Refurb

• Soho’s Ember Yard restaurant gets a big refurb and a new menu

  Ember Yard, the fourth of the Salt Yard Group’s Spanish-Italian’s restaurants, will re-open its Soho doors with a new design and new menu after a month-long refurbishment.

• Mark Jarvis and Xavier Rousset take over Gunmakers in Marylebone

  

  Updated 13/1/19 with menu

  He may have left the sadly departed Neo Bistro and Stem behind (with Anglo still going strong), but Mark Jarvis has already started on his next venture. He's joined forces with Xavier Rousset (Blandford Comptoir and Cabotte) to re-open Gunmakers in Marylebone, a pub that's been around for 300 years at this point. 

  The plan is to open a 40 cover restaurant below the pub and add six bedrooms upstairs too. It's

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• Helene Darroze at the Connaught is getting a big refurb for its tenth anniversary

  

  Already one of London's very few two-Michelin-starred restaurants, Helene Darroze's restaurant at the Connaught is about to get a big new refit. Coming a couple of years after The Connaught's last big change - launching Jean Georges' restaurant - this will see the restaurant close for two months for "full refurbishment and modernisation".

  It's coming just as the restaurant celebrates its 10 year

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• Polpetto gets a new chef, look, menu - well everything really

  

  Polpetto (from the same stable as the Polpo family) has been given a new lease of life with a redesign, a new chef at the helm and a new menu and wine list to boot too.

  It sounds like the space has had a total revamp, with an entirely new layout, styling and design. Booths will run along the walls and we’ve been told there'll be better spacing with larger tables, which will come in hand for the new menus which are designed for sharing and feasting. The chefs

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• Mayfair’s The Square is getting a big refurb, and a new chef too

  Clément Leroy helped earn Paris’s Restaurant Guy Savoy its third Michelin star, shuns butter and cream in favour of lightness and texture, and is the new head chef at swish Mayfair restaurant The Square.

• Islington’s Thai Square reopens nearly a year of post-flood refurbishment

  

  Lots of us will remember when last year, a burst water main led to some pretty epic flooding around Islington’s Upper Street. The cost of the damage caused ran into the millions, and of course, affected the area’s abundance of

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• Smithfield's Michelin-starred Club Gascon is returning after a big refurb

  

  After a serious refurbishment, and a temporary relocation @club_gascon, Club Gascon is finally set to reopen the doors of its Grade II listed building. The entire space has been completely redesigned as well as adding a bigger kitchen, an extra basement space and a newly designed menu.

  Now, the

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• Michel Roux Jr unveils new look Roux at Parliament Square

  

  Hot Dinners was in Westminster last night for the relaunch party of Roux at Parliament Square. The party was a chance to showcase the restaurant's major revamp and Michel Roux Jr was on hand to oversee the celebrations. "I've been told it looks like Le Gavroche," he told guests, "but with a more contemporary feel, which I think is a huge compliment."

  The evening was a bit of a get together for MasterChef folk - the restaurant's head chef Steve Groves won MasterChef

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• A first look at the revamped Simpson's in the Strand

  Simpson's in the Strand is one of London's most iconic restaurants - and it's just emerged from a much-needed revamp...

• Simpson's-in-the-Strand to re-open after a big refurbishment

  

  Updated with opening date.

  West End institution Simpson's-in-the-Strand is about to get a majorfacelift, courtesy of the Savoy. It's rare that you can get away with describing something as "iconic" and while Simpson's fits that bill, it's been clear that something extra was needed to bring the place back to its glory days. Here's what you need to

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• The Trafalgar hotel relaunches as The Trafalgar St James with a super central rooftop bar - and views - to Westminster

  Overlooking the famous London landmark, the Trafalgar St. James is well placed to offer a luxurious rooftop drink or two at its Vista bar, with British food available in its restaurant.

• Heston's Hinds Head in Bray is getting a big revamp

  

  The Fat Duck isn't the only Heston hosted hostelry in Bray, there's also the very highly rated (and considerably more affordable/ easy to get into) The Hinds Head. And now we hear that changes are coming to the restaurant. 

  First of all, expect new menus - focusing on a choice of a three-course lunch menu for £25 plus four and six-course dinner menus for £45 and £58. They're all set-menu affairs, with come of the classics

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• Covent Garden’s Masala Zone relaunches new menu and cocktail bar

  

  Christmas shoppers in Covent Garden who want to warm up with something spicy can now avail of curries, thalis and more at the freshly relaunched Masala Zone. The Covent Garden branch has just had a massive makeover, complete with a new menu and cocktail bar.

  Some of the new dishes include

  • Idiappam Seafood Biryani with rice noodles, prawn, squid, curry leaf, coconut
  • Egg Kottu Paratha
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• All change at Quo Vadis with a big refurb and Barrafina is moving in

  

  22/8/16 - updated with more details about the opening

  The Queen's not the only notable 90th birthday this year, as venerable Soho institution Quo Vadis is getting ready to celebrate its own 90th anniversary. And it's doing it with some BIG changes.  

  The first change is downstairs - where the main restaurant is moving into the bar space (which used to be the dining room). That'll now seat 25, serving Jeremy

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