Monty's Deli closed permanently on 28 July 2019
Fans of America’s Jewish-style delis such as Katz’s in New York should make a beeline for this market-stall-turned-restaurant on Hoxton Street. The bagels at Monty’s are made from scratch on site, as is the salt beef and pastrami: this is the real deal. Open from breakfast through to dinner, the Reuben Special sandwich is the star at lunchtime, featuring rye bread jammed with layers of salt beef, pastrami, pickles and mustard. Elsewhere on the menu you’ll find the Mensch sandwich (fatty meat with mustard), cold meat platters and salads. The evening introduces whole sharing joints of pastrami or salt beef, as well as cholent stew (slow-braised brisket with bone marrow, potatoes and pearl barley) and a Shabbat set menu, which consists of chopped liver and baked challah, chicken soup to share, roast chicken and lokshen (a sweet noodle pudding) to finish. Drinks include Slivovitz plum brandy, whiskies and Palwins No 9 Israeli wine, good for sipping while you watch the theatre of the meat slicing counter. Everything is available to take away at breakfast and lunch, but with so much action going on inside, we’d take a seat.