FIRE. ACID. FERMENTS. CRUNCH.
Vegetable-forward, flavour-first, built around fire (where possible), acid, ferments and crunch.
We're building towards something permanent. Eventually.
Until then, we're cooking wherever something interesting is happening. Pop-ups, supper clubs, collaborations and short runs. Brighton, London, Sussex and wherever makes sense next.
01 · What is Novella?
Vegetable-forward, fire-led cooking with a fermentation problem.
Middle Eastern foundations. British produce. East Asian pantry raids. Lots of smoke, acid, pickles and things we've left in jars considerably longer than most people would consider sensible.
It isn't vegetarian. It isn't fine dining. It isn't fusion for fusion's sake. Meat and fish absolutely appear, they just don't get automatic top billing.
Made for sharing.
Generous, messy, punchy and occasionally a little ridiculous. Food built around smoke, acid, heat, crunch and whatever we've currently got fermenting in a jar✳.
“How fucking delicious can we make this?”
FIRE
Smoke, charcoal, blistered edges, burnt things used deliberately. Cooking that tastes like something actually happened to it.
ACID
Citrus, vinegars, pickles, ferments, sour fruit and sharp things. Rich food needs something willing to pick a fight with it.
FERMENTS
Koji, miso, lacto-ferments, chilli pastes and an ever-expanding larder of things quietly bubbling away.
CRUNCH
Crumbs, seeds, fried things, toasted things, brittle things. Because soft-on-soft is how sadness happens.
The menu
02 · Currently cooking
A snapshot, not a contract. It changes depending on where we're cooking, what looks good and what we've become temporarily obsessed with.
Novella · Late Summer 2026 menu
- Hot pita, burnt garlic toum, fermented chilli butter, za'atar
- Sesame feta, charred apricot, green chilli, oregano
- Super crispy tofu, chilli caramel, ginger + spring onion, kumquat
- Fire-roasted hispi, amba, coriander, kimchi oil, peanut
- Mackerel rillette, preserved lemon, horseradish, chilli
- Smashed kibbeh, tahini, chilli crunch, sumac onions, herbs
- Harissa fried chicken, smoked toum, pickles, herbs, lemon
- Radicchio + cucumber, labneh, sugar snaps, green chilli, lemon
- Burnt honey ice cream, sesame doughnut, sour cherry, black lime
Small plates, big flavours, no apologies. Make room, share plates, drink wild. Please tell us about allergies. Brighton, land and sea.
03 · Novella, Eventually
A restaurant
being built
in public
The long game is a small permanent Novella restaurant. Brighton currently has our attention.
Until then, we're doing the useful bit: cooking. Pop-ups, supper clubs, collaborations, guest-chef nights and short residencies in Brighton, London, across Sussex and occasionally further afield.
Every service teaches us something. Every menu gets sharper. And somewhere along the way, the restaurant starts building itself.
Novella is the work of chef John Longland, former Head Chef at Bubala, after a few years spent running pubs, kitchens, residencies and events across London. @jplongland_
Read Novella, Eventually →04 · Want us in your space?
Let's cook
something.
Got a kitchen we should be cooking in?
We're looking for pubs, wine bars, breweries, hotels, cafés and interesting spaces for one-off nights, collaborations, supper clubs and short residencies.
Brighton. London. Sussex. Further afield if the idea's good enough.
If you've got a kitchen, or something vaguely resembling one, we'd like to hear from you.