New opening

• Doner Shack are bringing their Berlin-style kebabs to London

  

  20/3/23 - updated with the opening date

  We've talked before about how more restaurants that have made their name outside of town are opening in the capital - Six by Nico and Mowgli among others. Now here comes another, Doner Shack. They've opened in Leeds, Leicester, Glasgow and Edinburgh and next, it's the turn of Baker Street. 

  They seem to share some similarities

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• Giacco's wine bar hits up Highbury's Blackstock Road

  

  Eagle-eyed N5 residents will have noticed work going on over the past few months at former arts space Light Eye Mind on Blackstock Road. This week it unveiled itself as an Italian-accented wine bar, Giacco's.

  The bar's owners are Leonardo and his partner Danilo. Leonardo is the one with the background in hospitality - he used to run the Farewell Cafe which used to play host to popups from the likes of Ling Ling

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• Fink's Pump House opens in Clissold Park

  

  The powerhouse duo behind Fink's are at it again. This week they've opened their fourth spot, in Clissold Park. Their latest place is literally down the road from the OG Fink's on Mountgrove Road and sees them taking over the historic pump house in the Stoke Newington park.

  "Fink's Pumphouse is our newest baby," Mat and Jess announced on Instagram, adding that it will be "filled with our usual favorite suppliers,

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• Forno, a new bakery from the founder of Ombra, is opening in Hackney

  

  15/3/22 - updated with the opening date

  As thoughts increasingly turn to comfort food, take heart in the knowledge there’s a new bakery, deli and pastificio on its way, and it’s all thanks to Ombra head chef and owner Mitshel Ibrahim. Ombra, which opened more than 11 years ago in Hackney, steadily gained an obsessive following for the quality of its Italian food and especially its innovative pivots during

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• Riviera, a new Southern France restaurant, is opening in St James

  

  Craving Saint-Tropez, Cannes, Nice and Antibes? If you feel the need for some Côte d'Azur dining, a new restaurant called Riviera is opening in St James’s Street. It's aiming for luxurious South-of-France vibes alongside high-end dining, something that is somewhat similar in concept to the recently opened Socca.

  It’s on the former site of Sake no Hana, the fine-dining

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• London Shell Co lands in Highgate with a fishmonger and seafood bar

  

  Hot Dinners exclusive - updated 15/3/23 with opening date

  They already have two barges, one roaming and one moored, but now London Shell Co are moving onto terra firma. They're getting ready to open their first land-based site, a fishmonger and seafood bar near Parliament Hill.

  The move is rooted in something they did to survive the lockdowns, a period

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• Lee Westcott is opening Elodie and Vervain restaurants at Birch Selsdon in South Croydon

  

  The team behind Birch in Hertfordshire is gearing up for a second launch, and this time they've brought in top chef Lee Westcott to take charge of the food. Selsdon, the group's new hotel and club in South Croydon is another grand old house that's getting Birch's laid-back boho hotel treatment.

• Roketsu restaurant to open a new downstairs dining space, Bo-sen, in Marylebone

  

  It feels like it’s only been a minute since Roketsu launched its Japanese kaiseki restaurant in London and now there’s news that it’s opening a downstairs dining option in the same space. Called Bo-sen, it’s a very intimate affair, seating just eight, and will be quite different in approach to Roketsu, which

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• Sager + Wilde are opening Equal Parts, a new Amaro and aperitivo bar on Hackney Road

  

  Updated 11/3/23 with bar opening details

  Keeping their business strictly local, the team behind one of London's best wine bars have quietly opened a new place. Sager + Wilde have been a huge influence on London's wine scene since they first opened their Hackney wine bar almost a decade ago (followed up by a restaurant on Paradise Row and Fare on Old Street). Now, they've taken on a new

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• Ploussard restaurant and wine bar comes to Battersea Rise from Other Side Fried founders

  

  10/3/23 - updated with the opening date

  It's all happening in Battersea right now. Alongside upcoming wine bar Archway, we also have news of a new neighbourhood restaurant and wine bar Ploussard on the way. 

  Ploussard comes

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• KöD, a Danish steakhouse, opens in the City

  

  There has been much written about the cosy art of Danish ‘hygge’ but at the time of writing, London’s weather is still doing its best frosty Scandi impersonation, so a new Danish steakhouse called KöD in Devonshire Square is worth investigating.

  First opening in Denmark’s second-largest city Århus in 2014, Restaurant KöD hopes to bring some Danish vibes via way of juicy steaks to the City (‘köd’ means ‘meat’

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• Atlas Grinds are opening House of Hades bar and restaurant incubator in Hackney

  

  It's been a fair old while since popular cocktail bar Silver Lining had its last service in Hackney. So we're happy to be bringing you the news that another cocktail bar is getting ready to open in its place.

  Atlas Grinds have been serving up coffee by day and cocktails by night over in Stoke Newington since the summer of 2021. Now they're expanding to Hackney, but the queer-owned cafe owners have something a

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• America's Angry Crab Shack arrives in London

  

  7/3/23 - updated with the opening date

  Hard on the heels of Boston's Saltie Girl opening in London comes news of another American seafood import.

  Angry Crab Shack is a restaurant group that was first opened in Arizona back in 2013 by former NFL player Ron Lou. It's billed as a 'bib up and

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• The Gurkhas is a modern Nepalese restaurant opening in Fitzrovia

  

  Nepalese cuisine isn't something that we have too much of in London (although there are a few classic establishments dotted about) but a new restaurant is looking to change that. 

  The Gurkhas comes from the same group that's behind Hot Stone and the upcoming ...

• Rambutan Sri Lankan restaurant is coming to Borough Market

  

  3/3/22 - Updated with the opening date

  It's been promised for a while, but Rambutan is finally gearing up to open. It's the latest step in chef, restaurateur and author Cynthia Shanmugalingam's journey of exploration of her Sri Lankan roots. The restaurant, which opens in Borough Market, follows the publication of a book of the same name which shines a light on Sri Lankan cooking with a focus on

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