaghetti and meatballs. For pudding? Tiramisu and soft serve.
“Everything I do tends to have a bit of a mischievous streak and with Feral, we’re letting it take over the kitchen,” Woodhead said in a statement. “There’s deep-fried lasagne, curry sauce getting into places it probably shouldn’t, and flatbread designed to leave one hand free for your drink.”
It’s been a big year for Woodhead and the Lardo team. Sandini joined the restaurant in the spring, weaving influences from her time cooking in China, Australia and New York through the previously straight-up Italian menu. The new partnership with the John the Unicorn team – led by Cameron McKenzie-Wilde, who’s the managing director of Peckham mead brewer Gosnells Drinks – is part of the pub’s recent reboot. Gosnells took it over in November 2025, reimagining it as an all-day destination with coffee and pastries in the morning and music and wine come evening.
Feral at John the Unicorn opens on November 13, but soft launches on November 11 and 12 with 50 per cent off food in the restaurant.
