Thirsty Cambridge is very pleased to announce the opening in late January 2019 of Thirsty & Hungry at 62-64 King Street, after taking over the lease from The Urban Shed on 19 December 2018.
Part bottle shop and part sandwich bar, Thirsty & Hungry will be very different from Thirsty's existing site at 46 Chesterton Road. It will open from 10am seven days a week, serving great coffee, brunch, lunch and cakes to take away or have in. On the drinks side, Thirsty will sell a carefully selected range of ‘low-intervention’ wines (think organic, un-messed-about-with wines) and mostly Scandinavian and northern European craft beers to take out - or, by paying a flat corkage charge, to drink in. It will also offer a brilliant selection of low- and no-alcohol drinks for the ever-growing number of non-boozers out there.
Sam Owens, owner of Thirsty, comments: "While Thirsty & Hungry will share the same friendly, indie ethos and quality of product as our other sites, we were keen to expand beyond our traditional comfort zones. The new site gives us the opportunity to combine great wine and beer with great food, great coffee and great non-alcoholic drinks. It should offer an excellent complementary fit to our existing bar-led Chesterton Road and pop-up Biergarten sites. And it's on a brilliant street, close to the centre of town."
Overseeing the kitchen will be none other than Mark Poynton. After 15 years, Mark left behind Michelin-style dining earlier this year and is relishing getting back to basics with Thirsty & Hungry, ahead of opening his own new site in the city under the new ‘MJP’ brand. Focusing on using only the highest quality products, Mark will create a lunch menu of brilliant sandwiches and other food to grab on the go, complemented by a range of posh nibbles, sharing plates and lighter dishes later on to go perfectly with the wines and beers. Meat-eaters, veggies and vegans – all will be welcome. Mark said: "We had great fun with Thirsty at the kitchen takeover events in November. When Sam asked me if I'd like to get involved with Thirsty & Hungry, it seemed a perfect opportunity for me to do something completely different. It's all about doing the simple things really well, filling people up and giving good value for money."
The site will be managed by David Martin, previously at Cambridge Wine Merchants, Novi and Millworks. David commented: “I’ve watched Sam pull off some pretty unusual stuff around Cambridge over the last few years and I’m very excited to get involved with another new format at Thirsty & Hungry. The Urban Shed has been an institution on King Street for nearly five years and we look forward to taking over the mantle from Simon and moving things onto the next stage.”
Thirsty & Hungry will initially stay open into the evening every Thursday, Friday and Saturday and offer brunch from 9 every Saturday and Sunday.
