New opening

• Mayfair scores a new Ben Tish pub and restaurant: The Barley Mow

  

  There’s an impressive new dining destination about to hit Mayfair. The Barley Mow is a pub and restaurant set in a Grade-II-listed building on the corner of Brown Hart Gardens and Duke Street. The building was snapped up by pub group Cubitt House a while back, after closing down during the pandemic. Now you can admire the refurbished surroundings and sink an ale with the likes of haggis Scotch eggs or battered pollock,

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• Speedboat Bar is a Soho Thai restaurant from Plaza Khao Gaeng's Luke Farrell

  

  30/9/22 - updated with opening offer

  He's had success at Arcade with Plaza Khao Gaeng and now chef Luke Farrell is getting ready to open a standalone restaurant - Speedboat Bar. 

  Taking over the space that used to be Xu, the Thai restaurant is being described as a love letter to Yaowarat Road, the neon-lit street of Bangkok’s Chinatown." It

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• The Theatre Cafe Diner is mixing up show tunes and diner classics

  

  Like a bit of singing and dancing with your meal? Then the Theatre Cafe Diner could be just the thing. It's a sibling restaurant to the Theatre Cafe, the memorabilia-adorned cafe on St Martin's Lane.

• Hachi, a new Japanese bakery from the founders of Maru and Taka, is coming to Notting Hill

  

  A Hot Dinners exclusive

  Notting Hill's bakery scene is getting quite the boost. Just days after hearing that Kuro Coffee are opening a Japanese-inspired bakery, comes the news that Hachi will open later in the year. Cravings for Japanese pastries and cakes will soon be

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• Club Mexicana goes big with vegan tacos and frozen pina coladas in Spitalfields

  

  If the thought of California-style street food gets your motor running, or if you were already making pilgrimages to Club Mexicana at their Kingly Court or Seven Dials locations, then news of an upcoming Spitalfields location will make the job of hunting down vegan tacos even easier.

  Located in the former HotBox site, Club Mexicana Spitalfields promises an even bigger menu and some serious bar

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• St John pick Marylebone for their third London restaurant

  

  Updated 28/9/22 with opening date

  It's always a red letter day when we hear that a new St John Restaurant is on the way. 

  The new opening in Marylebone will make it the third restaurant in town after the original and St John Bread and Wine (not to mention bakeries in Neal's Yard and Bermondsey). It will be an all-day restaurant, apparently kicking off the day by pairing their amazing

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• The Barletta team are opening Sète wine bar and restaurant in Margate

  

  A Hot Dinners exclusive. Updated 28/9/22 with opening date

  Down in Margate, the food scene seems unstoppable with loads of interesting places opening up to look after locals and entice Londoners down for the weekend.

  This summer will see the opening of Sète by Jackson Berg & Natalia Ribbe, the team behind well-established restaurant Barletta at Turner Contemporary. The launch will be in two

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• Din Tai Fung bring their dumplings to Centre Point

  

  Ever since the first UK Din Tai Fung opened back in late 2018, there was always talk of a second restaurant that would be coming to Centre Point. But years passed with no further developments (as the work at developing the rest of Centre Point seemed to drag on). So long, in fact, that they managed to open ...

• Celebrity hangout Scott's is opening in Richmond

  

  Updated 26/9/22 with photos

  He's already had a lot of success with expanding his Ivy restaurant group across the country. Now Richard Caring is getting ready to do the same with Mayfair classic seafood restaurant, Scott's. And the first place he's expanding to is south of the river, in Richmond.

  Announced earlier this year, Caprice Holdings has revealed a little

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• Casa do Frango bring piri piri to Mayfair

  

  23/9/22 - updated with the opening date

  Next up for popular Portuguese piri-piri restaurant Casa do Frango - they're coming to Mayfair. 

  Taking over what used to be Ice Bar on Heddon Street, the restaurant will be their biggest yet (fitting in 200 people). As well as the main dining room, they'll have a terrace and two private rooms. 

  As for the food, that'll focus

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• King's House in Chelsea sees MasterChef winner Dhruv Baker serve up Basque steaks and more

  

  Back in the day, The Jam Tree was quite the King's Road institution. Now its former owner, Ashley Letchford, is back in charge along with Riding House Cafe's Clive Watson. They're relaunching it as new restaurant and bar, King's House.

  Anyone who knows the space well (most recently it was The Lost Hours) will remember that one of the big draws is the massive garden at the back. That's now been given a total

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• The new Bunsik in Camden will add bubble teas to its Korean corndog menu

  

  Having already torn up the scene in Chinatown and Charing Cross, the stupidly popular Korean corndog vendors Bunsik are heading to North London. For their third opening they've found a space on the high street where Camden locals can enjoy all their usual corndogs and a whole lot more.

  The Camden branch will, it seems, have more to offer on its menu than the first two branches. So there'll be

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• Patron Next Door in Kentish Town will feature a speakeasy lounge and secret garden

  

  26/9/22 - Updated with photos

  Kentish Town's popular French restaurant Patron has found an easy way around the problem of too many customers and not enough room - knock through into the shop next door.

  Having taken over the old vape shop next door to them on Fortess Road they've expanded into that. There's more dining space at the front (the renovations revealed some beautiful details from when the space was a

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• Covent Garden’s Royal Opera House opens its Piazza restaurant to all

  

  22/9/22 - Updated with photos of the restaurant

  If you’re looking for a restaurant rooftop view that your mates aren’t talking about yet, then plan a little cultural jaunt to Covent Garden’s Royal Opera House. But if culture is not your thing, worry not. For the first time, you won’t need to be in possession of opera or ballet tickets to gain access to the Piazza

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• Good Things sees The Good Egg folk opening a bagel shop in Stokey

  

  Updated 20/9/22 with opening date

  N16 residents may have noticed the hoardings going up on Stoke Newington Church Street for a promising-sounding bagel shop. Turns out Good Things is going to be a standalone bagel and deli counter from the folk behind The Good Egg.

  As they explained to Hot Dinners, their own love affair with bagels grew during lockdown when their delivery kits kept the business afloat.

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