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Why a hot dog popup became London’s Champagne hotspot this summer

11 September 2024 By Giles Fallowfield

Giles Fallowfield looks into the Champagne offering of Bubbledogs at 45 Park Lane, the popup that pairs premium sparkling wines with gourmet hot dogs.

In line with some very adventurous popups at leading luxury London hotels, 45 Park Lane has bought back the growers’ Champagne and hotdogs concept Bubbledogs, in an intimate alfresco setting on the terrace adjoining Cut. And not just for a couple of weeks but running from the launch back in the second week of May right through to the end of this month.

Executive chef Elliott Grover worked closely to perfect the menu with the original Bubbledogs founders, Sandia Chang and James Knappett, who now run the two-Michelin-starred Kitchen Table on the same 70 Charlotte Street site where the original Bubbledogs was located. There are a few tweaks and additions to the menu reflecting the specialities of Cut itself, but the principal of hotdogs paired with Champagne from small scale producers is entirely undiluted, it’s just transferred to a luxury venue in Park Lane.

As a result, they’ve attracted back those Champagne afficionados that loved the original Bubbledogs and for whom the chance of again tasting a large range of hard to source, top-level growers’ fizz in one venue is not to be missed. At the same time, they have introduced something pretty revolutionary to their affluent, largely American audience which represents about 60% of the custom at the hotel and for whom Champagne outside a handful of luxury international brands barely exists.

This is something that the Champagne list at Cut largely reflects, although as head sommelier Davide Bottoni points out, its NV section does feature wines from Roger Coulon, Frédéric Savart, Dhondt-Grellet, Vouette & Sorbée and Les Cinq Filles. Plus Drappier Grande Sendrée and Leclerc Bryant in the prestige vintage section.

The wine list in the Bubbledogs pop-up is made up of 44 growers’ Champagnes and one solitary English sparkler from Oxfordshire (Hundred Hills, Hillside No 3, 2019, £125). The former are divided into nine “taste” categories, including “So fresh and so clean”, “A lick of chalk and stone” “Ripe fruit bowl”, “Age matters”, and, my favourite, “Toasty and nutty delights”.

Any Champagne list that opens with Veuve Fourny’s precisely focused and delightfully fresh Blanc de Blancs Brut Nature, a 100% Chardonnay blend from their family estate in the top premier cru of Vertus, is going to be special. It is one of five exciting grower Champagnes – Francoise Bedel, Dis, Vin Secret, Extra Brut is another that stood out — served by the glass and priced between £22 and £48 a glass or £110-£230 a bottle, this is Park Lane.

Supply and demand

The impressive selection of wines which comes from a handful of specialist suppliers including Sandia Chang’s own Bubbleshop, Thorman Hunt, The Winemakers Club and Vins-Clairs, has a mix of well-known growers like Pierre Peters, JL Vergnon, Cedric Bouchard, Georges Laval and Olivier Horiot along with less familiar names: Adrien Renoir, Antoine Chevalier, Bonnet Ponson and Domaines Les Monts Fournois.

The highest priced price wine is Bedel’s 2002 Comme Autrefois at £600, and there are 19 wines at £190 or less. But it’s good to see that partly thanks to quite a few lunchtime visits from people in the trade, the five most popular wines are spread across the price range.

Bubbledogs at 45 most sought-after Champagnes at over the past three months have been:

Savart, L`Ouverture, Brut NV: £160
Veuve Fourny, Blanc de Blancs, Brut Nature NV: £110
Egly Ouriet, Les Vignes de Vrigny, Extra Brut NV: £180
Cédric Bouchard, Roses de Jeanne, VV, Pas Dosé: £320
Dhondt Grellet, Cramant, Extra Brut: £210
Savart & Dremont, Éphémère 016, Cœur de Rosé, Extra Brut: £140

The menu comprises a mix of five ‘classic dogs’ – Fourth of July; Perrito Picante; Sloppy Joe; Reuben and New Yorker – priced at £22. Plus two ‘gourmet dogs’ at £48: the Native Dog which comes with dressed native lobster, marie rose sauce and Beluga caviar or the Kagoshima, with a nod to the main Cut next door, where A5 Waygu Striploin, Japanese mayonnaise, pickles, and shaved summer truffle comprise the luxury garnish.

They don’t stint on the dogs either, these are created to Bubbledogs specifications with top quality ingredients, pork, beef or vegetarian, from The Franconian Sausage Company, served in light, freshly baked rolls from the Cut Pastry Kitchen.

Sides range from fun finger foods including American classic tater tots spiced with Japanese togarashi, to Cut’s famed Mac & Cheese and Bubbledogs’ signature Buffalo Chicken Wings. To follow there’s a uniquely indulgent chocolate hot dog made with Jivara chocolate ganache served on a cinnamon brioche with a cherry & passion fruit sauce.

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