In-store

• Violet Cakes has opened a secret cafe in the Alaïa store in central London

  

  London is no stranger to interesting cafes in high-end stores - check out our guide to some of the best here. But we'll admit we missed out on the news just before Christmas that another noteworthy spot had opened. The cafe in question is Violet Cakes and it now has a central London location

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• A British restaurant is opening at the new Tanner Krolle shop in Mayfair

  

  Hot Dinners exclusive

  Quite a few London high-end shops have gone down the in-store drinking or dining route. There's the very popular Café Leon Dore, Dunhill has its bar and courtyard cafe at Bourdon House, and

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• Café Leon Dore opens in London at Aimé Leon Dore's flagship store in Soho

  

  London's cafe scene got a boost at the weekend when fashion and lifestyle brand Aimé Leon Dore opened their London flagship store in Soho. Why it's of interest to us is that it means that, like the original store in New York, London now has a Café Leon Dore.

  The hip walnut-panelled, marble-floored café serves up a shortish menu that they say is "inspired by Greek culture". That means you'll be able to order Freddo Espresso

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• Selfridges' The Corner Restaurant brings in ex-Breslin NYC chef Grant Clark

  

  It's all change at Selfridges where their second floor spot, The Corner Restaurant, now has a new NYC chef running the show. Grant Clark, who comes here via The Breslin where he worked with April Bloomfield and the East Village classic, Hearth, has taken over as Head Chef.

  Tucked into one corner of the store's Oxford Street building (you enter via the Women’s Designer Galleries) the restaurant's

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• Linnaean lifestyle store and cafe is coming to Embassy Gardens in Nine Elms

  The Embassy Gardens development is getting a new all-day restaurant as part of this lifestyle store opening.

• Test Driving Harrods' Dining Hall - where luxury and passion for produce meets in Knightsbridge

  

  Harrods has unveiled its glittering, redesigned Dining Hall and it turns out to be quite the food destination.

• My Million Pound Menu's BBQ Dreamz take to the rooftop at John Lewis on Oxford Street

  

  Despite the recent chill, London's summer plans are well underway and the latest spot to reveal their colours for the season are John Lewis. They're bringing in My Million Pound Menu winners BBQ Dreamz for their rooftop space this summer. The newly titled Filipino concept, Bong Bong’s Manila Kanteen will serve up all manner of treats. Here's the menu: 

  • Lechon Kawali - Crispy fragrant pork belly, with pickled papaya salad and a Filipino lechon
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• H&M pick Regent Street for their second It's Pleat cafe opening

  

  If you fancied the idea of trying out H&M's new Swedish cafe, but couldn't quite gather the energy to get out to Westfield White City to try it out when it first opened, then the good news is they're opening another much more central one.

  The H&M HOME concept store on Regent Street will be the site of the

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• The Lip Bar at Selfridges will be part art installation, part beer bar

  

  Selfridges are paying more than just lip service to Valentine's Day this year. (Sorry, we simply couldn't resist). They're launching The Lip Bar - a teeny micro bar experience which is part art installation, part Japanese beer bar.

  It's the brainchild of Japanese artist Daido Moriyama who has covered every inch of the bar with one of his photographs showing a close up of lips. Entry to the bar costs a tenner and that also gets you two drinks - a choice

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• It's Pleat at Westfield London is Swedish clothing giant's first UK cafe

  Clothing giant H&M choose London for their new cafe concept's first opening outside of Sweden.

• Test Driving Brasserie of Light - Caprice Holdings' jawdropping restaurant at Selfridges

  London's department store restaurant scene gets a gamechanger in the form of Caprice Holding's gobsmacking new brasserie.

• Selfridges' Christmas cabaret club features drinks by Bistrotheque and Nyetimber

  

  If you've been wondering what lies behind the foil wrapped doors of Selfridges Ultralounge on their lower ground floor (we spotted it this weekend and stole in for a quick look) then let us enlighten you.

  It's all part of an adult-only cabaret extravaganza that's been devised for the Oxford Street store for the festive season. Glyn Fussell, the co-founder and Creative Director of East Creative, is responsible for the revue while folk including drag stars

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• Daylesford are opening a huge new farmshop and all day cafe in Brompton Cross

   If you sometimes like to pretend that you live in bucolic Oxfordshire rather than a studio in Peckham or semi in Southgate, then the opening of this huge new Daylesford farmshop with an all day restaurant is going to be your new go-to place to hang out.

• Huge Ichiba Japanese food hall opens in Westfield London

  There’ll be space for 200 to dine in at Ichiba, the enormous new Japanese food hall that’s springing up as part of Westfield’s regeneration. It’ll be providing hefty amounts of traditional Japanese cuisine, plus sakes, baked foods, ingredients to take home and cooking demos.

• Test Driving Chucs at Harrods - the Mediterranean good life in Knightsbridge

  Chucs are expanding throughout London, hoping to bring their taste of the Med to more. We went to try their newly-opened branch in Harrods.