Mediterranean

• Aram at Somerset House will be a river-facing cafe, shop and restaurant by Syrian chef Imad Alarnab

  

  He's best known for being a Syrian chef and refugee who moved from pop up to permanent with Imad's Syrian Kitchen, where he's played host to King Charles. Now chef and restaurateur Imad Alarnab is expanding his empire with a second restaurant, at Somerset House.

  Aram is the first part of the enterprise and that will be a daytime space open for breakfast and lunch. The space, which overlooks the building's river

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• Manchester's Med-inspired Fenix is coming to Mayfair

  

  Tattu, the high-end Chinese restaurant with a view on the top of the Now Building, originally started as a group of restaurants in the North. Now the same team behind that are bringing another of their restaurants to London. This time it's the Mediterranean-inspired Fenix. 

  Currently only in Manchester, Fenix will be taking over the space that was Henry's on Piccadilly (which closed mid

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• Kora brings London's Mediterranean trend to the King's Road

   

  It's been a big trend in London restaurants over the past couple of years, and another Mediterranean restaurant is on the way, this time to Chelsea. 

  Kora is opening in Beaufort House, taking over what was their brasserie space, transforming it into a restaurant that "takes timeless Mediterranean classics and reimagines them with creativity and modern flair." That translates as a

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• Soleil by Claude is Bosi's new Mediterranean summer pop-up at Brooklands

  

  One of the biggest draws of Claude Bosi's two-Michelin-starred Brooklands is the fantastic terrace, one of the best rooftop dining spaces in London. However, the stunning terrace perhaps isn't the ideal space for a fine-dining Michelin-level experience, and now it's getting something of a summer overhaul.

  Taking over this space for the whole of Summer is a new pop-up

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• Test Driving Nina - a glamourpuss of a restaurant where the food is as hot as the scene

  

  Nina in Marylebone is already blowing up on social. We booked in to see if lives up to the hype.

• Ceru are bringing their Eastern Med food to Farringdon

  

  Over in Farringdon, what was once a branch of Itsu is getting what we'd definitely consider a glow-up, having been bought by the team behind CERU. They already have two restaurants in West London, in Kensington and Queensway, serving up a Levantine menu.

  We presume that the menu here in East London is going to be the same as their other two restaurants, so expect a menu that roams through Turkey through to the Lebanon and over

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• Test Driving Delamina Townhouse - a cornucopia of good things in Covent Garden

  

  Tourists and theatregoers in Covent Garden now have a really good restaurant on their doorstep to try, with the latest restaurant from the Delamina Group.

• Delamina Townhouse is opening in Covent Garden

  

  Updated 28/10/24 with soft launch details

  They already have the original Delamina in Marylebone and Delamina East in Shoreditch and now restaurateurs Limor and Amir Chen are adding a third restaurant to the group. Delamina Townhouse will launch in Covent Garden (taking over the Volto do Mar space). 

  As with their previous restaurants, the Townhouse will have an Eastern

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• Test Driving Wildflowers - a fantastic Med-inspired restaurant paired with a great-value wine bar

  

  Wildflowers is a beautifully designed space in Belgravia that's part-wine bar and part-restaurant, led by an ex-Elystan Street head chef. We approached it via a hidden courtyard to see what it was all about.

• Bottarga takes over from Chicama, shifting to the Mediterranean

  

  Recently Chicama, from the people behind Pachamama, closed in Chelsea. However, they've hung on to the space and are opening a new restaurant there pretty sharpish, called Bottarga. 

  This new opening will actually be closer to the group's restaurant in Notting Hill, Zephyr, albeit a more casual version, and will see them switch to a Mediterranean influence. The menu here also

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• Eastern-Med-inspired Claro comes to London

  

  A new Eastern Med restaurant is coming to London, this one having originally started in Tel Aviv. The London version of Claro is landing in St James, opening in the building that once held Villandry.

  It comes from chef Ran Shmueli, the owner and founder of the group, and the restaurant is billed as serving up "contemporary Mediterranean food with Middle Eastern influences." The London menu hasn't been

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• Brother Marcus are taking their Eastern Med plates to Covent Garden

  

  1/9/24 - updated with the opening date

  Brother Marcus, which has already opened in Islington, Spitalfields, Borough and Kensington, are getting ready to open their fifth restaurant. This time, it's in Covent Garden and will be the latest opening in The Yards development. They'll be taking over the site that was Miscusi and more recently hosted the Prelude by Oriole

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• Mykonos restaurant Nammos sets sail for London

  

  A few years back, we reported on the impending arrival of Mykonos restaurant Nammos, which was supposed to be heading to Knightsbridge. Now it turns out that those plans have changed and the restaurant is instead coming to Mayfair. 

  They'll be taking over from Il Borro, a large

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• Test Driving The Counter Soho - a burst of Mediterranean hospitality in the heart of Carnaby

  

  Having already scored a hit in Notting Hill chef Kemal Demirasal has brought his Mediterranean and Levantine dishes to Carnaby. We went to check it out.

• Test Driving Lita - a rare, immediate hit for Marylebone

  

  Marylebone has a hot new restaurant that looks set to challenge Chiltern Firehouse. We pulled up a seat at Lita to see what's the reason for all that buzz.