New opening

• The London Shell Co are opening a floating restaurant at Paddington

  

  If you've been to any of London Shell's pop-ups, you'll know that it's good news that this enthusiastic bunch of foodies have signed a deal to open a permanent restaurant in London. However, it's not bricks and mortar - more wood and steel. They'll be launching a floating restaurant on the Regent’s Canal at Paddington with dinner either moored up or on the move.

  As you might expect from such a watery location, the menu focuses on seasonal seafood.

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• Roma restaurant in the City opens on the site of an old Roman fort ​

  

  It's all change in the City where trad British restaurant Harper's has been entirely transformed into Roma, an Italian restaurant focusing on all things Roman. The site itself on New London Street has a rather lovely connection with the new approach to food - it's where an actual Roman fort used to stand back in the day.

  ​The wine list has a Roman Empire theme - so every wine is traced back to vineyards which the Romans would have known. As for the food, apparently

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• Timmy Green is bringing Aussie brunch and more to Nova Victoria

  

  The good luck of those who work or live in the Victora area continues with news of the latest opening at the Nova development. Timmy Green is the latest from the Aussie indie chain and it sounds like it's going to be a go-to place for brunch. Hot on our list of dishes to try is the bacon roll with The Ribman's Holy F*ck hollandaise sauce and banana bread sandwich with mascarpone, berries, honey and

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• Phil Howard is opening Elystan Street in Chelsea

  

  Updated 16/9/16 with booking details

  He only left the two Michelin-starred The Square in March 2016, but Phil Howard already has another restaurant lined up. In his words "I still have unfinished business with food". He's opening Elystan Street in September - again teaming up with Rebecca Mascarenhas (they have Kitchen W9 and Sonny's Kitchen).

  It's early days for info, but what we do know is it'll

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• Neapolitan pizza restaurant Panzo is coming to Exmouth Market

  

  There's a new Neapolitan pizza restaurant on the way to Exmouth Market. Panzo's main focus is on creating double-cooked lighter dough which raises for 26 hours. They're also aiming for smaller individually sized pizzas.

  On top of those pizzas, expect  toppings that include - mushroom, mozzarella, goat cheese, stilton, pine nuts with a drizzle of honey, pumpkin, courgette, mozzarella and ham and gorgonzola, raisins

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• Perilla comes to Newington Green

  

  A VERY promising new restaurant is on the way to Newington Green (that's about half-way between Stoke Newington and Dalston). Called Perilla, it's from chef Ben Marks (ex Claridges, The Square, and Noma) and front-of-house Matt Emerson (Polpo and Polpetto). PLUS it's being backed by a team that includes Philip Howard. You may have come across them in pop-ups across London, as well as a long spot

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• Farmopolis on the Greenwich Peninsula opens a cafe on the jetty

  

  If you haven't already been out to see the floating garden jetty Farmopolis out on the Greenwich Peninsula, the opening of a new cafe might be the thing to entice you.

  Farmopolis Cafe is going to be a permanent venue down here on the peninsula. It's being run by the same company Kofler and Kompanie , behind The Magazine restaurant at the Serpentine Sackler Gallery with their head and sous chefs responsible for the kitchen here.

  Visitors

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• The founder of Smoking Goat is opening Kiln in Soho

  

  Updated 13/9/16 with opening date

  We've been big fans of Smoking Goat since it opened so hearing that founder Ben Chapman was launching a new restaurant made us sit up and pay attention. 

  The place is described as a 'side of the road type restaurant' with a short grill menu and a daily noodle dish. It sounds like it'll be quite a scene too with a long stainless steel counter curving the length of the room in front of an open kitchen with the wood

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• Caravan Bankside brings brunch and more to the south bank

  

  Already hugely popular in Exmouth Market and King's Cross, Caravan are making the leap across the river and are coming to Bankside this Autumn (that's just down the road from Hixter). 

  UIt'll be an all-day restaurant and, like the other restaurants, breakfast and brunch will play a big part of that. On that menu will be: 

  • Baked eggs with tomato pepper ragout, Greek yoghurt & Aleppo chilli
  • Jalapeno corn bread
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• Bar + Block steak restaurant opening in King’s Cross

  

  23/11/16 - Updated with soft launch details

  The surge of King’s Cross restaurant openings continues this November with Bar + Block, a steak restaurant set to open on York Way. It's taking over a large space that's part of the King's Cross Premier Inn (just opposite The Fellow, where Thyme used to be) and does still appear to be associated with the hotel (they also have one in Birmingham). It's having a massive

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• Cabotte is coming from Xavier Rousset with lots of Burgundy on the list

  

  He's only just opened the very well reviewed Blandford Comptoir, but Xavier Rousset already has another restaurant coming. He's teamed with another master sommelier Gearoid Devaney, for Cabotte. 

  This place is all about Burgundy wine and the name comes from the cottage on a vineyard that the workers

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• Bird is bringing their fried chicken to Westfield

  

  Updated 7/9/16 with opening date and launch offer

  If you've had a fried chicken craving while shopping in Westfield Stratford, then this could be just the thing for you. Bird are opening their fourth restaurant there - on the first-floor food court area (taking over the spot from Chip and Fish). There, you can expect their usual buttermilk fried chicken, chicken burgers as well as the pictured chicken and waffles. And expect their

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• Smokehouse to open Little Smoke meat restaurant at City Point

  

  City carnivores should look out for a new restaurant launching this Autumn. Little Smoke is from the team behind Smokehouse, The Pig and Butcher, and The Princess of Shoreditch. And it's ALL about meat - in particular native and rare breed meat. It's taking over the Bad Oeuf site in Citypoint.

  The idea is that all the meat for the restaurant will be sourced from small independent farmers before being butchered on-site at sister restaurant

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• New York's Dominique Ansel Bakery are bringing the Cronut to London

  

  6/9/16 - updated with details of exclusive London products including the Welsh rarebit croissant (pictured)

  Dominique Ansel Bakery is one of the most popular bakeries in New York - and a great deal of that is down to them creating the behemoth donut/croissant mash-up, The Cronut®. And now they're coming to London.

  It was announced

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• Butchies are opening their first fried chicken hatch in Camden Market

  

  A Hot Dinners exclusive

  Even before we tried their amazing fried chicken at this year's Taste of London, there was a lot of buzz around Irish duo Garrett and Emer Fitzgerald of Butchies. So it's not at all suprising, just very pleasing, to learn that the street food duo are about to open their first bricks and mortar place.

  The new Butchies' Hatch will open in Camden Market this month - expect it to build on the huge following

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