New opening

After a quiet couple of months, the London restaurant scene is really heating up again in September with some big new restaurant openings. Here's what you've got to look forward to. 

Just opened on Shaftesbury Avenue is Hong Kong-style tea restaurant, The Eight. It's apparently inspired by Hong Kong's 1950s-style tearooms - think greasy spoon meets diner. This new restaurant is serving up all manner of Hong Kong treats like:

• Abalone wanton noodle
• Rice wrapped in omelette with wagyu beef
• Rickshaw noodles.

“The tea rooms

Taking over The Print House site in Stratford is urban gin distillery Jim and Tonic who have a lot planned for the space on Sugar House Island. The gin company has not only opened a coffee shop, bar and restaurant on the site, but they've also got big plans for their riverside courtyard there.

At the restaurant, the menu covers pizzas, burgers and Middle Eastern dishes. But it's outside that's maybe the

26/8/22 - Updates with opening details

If you’re out and about in Canary Wharf or looking for reasons to head that way, M Restaurant is opening what they call another of their ‘gastro-playgrounds’ there, following successful launches in The City and Victoria. This latest opening has been in the works for quite a while - we first wrote about it all the way back in

New omakase restaurants are quite the trend in London at the moment. Recently, we've seen the openings of Roketsu and Roji and now comes Mayha, an omakase restaurant that first opened in The Middle East.

It's from the Nothing But Love group, which started in Lebanon and who now have a number of restaurants in the Middle East alongside Mayha, including Meat the Fish, Maryool, and The

Crikey, Notting Hill really is becoming an interesting foodie destination. Hard on the heels of the openings of The Pelican and Caia comes news of an upcoming bistro, Dorian, with a stellar crew behind it.

Founder Chris D'Sylva - who ran the first food residency at The Compton Arms and who also owns Notting Hill Fish + Meat Shop - is joined by head chef Max Coen who is ex-Kitchen Table. The final members of the dream team are

A Hot Dinners exclusive

Wahlburgers was in Covent Garden for a fleeting moment, and ever since its closure we've been wondering who would be taking over that prime Covent Garden space. Now we have the answer - it's Sunda Kitchen. 

Sunda Kitchen is a South East Asian restaurant and after a little digging, we've discovered it's got some very interesting people

24/8/22 - updated with the opening date

Temper, the steak and barbecue restaurant that has places in The City, Soho and Covent Garden is getting ready to open its fourth restaurant - this time in Shoreditch.

It'll be taking over the space left by The Jones Family Project and will be pretty familiar if you've been to one of the other Tempers. 

Originally

The Cross was HUGE back in the day. The nightclub, which was in the space that is now Coal Drops Yard, was one of London's most renowned back in the 90s - a really big deal. But with all the reconstruction of King's Cross, it finally closed its doors back in 2007. 

Now it's coming back - albeit in a very different guise. THe Cross will take over what was

If you've been wondering what was going to go in the place of the old Cargo nightclub space on Rivington Street since it closed last year then, as of this week, we have the answer.

It's now reopened - rather under the radar - as The Viaduct which is going to be an all day restaurant, tap room and cocktail lounge.

The first element is Arch - an all day spot serving what they describe as casual British food. So

A Hot Dinners exclusive

Having recently opened Maddox Tavern in Mayfair, the same team is opening Block Soho (it's in the space where Zelman Meats used to be). 

The big focus of the restaurant will be meat cooked over coals, alongside seafood and shellfish. The meat comes from Huntsham Court Farm and will be hung and aged in the restaurant’s own

There's a new restaurant coming to Soho that, looking at the folk involved, certainly sounds worth a visit. Bantof describes itself as a restaurant, cocktail bar and art space. But it's the team that they've brought on board to consult on the food and drink that elevates it from the usual restaurant equivalent of Actress, Model, Whatever.

In charge of the menu is chef Asimakis Chaniotis, whose day job is heading up

West Londoners who love Japanese food have something to cheer about this autumn. Two Japanese restaurant groups, Shoryu Ramen and Sticks'n'Sushi, are opening new branches in Kensington and Westfield London respectively.

Shoryu's new Kensington High Street branch will have room for 70 ramen slurpers in a room that mixes counter dining and mini dining pods. There'll be a separate bar are for sake cocktails and

When we are hearing about more restaurants closing than ever before, it's a nice change to hear of one that's moving and growing - and that's what's happening to Cottons. 

The Caribbean restaurant is leaving its home on Curtain Road, but moving only just up the road to Hoxton Square (taking over the space that used to be Adam Handling's The Frog).

It'll be split into two areas - an upstairs restaurant and a

17/8/22 - updated with the opening date

They've become big in Queen's Park and now Australian restaurant Milk Beach is heading into town for a second restaurant in Soho. 

They'll be opening in the new Ilona Rose House building on Greek Street (where The Little Scarlet