The City of London

• Ivan Ramen is back in London with a residency at The Ned

  

  A year after his longish residency in Islington won him legions of London fans, top ramen chef Ivan Orkin is back in town with another residency. This time he's heading into the City with a two-month stay at The Ned. The chef, who runs the highly-rated Ivan Ramen in NYC and has been the subject of a Netflix Chef's Table episode, will be presenting a special menu at The Ned's Kaia restaurant.

  There will be four new ramens on

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• Honest joins the smash burger trend with Smash + Grab in the City

  

  They've dabbled in the whole smash burger scene before with a special burger on their main menu, but now Honest Burgers are making a bigger move in that direction. From today, their Liverpool Street restaurant has become the first Honest Smash + Grab. 

  That means, for the first time in a while, an Honest Burgers location will have a completely new menu. While full details

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• Pick Your Own are all about sustainable salads in the City

  

  If you're in the City and permanently thinking about what to have for lunch, the arrival of brand new salad spot Pick Your Own (aka PYO) should be of interest.

  As the name somewhat gives away, it's a choose-your-own salad place. You'll be creating a salad of four key parts. The base could be seasonal shredded veg, chopped lettuce or some fava beans. Then another layer gets added for "texture" like

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• Nancy Spains are opening their next Irish pub in the City

  

  Their first pub opened in Shoreditch only earlier this year, but a second Nancy Spains is already on the way (and we now wouldn't be surprised if more were planned). 

  It's taken over the space that was once City pub, The Wine Lodge (which appears to have been closed for over five years). As before, it's run by Kerry-born brothers Peter and Nicholas O’Halloran and they'll be

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• Gordon Ramsay is opening London's highest restaurants at 22 Bishopsgate

  

  Updated 10/10/24 with more details

  It's big news when Gordon Ramsay reveals he's opening five (FIVE!) new restaurants at 22 Bishopsgate next year. The skyscraper in the City of London is the UK's tallest office building and Ramsay will have a number of restaurants and bars right at the top.

  The biggest reveal is that the 60th floor of the

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• New Spitalfields bar 68 & Shanghai pairs wine and katsu sandos

  

  Regular Hot Dinners readers will know that we're very much in favour of all the new wine bars opening in London of late and this latest Spitalfields addition sounds very promising. 

  68 & Shanghai comes from the team behind 68 & Boston in Soho, who also run the nearby Yuu Kitchen (as well as Opium, The Last Talisman and Lucy Wong). It's replaced what was the

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• Test Driving Leydi - Selin Kiazim's new modern Turkish restaurant in the City

  

  Selin Kiazim (previously behind Oklava) returns to the London restaurant scene with a large Turkish restaurant right in the heart of the City. We went down for a first look at Leydi.

• A Cantina Malibu vs Breddos Tacos collaboration is coming to The Ned

  

  For the month of September only, there’s a tacos takeover coming to Cantina Malibu in The Ned London. Breddos Tacos will be bringing their Mexican-flavoured joy every Friday.

  If you’ve not sampled the fare of Breddos Tacos, this is an ideal cameo appearance, given the

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• Test Driving Kolamba East - the Sri Lanka restaurant comes to the City

  

  Five years after opening in Soho, Kolamba have gone east for their second restaurant, bringing Sri Lankan food to the City. We went down to try Kolamba East.  

• BAO City is coming, with bonus karaoke

  

  It’s a good day for fans of steamed milk buns, with the news that BAO London is opening its new BAO City outlet. This will be the seventh restaurant from the Taiwanese group that has an extraordinary reach across London, with outlets in Soho, ...

• Test Driving Stem + Stem - a triple threat in the City of wine bar, restaurant and florist

  

  With an experienced team behind it, this florist, wine bar and restaurant in the heart of the City is offering something fresh and new to Londoners. We went to check out Stem + Stem by Mansion House. 

• A Christmas-themed bar is popping up in London for summer

  

  Does December 25th seem impossibly far away at the moment? Well, you'll get a chance to get your festive fix in August as a new, hidden Christmassy bar is popping up in London.

  It's being set up by DesignMyNight, who are taking over Merchant House in the City with a speakeasy-style bar that's "hidden behind a secret toilet door". Head inside and they're promising to turn the tiny 12-seater space into one that's decked out with tinsel, baubles

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• Test Driving Los Mochis City - sushi and tacos against a high rise backdrop

  

  It's already one of the buzziest new openings in the City. We took the lift up to the rooftop at Los Mochis City to check out the scene for ourselves. 

• Uber Eats' Restaurant of the Year Sandwich Sandwich is coming to London

  

  12/7/24 - updated with the opening date

  They've been, literally, huge in Bristol and now the winners of the Uber Eats Restaurant of the Year award are getting ready to bring their massive sandwiches to London. 

  The person behind it is Josh Kleiner, who runs the sandwich business with his dad and brother, and they already have five sandwich shops in

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• Selin Kiazim is back with Leydi, a Turkish restaurant in the City

  

  We already knew that the new Ennismore hotel, Hyde London City, was planning a new restaurant for when it opened, opposite the Old Bailey. Now we're able to reveal what was pretty much an open secret, that Selin Kiazim, the chef behind Oklava and Kyseri, is going to

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