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New opening
- The team behind Ibai are opening Harley's butcher and rotisserie in Hampstead
5/6/25 - updated with the opening date
With the weather looking, at least temporarily, fine and sunny, barbecue season is again a possibility. So the upcoming opening of extremely promising new butcher Harley's in Hampstead is one to watch. And that's partly because it's from a team who are also behind the excellent Smithfields restaurant Ibai, known for its great
... - Little Fires will serve up rare mezcals and Oaxacan small plates in Shoreditch
It's all change at East London bar Alfie's, which this summer is being transformed into a little slice of Oaxaca, Little Fires. And rather than just saying it's going to be Mexican-inspired, they've got all the talent to back it up.
The collective in charge, Christian Pecoraro, Florian Schulze, and Horacio Sainz, has brought in the team behind one of the world's best bars, Sabina Sabe in Oaxaca, to help create
... - Mayfair gets a new boutique hotel with The Shepherd Mayfair
There have been a lot of fancy new Mayfair hotels opening of late, from the Mandarin Oriental to the upcoming Chancery Rosewood on Grosvenor Square. And now another is added to the list, with this one planned as more of a boutique affair.
The Shepherd Mayfair has taken over what used to be the Park Lane Mews Hotel, just off Park Lane and not too far from Shepherd Market
... - Lardo is opening Bastardo, its new next-door wine bar
It's been promised for a few weeks and now Lardo's new wine bar is nearly upon us. Bastardo is opening right next door to the popular East London pizzeria, and as their window proclaims, it's focusing on low-intervention wine and "mighty fine snacks".
Starting with those snacks, they're clearly sharing the same DNA as the main Lardo. So, there will be pizza fritti, sharing "trough plates" of
... - Rastro is Leather Lane's hip new sandwich bar
A few years ago we brought you the news about an interesting new Mediterranean sandwich bar Rastro, which had just opened up in East London. Now the same team, which included two Allegra alum moving closer to the centre of town by expanding to Leather Lane. Their new cafe, halfway between Farringdon and
... - HBR brings smashburgers to Victoria via Kuwait
The current smashburger craze shows no sign of slowing down and a brand new addition (at least to this country) has just arrived in Victoria. HBR first started in Kuwait, and this London opening is their first overseas.
It's a mix of smashburgers and chicken burgers, with the menu including:
- The OG – double smashed patties, melted cheese and pickles
- Double Trouble -
- With a bar in the old banking vault, Aki is a swanky new Japanese opening on Cavendish Square
London's old banks have proved to be a rich source of venues for London's restaurant and bar scene in recent years. Now, over on Cavendish Square behind Oxford Circus, a £15 million refurb of a former bank sounds like it'll be quite the looker when it opens as a new restaurant this autumn.
Aki London is the first international opening for a Maltese restaurant group, which opened Aki in Valetta five years ago. It's taking
... - Is Richard Caring's Le Caprice coming back to Mayfair?
3/7/25 update - We've been hearing that Le Caprice might not be opening here after all. We'll have to wait and see. Original story follows.
It had been rumoured for months, but now we have confirmation - Le Caprice is coming back, opening at the new Chancery Rosewood in Mayfair.
But hasn't Le Caprice already returned, you ask? Well, while
- Tom Kerridge's Butcher's Tap is being relaunched as The Chalk Freehouse
Earlier this week, there was news that Tom Kerridge's Chelsea pub, The Butcher's Tap and Grill was closing, with the team behind it saying it gave them "an opportunity to regroup, rethink and rebuild".
It turns out that they didn't need that much thinking time, because there are already plans to reopen it as a new pub, The Chalk Freehouse.
The new pub will be
... - The big new London restaurants opening in June 2025
Leaping into Summer, this month's new openings guide features the latest from Big Mamma, a Hollywood star opening an Italian in Highbury, a surf & turf chef team-up in King's Cross and lots more...
- Noren sake and sushi bar is taking over the Roji space in Mayfair
We'd been wondering what would happen to Roji omakase bar, since chefs Tamas Naszai and Tomoko Hasegawa moved over to open the excellent Himi in Carnaby - and now we know.
Next door to Chisou in Mayfair, Roji won't be relaunching as an omakase bar. Instead, much like Himi,
... - Thomas Straker opens all day restaurant and deli Acre in Notting Hill
Chef Thomas Straker is making things easy on himself with his second restaurant opening, as it's just a few doors further down from his eponymous restaurant in Notting Hill. Acre is being described as a restaurant and deli that's "all about simple, quality cooking and putting seasonal ingredients on a pedestal."
While work on the space progresses they've already thrown open the doors to the casual dining restaurant.
... - Barbarella is going to be Big Mamma's sexy new Canary Wharf restaurant
26/5/25 - updated with the opening date
Almost a year ago we brought you the news that the Big Mamma group (Circolo Popolare, Gloria, Carlotta et al) were setting their sights on Canary Wharf. Now we've got the scoop on exactly what they have planned for their restaurant there.
Barbarella is going to be a retro-inspired self-styled "wild and jungle-themed city pad". It's taken
... - London gets its own Guinness Storehouse, in Covent Garden's Old Brewer's Yard
Updated 23/05/25 with new 2025 date
Following in the footsteps of Dublin and Edinburgh, London is the next capital city to get its own huge city-centre brewery/distillery. Guinness are apparently spending £73 million building Guinness at Old Brewer’s Yard in Covent Garden.
As the name suggests, the arrival of a brewery on this particular spot sees history coming full circle, as the
... - French smashburger hit Dumbo is heading to Shoreditch
A year on from their fellow Parisians Junk Burger arriving in London, Dumbo and their smash burgers are also crossing the Channel. Of the two burger companies, Dumbo were the first to introduce smashburgers to Paris and their arrival in London will be the brand's first place outside of that city.
If you haven't tried the burgers before, then the Dumbo approach is very minimalist and much more along the lines of
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