New opening

• The Laughing Heart late night wine bar opens on Hackney Road

  

  Here's an East London opening you can expect to see the critics beating a path to soon. The Laughing Heart is a new late night wine bar, dining room and offy. So far, so very Hackney. But it's the folk behind it you need to take note of.

  It's run by Australian Charlie Mellor who has been working on the floor at P Franco, Elliot's, Brawn and Primeur. Head chef is Tom Anglesea who comes here via Chiltern

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• Radio Alice pizzeria will bring a new take on pizza to Hoxton Square

  

  There's a new pizzeria hitting Hoxton. Radio Alice, named after an Italian pirate radio station, is taking over the spot where Monikers was on Hoxton Square. It's the brainchild of brothers Salvatore and Matteo Aloe, who already have five well-respected restaurants in Italy.

  The thing they do differently is, after having made their pizza dough from mother yeast and ancient stoneground flour, they cook the base, slice it and only then add the

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• Kiri Japanese izakaya launches in Mayfair from Chisou team

  

  Mayfair's Japanese restaurant Chisou has just opened Kiri. They're describing it as the baby of a family which also has restaurants in Knightsbridge and Chiswick. What that means in practice is that it'll serve modern Japanese dishes with some Korean influences. So you'll find Korean fried chicken alongside miso black cod and spiced sweet potato croquettes alongside hirata buns and kimchee fried rice with Japanese mushrooms.

  We're quite tempted by the sound of

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• Duck'N Roll opens its third site at Camden Market

  

  The move of street food spots to more permanent digs come winter is a recurring theme we've seen over the past few years. The latest to come in from the cold is Duck’N Roll which opens today in Camden. If you don't know about it, it's the streetfood arm of PascalAussignac - the chef behind Club Gascon - and his business partner Vincent Labeyrie.

  The duck-centric menu of small plates features on the menu:

  • The classic burger topped with Ossau-Iraty
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• The Holy Birds, an all-poultry restaurant is landing in the City

  

  The people behind The Hoxton Pony and Wringer and Mangle, The Calabrese Brothers, have their next restaurant on the way. It's a poultry restaurant (not just chicken!) based around the 1960's music & art scene, called The Holy Birds. This City restaurant is on Petticoat Lane (and alas not actually on Poultry).

  Holy Birds is a restaurant bar and lounge, with the restaurant bit being upstairs. That's going to

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• Kurt Zdesar is opening Italian restaurant Fucina, with a panetteria next-door, too

  

  Updated 4/10/16 with soft launch details

  There's a new restaurant from Kurt Zdesar on the way - he's behind Chotto Matte and Black Roe - and this time he's opening an Italian restaurant with Stefano Stecca. Stecca has worked with Locatelli and Novikov and the menu will be based on recipes from his childhood (with a bit of a modern twist). 

  That Italian menu will have pasta handmade on-site and stone-baked pizza from a wood-fired oven. They're

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• Counter Kitchen ‘mindfulness eatery’ hits Clerkenwell

  

  Updated 4/10/16 with soft opening dates

  If you're into that whole 'get one over on your colleagues' thing - the opening of Counter Kitchen will be just the ticket. Forget your boring sarnies or salads, this Clerkenwell spot, opening in October, will be alll about healthy Asian-inspired breakfast and lunches to city workers. It'll inspire total lunch al desko envy.

  Billing itself as a ‘mindfulness eatery’, Counter Kitchen’s menu

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• Nutbourne brings all-English countryside fare to Battersea from the Gladwins

  

  South London has - rather quietly - seen the launch of a new waterside brasserie as Nutbourne opens its doors in Battersea.

  The all-day brasserie and grill comes from the Gladwin brothers (behind Rabbit and more) and are aiming to serve up the finest countryside fare that England has to offer. They’ll be sourcing the vast majority of the ingredients from their farm, so think hearty local ingredients with a

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• Pisqu to bring Amazonian cuisine to Rathbone Place

  

  Hot on the heels of the flurry of South American restaurant openings in London comes Pisqu, a Peruvian restaurant dishing up cuisine native to its capital city, Lima.

  Boasting Japanese, Spanish and Chinese influences, Pisqu’s menu is a tribute to natural ingredients indigenous to the Andes and Amazon. There’ll be aji peppers, yuca, Peruvian potatoes and a whole host of South American herbs we’ve barely even heard of - camu and cedron, or maca and achiote

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• Shake Shack is opening at Canary Wharf's Canada Square

  

  Canary Wharf workers looking to up their burger intake should be pleased to learn that Shake Shack are moving into the area. Thanks to an eagle-eyed Hot Dinners reader who spotted the signage above, it's clear the US burger chain has taken over the spot once occupied by Canteen.

  We've no news on exactly when they're planning to open, but we'll keep you posted and update this when we learn more.

  Shake Shack is opening at Park

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• Ceru Levantine restaurant goes permanent in South Kensington

  

  They've been popping up in  Fitzrovia, Tower Bridge and Cannon Street, but now Levantine restaurant Ceru is getting ready to settle down. Co-founded by husband and wife team Barry and Patricia Hilton and inspired by their travels in the region, they're setting down with a permanent restaurant in South Kensington.

  Ceru will open all day with a modern take on Levantine cuisine as well as classic mezze alongside grilled

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• Popolo Italian restaurant is opening in Shoreditch

  

  There's a new Italian restaurant coming to Shoreditch called Popolo (yes, you did read that right). It comes from Jonathan Lawson, who has worked with Theo Randall for five years and is now opening his own place, joining up with his business partner, Munur Shah. 

  It's a small restaurant at 32 seats and the menu at Popolo is being described as Italian with a touch of Moorish and Spanish - and in practice, that means dishes

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• Quilombero is coming to East India Dock from Rita's Missy Flynn and Gabriel Pryce

  

  Rita's may be gone (for now) but two of its alumni are already preparing their next venture. Missy Flynn, one of Rita's founders and chef Gabriel Pryce, who has also worked in the Marksman, are setting up their next temporary project - Quilombero. It'll be a canteen style restaurant at the workspace campus Republic, over at East India Dock, and sounds very promising.

  It's influenced by

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• Fancy Funkin Chicken set to open on Coldharbour Lane

  

  23/9/16 - updated with soft launch details. 

  A late night chicken shop and bar is coming to Brixton this September. Opening on Coldharbour Lane, Fancy Funkin Chicken (yes, it really is called that) will serve a range of southern American fried chicken dishes along with a dedicated cocktail menu and will host a range of DJs every weekend. 

  It's got some pretty impressive backers too. The new venture is a collaborative effort from

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• Where The Pancakes Are open first restaurant in London Bridge

  

  23/9/16 - Updated with opening date.

  Popular pop-up and street food trader Where The Pancakes Are is moving off the street and into their first permanent restaurant. The brainchild of Dutch woman Patricia Trijbits, it'll be opening at Flat Iron Square in London Bridge this autumn.

  All manner of sweet and savoury batter treats will be on offer from breakfast buttermilk stacks to buckwheat blinis, served up with a selection of

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