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i spent much more time editing than writing this year, so here's a thread of eater contributors' work that i was honoured to work on. starting with the ongoing "five to try," which in january saw @new_mi and @demarionunn blow up la chingada in surrey quays https://london.eater.com/2020/1/10/21058349/where-to-eat-in-london-best-restaurants-weekend-2020
staying with tacos, sonora's trajectory through tortilla machine, outstanding restaurant, tortilla machine and outstanding restaurant, and tortilla machine again was one of the key openings of the year. the boss @AdamCoghlan was right on it, of course https://london.eater.com/2020/2/24/21150451/sonora-northern-mexican-taqueria-pollo-feliz-flour-tortillas-netil-market-hackney
. @annasulan's meditation on the value of supper clubs and a guide to the city's most exciting was wonderful then and is all the more poignant now, with many of them outside the reach of — inadequate — government support https://london.eater.com/2020/1/21/21074990/best-supper-clubs-london-2020
. @Angela_Hui's reporting on the impact of coronavirus on Chinatown and its food businesses has been second to none through the entire year. she started with this look on how it was hit first, and hardest, by both the virus and baseless Sinophobia https://london.eater.com/2020/3/10/21172916/coronavirus-uk-latest-covid-19-london-restaurants-chinatown-closures
no-one does a single dish guide like @FoodStories, and her guide to the city's best wings was no exception https://london.eater.com/maps/best-chicken-wings-london-restaurants
. @demarionunn's regularly updated canon of best-value restaurants in the city remains a stake in the ground for what it means to eat in london, for whose work is valued, and for broadening what greatness looks like in restaurants https://london.eater.com/2019/10/10/20908213/best-value-restaurants-london-north-east-south-west
april needed a look on what restaurants could expect from COVID-19, and it turned out what they had to expect most was the unexpected. to explain how and why, there was no-one better than @vaughn_tan, and nothing better than this piece https://london.eater.com/2020/4/21/21228609/coronavirus-restaurants-lockdown-social-distancing-eating-out
throughout the pandemic, the relationship between people, place, and landlords became increasingly fraught. in may i reported on the work of @save_nour, and what one vital shop had to say about the attitudes of developers towards brixton and its community https://london.eater.com/2020/5/21/21259754/nour-brixton-eviction-hondo-enterprises-brixton-market
we're back with @angela_hui, and this incredible story on a vital chinatown business, its history, and an uncertain future exacerbated by covid-19 but set in stone by its landlord, shaftesbury https://london.eater.com/2020/6/5/21280138/los-noodles-chinatown-restaurants-london-reopening-coronavirus-lockdown
many restaurant workers spent 2020 caught between fears of getting sick and fears of losing work, in the face of inadequate sick pay, inadequate support, and inadequate policy from huge employers. @LauraPriceWrite looked at what that meant for mcdonald's https://london.eater.com/2020/6/9/21284948/mcdonalds-reopening-uk-worker-safety-coronavirus
an under-interrogated buzzword of 2020: "restaurant industry." who is it? who is it for? does it really represent what dining out means to people? @demarionunn walked the old kent road to get under its skin https://london.eater.com/2020/6/15/21291325/old-kent-road-restaurant-community-reopen-coronavirus-bailout
in a horrible year, terrible news, when @SaimaThompson passed away. @ridahb wrote a full, generous remembrance of her work in the brockley community, and what her cooking and advocacy meant to so many https://london.eater.com/2020/7/1/21309839/saima-thompson-masala-wala-cafe-obituary-curry-cancer
brexit hung over the year like a thundercloud, and chlorinated chicken remained a lightning rod for its food consequences. over several stories, i tried to show how really, it's just a cipher for broadening food inequality and whittling away choice https://london.eater.com/2020/7/10/21319748/chlorinated-chicken-uk-supermarkets-waitrose-aldi-sainsburys
merch became just one source of funding for beleaguered restaurants, and no-one but @LucasOakeley could have provided the hypebeast's guide https://london.eater.com/2020/3/19/21186445/best-london-restaurant-merch-t-shirt-tote-bag
. @heavier_things contributed this beautiful piece of category questioning to the at-home package, asking to broaden the meaning of what we talk about when we talk about "food films" https://london.eater.com/2020/4/6/21206701/best-food-films-watch-netflix-amazon-prime-youtube
and let's be honest, no-one could be without @SejalSukhadwala's guides to streaming food tv, on netflix and beyond https://london.eater.com/2020/4/3/21206632/best-food-shows-films-netflix
the sack of wet eggs. that's it. that's the tweet https://london.eater.com/21441300/sack-of-wet-eggs-morrisons-supermarket-viral-twitter
no chain has a weird place in the national psyche like pizza express, and no chain was more emblematic of the phrase, "it's not the pandemic, it's private equity" https://london.eater.com/2020/8/19/21374903/pizza-express-closing-restaurants-coronavirus-pandemic
. @MarcusRashford has spent the year showing the government what advocacy looks like, even if he shouldn't have to. @helensulis explained how the free school meal situation has its roots in jamie oliver, as much as tory policy https://london.eater.com/21552368/free-school-meals-marcus-rashford-petition-jamie-oliver
. @riazphillips' restaurant history of the mangrove and its status as a crucible of resistance in the Black community in London https://london.eater.com/21579077/mangrove-restaurant-history-notting-hill-small-axe-steve-mcqueen
and finally, the great meal kit chronicler @ShekhaV dived into why they worked, how to keep them working, and why they might not work forever https://london.eater.com/21503867/meal-kit-delivery-london-restaurants-coronavirus
there was a ton of great work i could have added, and i truly believe no-one has covered the pandemic's impact on restaurants in the u.k. with the breadth that these incredible writers and thinkers bring to the table. thank you all and here's to next year
