New opening

• Brad Carter comes to London with Undercroft in Mayfair

  

  15/5/24 - updated with the opening date

  He's been a huge hit in Birmingham (with Carters of Moseley and One Star Döner), and now Londoners are going to get a chance to see what chef Brad Carter is all about. 

  He's opening Undercroft, in the crypt of the Grade 1 listed St George’s Church in Mayfair, teaming up with music industry honcho Martin Priestnall. Hidden away

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• Colombo Kitchen are bringing their hoppers to Putney

  

  Updated 13/5/24 with opening date

  Four years on from opening her first restaurant Colombo Kitchen, in Worcester Park, chef and restaurateur Sylvia Perera is getting ready to bring her Sri Lankan food to Putney.

  If you haven't been to the original restaurant, then the hoppers are what you're really coming to Colombo Kitchen for. Chef Sylvia grew up in Kurana taking inspiration from her Aunty Nanda's home

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• The Pig's Ear in Chelsea is the Gladwin Brothers' first pub

  

  10/5/24 - updated with the opening date

  In March, after just over two years in business, The Chelsea Pig closed. But a pub has been in that space for a very long time,  it's coming back in another form pretty sharpish. The Gladwin Brothers have announced they're getting into the pub game, opening The Pig's Ear. 

  The Gladwins are behind restaurants like Rabbit in

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• Smash burgers come to Queen's Park with Supra Burger

  

  Looking at some of the recent openings, there are a few notable trends around London at the moment. Greek/Mediterranean is one and classic French cooking is another. And then there's the rise and rise of the smash burger. 

  The latest to embrace all things smashed is Supra Burger. It comes from the guy behind rotisserie chicken spot Cocotte, Romain Bourrillon, which is why they're kicking

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• Doña launches a permanent restaurant above its Stoke Newington bar

  

  Mezcal bar Doña has found the perfect pairing for its cocktails - it's launched a restaurant. The new restaurant marks the bar's move from pop-up to permanent on this part of Stoke Newington High Street. Serving up Latin American fusion dishes, the key thing is that everything is made in-house, from the dough for the empanadas to the salsa roja.

  Running the kitchen is Honduran-born chef Karla Zuniga who was also part

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• Holy Carrot is putting down roots in Notting Hill

  

  Holy Carrot has been getting a lot of love with a run of pop-ups and supperclubs over the past few years, and now it's going permanent in Notting Hill. 

  As the name suggests, it's a plant-based affair and for the restaurant, founder Irina Linovich has brought in Acme Fire Cult's Daniel Watkins to head up the menu as Executive Chef. Acme Fire Cult have always done pretty

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• La Maison Ani brings French dining from the people behind Gaia to Knightsbridge

  

  The group behind Gaia in Mayfair are opening something new in London, bringing  La Maison Ani to The Carlton Tower Jumeirah in Knightsbridge.

  Taking over the space that was the Italian restaurant Al Mare, this time they've gone French (with some Med flavours thrown in too). It's actually the second La Maison Ani, as they launched one in Dubai last

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• Bunsik are bringing Korean corn dogs to Earl's Court

  

  8/5/24 - Updated with the opening date.

  They've only just gone east to Westfield Stratford and now Bunsik are heading in the opposite direction, opening their latest Korean corn dog restaurant in Earl's Court. 

  Opening just up the road from Earl's Court station, it's a big site by Bunsik standards with space for 40 inside. As for the main event, all their popular

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• Wood St Bear will be DJ Simon Bear's new bar in Walthamstow

  

  After a period of closures of much-loved bars and cafes, Walthamstow is about to get a flurry of new openings this year. One place we're particularly interested in is Wood St Bear - a new bar opening on, you guessed it, Wood Street.

  It's taking over the old Wood Street Deli spot and comes from local DJ Simon Bear. Bear, who's lived in the area for 12 years, told Hot Dinners he's "rooted in this community.

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• The Hero in Maida Vale is the latest pub from The Pelican team

  

  They've had huge success with The Pelican in Notting Hill, as well as The Bull in Charlbury. Now, Public House Group are getting ready to open another London pub, The Hero in Maida Vale.

  As locals will know, this was recently known as The Hero of Maida, when it was revamped in 2018 with a

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• The big new London restaurants opening in May 2024

  

  This month sees the return of Michel Roux, a new high-end rooftop restaurant just in time for warmer weather and a very different take on carbonara that's not for the purists. 

• Ladurée Café Concept comes to Notting Hill

  

  Ladurée are best known for their very pretty macaron shops, but their next opening is going to be something a little different - a café in Notting Hill. 

  The new concept is literally called Ladurée Café Concept, and while they'll have the same macarons and coffee that their previous shops have had, this will be a proper cafe. It's the second of these to open, following the first ...

• Birdmilk sees Ukrainian restaurant duo opening a bakery in Notting Hill

  

  Notting Hill's well-heeled residents will soon have another lovely new bakery on their doorstep. Birdmilk is the latest in a recent line of businesses that originated in Ukraine but have also opened in London like Boca a Boca and Piana Vyshnia.

  The restaurateurs behind it are Dima Zakhodiakin and Alina Kosichkina who own 32 restaurants in Kyiv including bakery chain Khlebniy which this London opening is

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• Doughnation are bringing potato pizza to Covent Garden

  

  Maybe hoping they'll get the same kind of queues that Alley Cats do, a brand new pizza spot is opening in Covent Garden. Doughnation will be at 3 Henrietta Street, taking over part of the ground floor where Gentlemen Baristas used to be, as well as a terrace on the piazza. 

  Details on exactly what those all pizzas are going to be are being kept a little under wraps for now. However, 

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• El Cenote aims to give Camden folk an authentic Mexican experience with top tacos and margaritas

  

  The idea of opening a Mexican margarita and tacos joint somewhere like Camden definitely seems like it makes good business sense. But what makes the arrival of El Cenote interesting is that rather than being one of those chain restaurants, this is an bar devised and run by two Mexicans.

  Owner Aima Indigo is a Mexican model turned restaurateur who used to work at La Bodega Negra and Mexcalito.

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