New opening

After half an hour chatting to wine bar owner and importer Michael Sager we're already feeling extremely jealous of anyone living in Victoria Park. In addition to the food and drink delights already there, they're about to get what sounds like the perfect neighbourhood wine bar.

Of course, Sager has a lot of experience in the game - his first place, Sager + Wilde pretty much reinvented the London wine bar

Fans of NYC style pizza pies should take note of a new pizzeria that's just opened up off Baker Street. Alley Cats Pizza is from the restaurant group that run Ochre at the National Gallery and (whisper it) Angus Steakhouse. Here in Marylebone their head chef Francesco Macri, who's ex-Pizza Pilgrims and Princi, has put together a tight menu that takes New York's pizza scene as its inspiration.

There are just seven thin

One of the quietest months of the year for new openings, there are still some very interesting new restaurants coming to London in January. 

5/1/24 - Updated with the soft launch info

The march of fresh pasta restaurants across London continues, with a fourth Emilia's about to join the fray. This time they're heading to Baker Street, just down the road from Sherlock Holmes' pretend gaff and next to Regent's Park.

As with every Emilia's, all the pasta will be made fresh on-site. Here it'll be in a special pasta station

If you feel that London's restaurant scene has quite enough burger chains or fried chicken shops, then a new opening in Streatham may have your name on it. The owners, who include the co-founder of Creams Balal Aquil, reckon that shrimp is where it's at in 2024.

Shrimp Shack opened in the weeks before Christmas on Streatham High Road. The idea is for the diner to build their own shrimp platter. First, you pick

As another year begins, here's our guide to the very best new restaurants that will be opening in London throughout 2024.

If the current dire weather has you dreaming about summer sunshine on the Med then the arrival next month of Bellazul in Marylebone might be the cure to your winter blues. Taking over the old Il Baretto site on Blandford Street this sees head chef Simone Serafini running the show having previously been Head Chef of Cecconi's Mayfair and 5 Hertford Street.

Simone's inspirational trawl around the

When Hackney restaurant Nest announced its move from Hackney to Shoreditch, their old space on Morning Lane suddenly became available and a new restaurant duo have taken it over. Jack O'Connor and Joshua Ralphs both met while working at Larry's in Peckham where Jack was head chef. Their combined CV is a tour of London's hippest restaurants like Flor, Lasdun and Jolene, so news that they're opening their own

Opening very under the radar between Christmas and New Year in Chelsea is Tabisca, an Italian restaurant which started in Lecce. The original restaurant over there describes its offering as "dishes with particular attention to the flavours of Salento and Puglia". 

The restaurant has an enormous menu featuring everything from crostini to meat and cheese platters. But the main focus is meat with

It's been eighteen months since chef and restaurateur Stevie Parle was forced to close his fabulous pop-up Joy at Portobello Dock. Problems with the lease and landlord, followed by protracted efforts to regain that lease eventually ended in failure, leaving Parle's many fans with only the chef's

A new  Vietnamese restaurant has just appeared on Islington's Upper Street and it looks like it could be worth checking out. Dzo! Viet Kitchen has taken over the space that used to be the sports bar Valderrama's and has given it quite the makeover.  

As for the menu, there are summer and spring rolls (pork and prawn, seafood and taro and mung beans) and banh mi which include

14/12/23 - Updated with the opening date

Can London have too many omakase restaurants? It appears not, as the people behind Taku in Mayfair are getting ready to open a restaurant with its own omakase counter in Hampstead (taking over what used to be Goldfish).

Iné will have an eight-seater omakase counter alongside booth seating if you want to pop in for

12/12/23 - updated with the opening date

Over the past three years, MUST Wine have been growing their wine bar empire, having opened first in St Albans in 2019, followed by Hampstead and Wanstead in quick succession. They're big on wine tastings and serve up over 70 wines by the glass in their bars; you can also ask for their Little Red Book which features what they call the "really, really special wines". Now

They became hugely popular during their stint at Netil Market. Now plant-based filled-pitta merchants Pockets are about to go permanent, opening a new shop just down the road. 

On Mentmore Terrace, the new place brings together their bakery and kitchen so those pittas are going to be even fresher than ever before. If you haven't yet made the pilgrimage, they're known for their falafel pittas, mixing up that falafel with cabbage slaw,

Should we read something into the fact that Covent Garden visitors' tastes are leaning away from smashed avos and more towards Champagne? That's one conclusion to be drawn from the closure of Avobar which has been replaced by Bar du Champagne from the same owner (although Avobar is apparently moving to a central London location next year). 

This new bistro and bar is taking up two floors of the