Feels Like June, Canary Wharf
A smörgåsbord of West Coast-y small plates at Feels Like June / Image: Anton Rodriguez
A sunny, serene enclave in the financial-dystopian sprawl of Canary Wharf, Feels Like June is a lobby diner connected to the Tribe hotel. Very sun-dappled it is too: from the vaguely Palm Springs modernism vibe of the decor, to the breezy menu, which swooshes from West Coast-y small plates of cacio e pepe tater tots and piquant hamachi cevice, through mounds of raisin-studded kale salads, and onto mains of caesar schnitzels, shrimp rolls and an excellent smash burger. The cocktails – rhubarb cosmpolitans, zippy mezcalitos, etc – are top-tier, too.
15 Water Street, E14 9SB
https://feelslikejune.com/
Fatto a Mano, King's Cross
Pizza, beer, bliss / Image: Laurie Fletcher
London’s hardly lacking decent pizza, but the regenerated warren north of St Pancras and around Coal Drops Yard is conspicuously bereft of good dough. Until now, as Brighton emigré Fatto a Mano has perched up on Pancras Square. It’s a dinky unit with plenty of outdoor seating (for those few weeks London hits Naples temperatures). The pizzas are excellent: gargantuan in size, with pillowy cornichons and toppings that traverse your regular iterations to more out-there vegan sausage and majestic mortadella, pistachio and burrata numbers. Great spritzes, too.
Unit 1, 3 Pancras Square, N1C 4AG
fattoamanopizza.com
Compton, Clerkenwell
Breakfast is served at Compton
What is it?
A pretty, pastel-hued all-day spot in Clerkenwell.
What’s the lowdown?
Long was the shadow cast by chef Anna Hansen’s The Modern Pantry when it closed in Clerkenwell a few years back. But a keen pretender has stepped into the Antipodean-ish diner’s shoes in the form of Compton. It’s also an all-day affair and equally serene. Expect to knock back zesty Palomas or chilled glasses of grillo (perhaps not at breakfast) over a menu of refined, seasonal plates, courtesy of exec chef Michael Shaw (late of the beloved Trinity in Clapham). Think courgettes with smoked almond gazpacho and pickled roscoff onion; hand-cut cut beef tartare with pickled walnuts; house-made pappardelle with broad beans and ricotta; strawberries with honeycomb and fig leaf oil. It’s FRESH, basically. Beautiful space, too.
47 St John’s Square, EC1V 4JJ
compton.restaurant
Mambow, Peckham
Sandos and clams at Peckham's new modern Malaysian
What is it?
A modern Malaysian concession in Peckham Rye’s Market Stalls complex.
What’s the lowdown?
Chef Abby Lee’s Malaysian-style lockdown kits brought no end of acclaim from learned gastro types – so the launch of a new joint in hopping distance of Peckham Rye station is cause for celebration. The food is broadly contemporary Malaysian, with Singaporean influences and a smattering of dishes drawn from Nyonya cuisine – a heady, herbacious, tangy style that melds Chinese ingredients with Indo-Malay flavours. In practice, that means nasi lemak-inspired fried chicken wings with anchovy sambal and lime; fried lor bak five-spice pork’n’prawn rolls in bean curd skins; and ikan assam pedas, a Malay sour fish curry with okra, aubergine and sour tamarind. Chuck in a lunchtime Hainanese chicken sando and a nifty, all-natural wine list and you’ve got one of this summer’s coolest openings.
Stall 11, Market, 133a Rye Lane, SE15 4BQ
mambow.co.uk
The Lanesborough Grill, Knightsbridge
Turbot with potted shrimp bearnaise at The Lanesborough Grill
What is it?
An upmarket grill restaurant in a super-luxe hotel.
And what’s the lowdown?
Hyde Park Corner’s The Lanesborough hotel is one of London’s most resplendently bijous: a five-star jewel in an old Regency townhouse. Equally stunning is The Lanesborough Grill – the hotel’s new modern British restaurant. Chef Shay Cooper earned Michelin stars at Richmond’s Bingham Hotel, and then at The Goring, and there’s no reason to assume he won’t follow suit here. Seasonal signatures-in-waiting include a coronation crab salad with lime sabayon, roast turbot with potted shrimp bearnaise, and a beef wellington with hen of the woods – all complemented by a ‘best of British’ snifter and wine list. The chandelier-hung, art-strewn space looks radiant, too.
Hyde Park Corner, SW1X 7TA
oetkercollection.com/hotels/the-lanesborough/restaurants-bars/the-lanesborough-grill/
Black Bear Burger, Exmouth Market
A very promising burger at Black Bear
What is it?
A nifty new burger bar near Farringdon station.
What’s the lowdown?
The burger trend is still all boom, no bust. And Black Bear – a micro-chain with branches in Brixton, Shoreditch, Canary Wharf and now this newbie on Exmouth Market – is up there with the best of them. The burgers themselves are ace – who could resist the ‘miso bacon’, with honey-butter mayo? – but the sides are world beating. Not least the brisket spring rolls – 12-hour beef, fried in a wonton with smoked bacon and cheese – or the superlative chicken nuggets. Good cocktails and natty wine round things off.
17 Exmouth Market, EC1R 4QD
blackbearburger.com
Palazzo, Crystal Palace
What is it?
An all-day Italian diner in genteel SE19.
What’s the lowdown?
Made of Dough – a Neapolitan-style pair of restaurants in Peckham and Shoreditch – does some of London’s best sourdough pizza. So it’s with some thrumming excitement that the people behind it have schlepped down to charming Crystal Palace to open this, a more substantial neighbourhood bar-diner spanning three whole shop fronts. The pizzas remain, now bolstered by a menu of brunchy bits (the bacon panuozo with mascarpone and mostarda, say), small- and large-plates (truffle and parmesan fries; panzanella salads; chicken milanese with lemon and aioli; et al) and ribald, spritzy cocktails.
3-6 Church Road, SE19 2TF
barpalazzo.com
Chet's at Rondo La Cave, Holborn
Truly punchy Thai-American plates at Chet's / Image: Anton Rodriguez
What is it?
A natural wine bar and pop-up kitchen in Holborn.
What’s the lowdown?
Buried beneath the High Holborn outpost of boutique chain The Hoxton is Rondo La Cave – a ‘naughty little sister’ to the hotel’s Rondo restaurant. The booze focus here is on low-intervention and biodynamic wines (there’s an excellent by-the-glass list with decent pet nat and orange varietals for the uninitiated); food comes from a changing roster of brand test-kitchens. Currently in residence is Chet’s – a hoofing US-diner/Thai mash-up from chef Kris Yenbamroong (the man behind LA’s feted Night + Market). The smashburger (topped with American cheese, ‘Chet’s special sauce’, chilli, pickles and coriander) is already being spoken about in hushed, hallowed tones. The coriander martini soon will be.
199-206 High Holborn, WC1V 7BD
rondolacave.com
Upstairs at The George, Fitzrovia
Langoustine scampi at Upstairs at The George
What is it? An upstairs dining room at a recently refurbed Fitzrovia Pub.
What’s the lowdown? Great Portland Street’s The George is a second bougie pub refit from ace restaurant group JKS, chef James Knappett and publican Dominic Jacobs (the first was Chelsea’s Cadogan Arms, which we rather liked. The downstairs, boozer bit of the pub has been open for a while; fresher is the more refined, dinky dining room upstairs. A seasonal and provenance-driven menu is full of polished-up gastropub stalwarts – steak tartare with hay-smoked egg and maple, langoustine scampi and chips, fallow deer bangers and mash, and so on – and there’s a Lilliputian wine bar specialising in regional sparkling English varietals.
55 Great Portland Street, W1W 7LQ
thegeorge.london/upstairs/
Noci, Islington
Silken pasta sheets with walnuts, asparagus, wild garlic and confit egg yolk
What is it?
A slick pasta place on Islington Green.
And what’s the lowdown?
It’s hard to overstate the impact Padella had when it opened in London Bridge (not least in people’s willingness to queue for 90 minutes for a plate of pappardelle). But like Bancone before it, Noci is a worthy contender. A vibey spot next to Bellanger on Islington Green, its short, sweet menu makes tough ordering – think brown butter cacio e pepe; ‘nduja, mascarpone and red onion malfadine; ‘spring silk handkerchiefs’ with walnuts, asparagus, wild garlic and confit egg yolk; and so on. There’s also a pre-pasta list of fried snacks and primi, and the added danger of £5 spritzes to embrace.
4-6 Islington Green, N1 2XA
nocirestaurant.co.uk
Turnips (and friends), Borough
Picture-perfect dishes from Turnips' regular offering
What is it?
A new guest chefs series at a grocer-turned-restaurant in Borough Market.
What’s the lowdown?
Fine, it’s a bit of a cheat. Turnips was a Covid success story – a beloved market grocer pivoting to hyper-seasonal dinners utilising its fabbo produce, cooked up by Tomas Lidakevicius, a chef formerly of City Social. But it’s not new. What is fresh, apart from the veg, is a series of dinners in collaboration with guest chefs, starting this March. First up: three-Michelin starred Jean-Philippe Blondet and his squad from Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester, who’ll be dishing up rarefied things like fermented Provençal asparagus with caviar. After that, Adolfo de Cecco of Hackney’s Casa Fofo and Galvin at Windows head chef and Ritz alumnus Marc Hardiman will be clanking the pans. Tickets are £125.
43, Borough Market, SE1 9AH
turnipsboroughmarket.com
Dipna Anand at Somerset House, Strand
Rasmalai, gulab jamun and gajar ka halwa desserts at Dipna Anand
What is it? A pan-Indian restaurant on the Strand.
What’s the lowdown? Dipna Anand – industry darling, TV regular and co-owner of the well-regarded Brilliant in Southall – has opened her second restaurant in the extremely rarefied surrounds of Somerset House (and alongside Skye Gyngell’s beloved Spring). The menu mixes Punjabi and south Indian cuisine, taking in familiar small plates of dhal, saag paneer and masala fries, a wider à la carte, thalis and biryanis. Expect Anand signatures like samosa chaat blast, Dehli makhani chicken, and ‘dynamite wings’ along the way. There’s also a short and sweet cocktail menu to neck it all back with – a rum-infused, salted lassi, and a saffron-laced sorta martini (the ‘Kesari Dream’) have us particularly piqued.
Somerset House, Strand, WC2R 1LA
dipnasomersethouse.co.uk
Blacklock, Covent Garden
The revolutionary new steak and stilton pie at Blacklock CG
What is it? A British restaurant and steakhouse just off Covent Garden’s foodie Henrietta Street.
What’s the lowdown? When it first opened, Soho’s Blacklock quietly up-ended the London steak continuum, largely by providing an alternative to the meaty, suity behemoths of Hawksmoor and Goodman by providing top quality chops without the ‘oh my god the boiler’s broken’ prices. This, their fourth branch, continues the good Lord’s work. It’s the largest yet, a subterranean temple to the cow (mostly), awash in moody woods and muted leather. Menu stalwarts like the wicked snacks (it’s the elevated cheese and pickle cracker for us), the ‘all-in’ piles of skinny chops on flatbread, and ‘say-when’ trays of cheesecake remain, but there’s new suet-laced appeal in a steak and stilton pie available only here. Bargain cocktails, too.
16a Bedford Street, WC2E 9HE
theblacklock.com
RAI, Fitzrovia
Fatty tuna maki rolls at RAI
What is it?
A high-end, omakase-focused Japanese restaurant in Fitzrovia.
What’s the lowdown?
Named after founder Shrabaneswor Rai and exec chef Padam Raj Rai – the latter formerly of Hot Stone in Islington – RAI’s hyper-contemporary chef’s menus meld traditional Japanese technique with ingredients sourced from the UK (and beyond). What you’ll eat is liable to change with the seasons, but the kick-off menu includes dishes like Orkney scallop sashimi with British parsnip, plum, spicy miso foam and home-made tsukemono, and a dessert of wagyu-fat chocolate with rosemary, thyme, cranberries, pistachio, yuzu and mixed berries. Super rarefied ingredients like Kagoshima A5 wagyu, kizami wasabi and sanpuku nori all make a showing, too. The interiors are serenely wood-panelled, and the gorgeous tableware is fashioned from recycled plastics, scrap metal and English driftwood.
3 Windmill Street, W1T 2HY
rairestaurant.com
Santo Remedio Café, Shoreditch
Tostadas and 'tails at this dinky homage to midcentury Mexican cafés
What is it?
A sister site to the beloved, crowdsourced Mexican joint in London Bridge.
What’s the lowdown?
Great Eastern Street’s Santo Remedio Café (technically the spawn of the original Santo Remedio round the corner on Rivington Street, now departed) is a self-styled homage to the Mexico City caffs of the 1940s. The dinky, colourful corner spot has a similarly compact menu of inventive takes on snacky staples – think painterly tostadas of sashimi-grade tuna, smashed avocado with chipotle mayo; cactus, hibiscus flower and manchego quesadillas; and pork belly carnitas tacos, topped with tomatillo salsa and chicharron, among other top-tier bites. The cocktail list is equally dreamy. Peach mezcalita or mezcal negroni, anyone?
55 Great Eastern Street, EC2A 3HP
santoremedio.co.uk
Carmel, Queen's Park
Whole roast cauliflower with pomegranate agrodolce and walnut at Carmel / Image: Steven Joyce
What is it?
An all-day Middle Eastern / North African-influence spot from the folks behind Berber & Q.
What’s the lowdown?
Brothers Joah and Paul Katz (and business partner Mattia Bianchi) have had a quiet few years since the openings of their big-ticket and well regard Berber & Q (in Haggerston) and its offshoot Shawarma Bar (on Exmouth Market). But lo: the trio have resurface in the genteel northwest ‘hood of Queen’s Park with Carmel. It’ll be open daily from breakfast ’til dinner, with a menu frequently making use of the space’s central wood-fired clay oven. Think challah French toast with crème fraîche and blackberry compote or oat porridge with cardamom milk in the early hours; a selection of killer looking topped flatbreads at lunch; and larger seasonal plates at dinner (grilled Sutton Hoo chicken with curry-pickled radicchio and apricot glaze, say; or sweet potato gnocchi with burnt aubergine, yoghurt and chilli butter). Factor a 60-bottle strong wine list heavy with low-intervention varieties, and it’s a dawn-til-dusk keeper.
23-25 Lonsdale Road, NW6 6RA
carmelrestaurant.co.uk
Sarap Bistro, Mayfair
The 'Bistek' rump cap at Sarap / Image: Thomas Alexander
What is it?
The smart, sit-down big-sister to a popular Filipino stall in Brixton Market.
What’s the lowdown?
London’s Filipino food scene might not get the attention it deserves. But for the uninitiated, Sarap Bistro is a great entry point into the country’s cuisine – and this Regent-Street-adjacent, elevated-casual restaurant is the type of place you might end up if you’re jonesing for a good meal after a day of shopping or museum-going in central. Chef Ferdinand ‘Budgie’ Montoya’s stated aim is to take the food of the Philippines as a starting point, add his own spin, and make sure all his dishes are ‘as delicious as possible’ (‘sarap’ means ‘yummy’ in Tagalog). A worthy mission, we’d say, and largely a successful one: Sarap’s bright, sometimes surprising, flavours are (if not 100% authentic) consistently next-level. Try the ‘celeriac kare kare’, doused in silky peanut and achuete sauce, and the simple but super-rich slow-braised kale with coconut milk, ginger, garlic and chilli.
10 Heddon Street, W1B 4BX
saraplondon.com/sarap-home
Negroni's, Soho
Bar bricks and neat banquettes at Negroni's
What is it?
An atmospheric Italian bar and restaurant in central Soho, from the people behind Lobos Tapas.
What’s the lowdown?
Sure, a new central London Italian hawking pizza, pasta and other assorted small plates might not sound like cause for effusive celebration. But Negroni’s – a reliably distressed spot new to Frith Street, offering an ominous sounding mix of ‘yelling, loving, eating and drinking’ – has a little extra pedigree. It’s from the folks behind Lobos Tapas (the Soho branch of which is bang opposite), and boasts a fine head chef in the Puglia-born Filippo Ragone, late of Highgate’s Ostuni and the ace saltwater sourdough pizza joint O’ver in London Bridge. The menu skews classic, but offers some interesting tangents in an ‘Ortolana’ pizza topped with purple cauliflower cream; a ‘Tagliatelle de Castagne’ with chestnut pasta, white beef ragu and parmesan reduction; and, naturally, a trough load of house negronis.
15 Frith Street, W1D 4RE
negronis.co.uk
Chef's table experience at KOL, Marylebone
The fresh Oaxacan-style dining room at KOL / Image: Charlie McKay
What is it?
A new, interactive development kitchen at Noma Mexico alumni Santiago Lastra’s acclaimed KOL.
What’s the lowdown?
OK, so KOL isn’t ‘new’ per se – but Marylebone’s modern Anglo-Mexican joint has been met with such breathless acclaim that getting a table remains about as easy as not contracting Omicron. Luckily, a golden ticket of sorts has appeared in the form of the restaurant’s new chef’s table ‘experience’. The space – resembling a trad Oaxacan home – gives full-frontal views of KOL’s development kitchen, from which the chefs will knock out a frequently-changing tasting menu of spanking new dishes yet to hit the ‘main’ dining room. (Think mole of purple carrot cecina with fermented blackcurrant and truffle, or a British Wagyu beef ribeye tostada with fermented plum & guajillo, and so on) It’s not cheap – £145 a head for food – but it’s sure to be killer.
Bookings are open now for January ‘til March.
9 Seymour Street, Marylebone, W1H 7BA
kolrestaurant.com
The Pig's Head, Clapham
Good produce is king at The Pig's Head / Image: Helen Cathcart
What is it?
An eco-leaning gastropub in Clapham.
What’s the lowdown?
The Pig’s Head is a ‘pro-planet pub and kitchen’ in Clapham Old Town. It’s a bright, spacious hub, with a farmhouse kitchen-style dining area (decked out in comprehensively upcycled furnishings) and a larger bar area for drinkers. The menu promises a mix of provenance-first signatures-in-waiting (crispy pig’s head with pickled Aweside Farm rainbow radish and creamed leeks, say), rarefied booze food and tinkered-with pub classics. Wash it all down with a variety of sustainable and small-batch spirits, or top-tier natural UK wines from the likes of Tillingham or Ancre Hill.
87 Rectory Grove, Clapham, SW4 0DR
thepigshead.com
The Colony Grill Room, Mayfair
Classy fare at the revamped Colony Grill Room / Image: Christian Barnett
What is it?
A white-gloved, throwback dining experience at the Beaumont hotel’s newly-refreshed restaurant.
What’s the lowdown?
The Beaumont’s red banquetted, Art Deco-muraled dining room has long attracted luxury shoppers and West London suits for its carnivorous, New York steakhouse-inspired menu and ripped-from-the-1920s vibe – but, after going untouched for many decades, it was high time for a revamp. The new Colony Grill Room is a colourful paean to Roaring ’20s glam, with a menu replete with transatlantic indulgences like on-ice New York shrimp cocktail or steak tartare dolloped with pickled egg yolk and mushroom ketchup. The food is outstanding, and formal but friendly staff keep the spirit of the wildest decade alive with liberal pours of champagne and excellent wine pairing suggestions. Veggies, don’t despair: you can get in on the fun too, as the menu’s non-meat options are limited but delicious.
The Beaumont, 8 Balderton Street, Brown Hart Gardens, W1K 6TF
colonygrillroom.com
Manteca, Shoreditch
All the good stuff – stuffed snout included – at Manteca
What is it?
A meaty Italo-British restaurant, relocated from Soho to Shoreditch.
What’s the lowdown?
You’d be forgiven for thinking that Manteca’s protracted Soho residency was permanent (at two whole years). But either way, Chris Leach and David Carter’s simultaneously gutsy and delicate British/Italian joint – arguably one of London’s best restaurants – is off to Shoreditch, this time for good. Animals are butchered nose-to-tail in-house; the raw leather and canvas upholstery is set in yellow (to reflect all the yolks used in the restaurant’s trademark pastas, duh); and the menu sees both old faves transposed (killer salumi, ‘nduja-steamed mussels, brown crab cacio e pepe, etc) and a host of promising newfangled plates (clam flatbreads, stuffed pig’s snout, seaweed tagliatelle with seaweed butter, and so on).
49-51 Curtain Road, EC2A 3PT
mantecarestaurant.co.uk
The Barbary Next Door, Covent Garden
Superlative breads and dips at The Barbary's new little sister / Image: Georgia Rudd
What is it?
A Lilliputian spot in Neal’s Yard doing an all-day menu of North African and Moorish food.
What’s the low down?
Covent Garden’s The Barbary is ace and all – but it’s also dinky AF and near impossible to get a table at. Lo: celebrations must abound then, because the guys behind it are opening The Barbary Next Door (err, next door). This all-day joint again riffs on the flavours of Moorish Spain and North Africa. Expect ktefa pastries with crème anglaise, or Moroccan maaqooda tortillas at breakfast; then delve into a menu of superlative breads, chicken pastilla filo pies (dusted with cinnamon and sugar), tagines and chermoula-marinated mullet with lemon and cumin – and so on – for lunch and dinner. The Mulwray’s Honey Spencer is doing the wines, and the space takes its visual cues from backstreet Andalusian bars and alfresco Moroccan courtyards. A no-brainer.
16A Neal’s Yard, WC2H 9DP
thebarbarynextdoor.co.uk
Cave Cuvée, Bethnal Green
Gallic-influenced plates and funk-heavy wine
What is it?
A semi-secret subterranean wine bar from London’s top-tier natural wine merchants.
What’s the lowdown?
Blackstock Road’s Top Cuvée was one of lockdown’s great conversion stories – the natty wine bar and restaurant pivoting to delivery to become one of the country’s foremost low-intervention booze dealers. Now, they’ve opened a dedicated IRL Shop Cuvée in Bethnal Green, which also happens to be home to a nifty, Parisian-style basement wine bar, Cave Cuvée. Got it? Open Friday ’til Sunday, it promises top-tier natural wine (grab a shop bottle upstairs and neck it on-site, if that’s your preference), cocktails from Dalston’s superlative Three Sheets bar and a dinky menu of small plates, like dry aged beef tartare, carottes râpées, daily terrines, and cheese selections. Guest chefs are on the horizon, too.
250 Bethnal Green Road, E2 0AA
shopcuvee.com
Tigre Tacos, Stoke Newington
Superlative SoCal tacos arrive in Stokey
What is it?
A cracking travelling taco restaurant goes permanent in north London.
What’s the lowdown?
Chef Ramon Ramos’s itinerant taqueria – still found in truck form at Nine Lives in London Bridge, and a formerly in residence at The Gunmakers in Clerkenwell – takes a long-term roost above Stoke Newington mezcal bar Doña. Expect punchy neon signage, pretty pastel brickwork and a menu drawing on the Mexican street food of 1970s southern California, including a ‘camarones taco’ with grilled king prawns, habanero and roasted pineapple salsa, and octopus ceviche on a blue tostada with chilli oil, among other cool bites.
92 Stoke Newington High Street, N16 7NY
tigretacos.com
The Cadogan Arms, Chelsea
Painterly, panelled interiors at The Cadogan Arms / Image: Lateef Okunnu
What is it?
A venerable, wood-panelled west London pub now run by JKS, the restaurant group behind Bao, Gymkhana and Hoppers.
What’s the lowdown?
If the idea of a handsome Chelsea boozer being re-helmed by James Knappett (of the double-Michelin-starred Kitchen Table) and Alex Harper (a chef late of The Ledbury and Fulham’s go-to gastropub, The Harwood Arms) is enough to drive you into paroxysms… well, get ready to burst. Start with a clay flagon of house pilsner or a caviar-flecked martini, then work your way through a surprisingly comforting menu of rarefied prawn cocktails, Cornish pasties with Oxford sauce, chicken Kievs, Mangalitsa pork chops with crushed turnips and greengage, Cambridge burnt creams and sherry-heavy trifles. A King’s Road classic in waiting.
298 King’s Road, SW3 5UG
thecadoganarms.london
Royale, Bow Wharf
Achingly pretty Provençal plates at Royale / Image: Harry East
What is it? A south-of-France-inspired rotisserie chicken outfit with Michelin credentials.
What’s the lowdown?
Squirreled away in Bow Wharf – a neighbourhood practically no one has heard of despite being just south of Victoria Park – this pretty, patio-fronted restaurant is the brick-and-mortar evolution of a lockdown experiment from the team behind Michelin-darling Leroy. When restaurants shuttered during lockdown and the industry was forced into a hard pivot, the Leroy folk launched a Provençal rotisserie chicken takeaway that everyone went wild for – so, naturally, they needed to find it a permanent home once restaurant dining was go again. And we’re happy they did – the chicken is outstanding, the vibes are excellent, and the cocktails (curated by next-door London Liquor Company) are dangerously delicious.
221 Grove Road, E3 5SN
royalelondon.com
Evelyn's Table, Soho
Superlative duck, yesterday / Image: Georgia Rudd
What is it?
An is Anglo-Franco-Japanese mash-up from the folks what brought you Palomar and The Barbary
What’s the lowdown?
A hyper-intimate, 10-seater bolthole in the basement of The Blue Posts on Soho’s Rupert Street, Evelyn’s Table has been open for a while, but the kitchen has recently been re-launched by Luke, Nat and Theo Selby – a cohort of chef brothers who’ve worked at Le Manoir aux Quat-Saisons in Oxfordshire, and Ollie Dabbous’ Hide, among other fancypants spots. Lo: British ingredients are treated with Japanese-style care (a hangover of Luke’s time at Tokyo’s Restaurant Nihonryori Ryugin), manifesting in dishes like mackerel with plum umeboshi and shiso, or tarte tatin with miso – all nicely sloshed back with natural wines paired by sweetly-named sommelier Honey Spencer.
28 Rupert Street, W1D 6DJ
theblueposts.co.uk/evelyns-table/
Hackney Coterie, Hackney Downs
Cured pork belly with kisaichi pickled watermelon and smoked tofu, can you EVEN?? / Image: Goya Comms
What is it?
A ‘modern warehouse restaurant’ and wine bar with a minimal-waste remit.
And what’s the lowdown?
This slick new joint is the brainchild of restaurateur Anthony Lyan (of Crouch End’s ‘nose-to-fin’ Lyan’s Seafood & Wine Bar) and sommelier Kelvin McCabe (a ‘Kikisake-Shi master of sake’ among other things). It’s a pretty broad remit – the industrial-chic space will also host evening DJs, a downstairs events space and a dedicated wine shop and deli – but it’s all led by a knockout-sounding menu of hyper-seasonal dishes and wine from small-scale producers. Expect such gems as pig head croquettes with baby shrimp and rhubarb sriracha, or kombucha-glazed pumpkin with Graceburn cheese and freekeh across the frequently changing menu (all headed up by a chef late of Scully’s and Hide).
230 Dalston Lane, E8 1LA
instagram.com/hackneycoterie
Ave Mario, Covent Garden
Some typically low-key Big Mamma interiors, here / Image: Jérôme Galland
What is it?
An utterly bonkers, Florence-inspired trattoria from the rascals at Big Mamma.
What’s the lowdown?
After the rip-roaring success of Gloria, Circolo Popolare and Napoli Gang, French restaurant group Big Mamma is consolidating its empire with a 295-seater shrine to Italian excess in the heart of Covent Garden. The decor is, as you’d expect, totally OTT: Beetlejuice-striped walls, velvet mafioso booths, and a refulgent central bar presided over by a 3,500-strong bottle wall. Dishes are similarly flamboyant, with an epic, multi-header menu of manically made-over northern Italian classics – like the overspilling ‘sideways’ lasagne. Dessert? A 60cm-high stracciatella cake, of course.
15 Henrietta Street, WC2E 8QG
bigmammagroup.com/en/trattorias/ave-mario
Le Bab, Old Street
Your friendly neighbourhood kebab shop, elevated / Image: Justin De Souza
What is it?
A bougie late-night kebab shop near Old Street roundabout.
And what’s the lowdown?
Sure, it might look like a garden-variety nocturnal takeaway, but no. Being the newest offshoot of the Le Bab microchain, this is more rarefied stuff: a teeny-tiny, hot-pink-and-brushed-steel Levantine-adjacent resto doing elevated takes on the classics – a pork rib-eye shwarma with chermoula mayo, say, or a sabich pitta with peanut mayo. There are more outré bits, like a British soppressata and mozarella shwarma or an Indian-inspired beef madras adana. The booze food of your (beer-addled) dreams, then.
231 Old Street, EC1V 9HE
eatlebab.com/old-street
Apothecary, Shoreditch
Killer karaage and lotus chips
What is it?
A sprawling Japanese izakaya off Great Eastern Street.
And what’s the lowdown?
An izakaya is a Japanese tavern that also does dinky plates of booze food (in that order). This slick new Shoreditch spot feels very much more restaurant than drinking den – it’s located in the swooning former enclaves of Merchant’s Tavern, for one – but that’s semantics when the menu is this attractive. Think stuffed hirata buns, robata-grilled meats (the truffle miso short rib is a de facto signature) and painterly sushi rolls, washed down with house lager, coconut gimlets and sweet pea spritzes.
36 Charlotte Road, EC2A 3PG
apothecaryeast.co.uk
Mr Ji, Soho
Zhuzhed-up and maniacally delish Taiwanese titbits
What is it?
Everyone’s favourite refurbed Taiwanese-chicken-and-snacks joint from the people behind TĀTĀ Eatery.
What’s the lowdown?
Long ago, back when people were eating Tide pods for some reason, this fried-chicken hawker was a dinky stall in Camden Parkway. Everyone really liked it, so it moved into a permanent space in Soho. And that was pretty much that – until Zijun Meng and Ana Gonçalves, the flavour wizards behind TĀTĀ Eatery, came along and zapped the menu with a bolt of genius. The chicken dishes are still there (try the ludicrously moist soy-poached chicken, never look back), but they sit alongside an equally delicious selection of inspired snacks – like braised and minced gizzards with smoked cream cheese (served with a pack of Doritos for scooping), or crinkle fries awash with stir-fry discard and mayo. Sounds insane, but it all works. The cocktails are quality too.
72 Old Compton Street, W1D 4UN
mrji.co.uk
Read our full Mr Ji review.
Cin Cin, Fitzrovia
Just a wicked plate of seasonal agnolotti, obvs / Image: Image: Jenni Helin
What is it?
A chilled-out, seasonal-Italian import from the Sussex coast.
What’s the lowdown?
Already beloved in Brighton and Hove – where you’ll find its two other locations – this casual Italian diner is making a play for the capital, despite there being no shortage of mid-range pasta hawkers across every London borough. No matter: the owners of Cin Cin – two affable Australian blokes – are unfazed, and have installed their London branch right in Fitzrovia, where fine restaurants abound. They’re probably pretty confident because the food here is genuinely good – the short, contained menu of seasonally led dishes (overstuffed agnolotti bursting with whatever’s fresh; burrata served with salty prosciutto and market veg) and classic desserts (the salty-sweet affogato with date ice cream is heaven) ensure consistent quality, and the vibes in the small dining space are always high.
21 Foley Street, W1W 6DS
cincin.co.uk/london
Read our full Cin Cin review.
The Italian Greyhound, Marylebone
The Italian Greyhound's urbane Seymour Place awnings / Image: Joe Howard
What is it?
A slick, bi-level drinks-and-food stopover in a Marylebone townhouse.
What’s the lowdown?
Run by sibling duo Marcello and Gabriel Bernardi (formerly of their eponymous restaurant at the same site), the Italian Greyhound serves – you guessed it – seasonal Italian plates that pair excellently with a Negroni and a sunny day: moreishly salty pizzette; airy, veg-scattered ravioli; and herby, oozy burrata. Outside, cheery green-and-white awnings bedeck the ivory façade; inside, it’s chic and bright, with curving Scandi furniture and trendy pink limewash walls. We recommend nabbing a seat on the street-facing terrace for the best people watching in W1.
62 Seymour Street, W1H 5BN
theitaliangreyhound.co.uk
Read our full Italian Greyhound review.
The Red Duck, Balham
What is it?
A dinky modern Cantonese joint in Balham.
And what’s the lowdown?
What was once shorthand for ‘classic’ Chinese cuisine in the capital has been given a slick makeover by the Red Duck. Chef Chi San – a former Alan Yau acolyte – is knocking out superlative takes on the classics of char siu, crispy duck, chow mein et al, bolstered by a canny eye on ingredient provenance and a decent drinks list of old-world wines, interesting cocktails and probiotic sodas.
1 Ramsden Road, SW12 8QZ
theredduck.co.uk
Read our full Red Duck review.
Imad's Syrian Kitchen, Soho
They don't do spreads like this London (until now) / Image: Issy Croker
What is it?
A big-hearted Syrian restaurant run by London’s most adored chef.
What’s the lowdown?
Everyone loves Imad Alarnab. The Damascus-born chef (and refugee) made a name for himself through his charitable supper clubs that raised funds for the charity Choose Love. His warm presence at the dinners (and delicious falafel) vaulted him to icon status on London’s pop-up circuit. Now he finally has a permanent restaurant right off of Carnaby Street, where diners can try his legendary dishes – smoky baba ghanoj; cumin-scented fettet macdous (minced lamb and baby aubergine); piping, pillowy flatbread – any night of the week.
Kingly Court, Carnaby Street, W1B 5PW
imadssyriankitchen.co.uk
Read our falafel-fuelled interview with Imad Alarnab.
