New opening

Pizzas might be having their time in the sun right now, but London has plenty of room for more smash burgers, it seems. Junk Burger are already gearing up for their third launch in London, this time inside Spitalfields Market. 

The smash burger restaurant originated in Paris (not to be confused with that other Parisian smash burger joint, Dumbo) before opening in Soho first and then Marylebone, just off Oxford Street. This third restaurant hasn't been officially announced at the time of writing, but a big hoarding outside the restaurant in Spitalfields rather gives the game away.

For a while, we've been waiting for an official announcement on the latest Arcade food hall, and now we finally have it. And it's all opening sooner than you might think. 

The food hall is taking over what used to be a particularly large TGI Friday's site in Covent Garden. It's a big corner site opposite the local Nando's, and while it's 12,500 sq ft and seats 385, it's still going to make this the smaller of the three Arcades.

Inside the new Arcade, there will be seven new food spaces, with those announced so far being:

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A full 135 years after their first cookie store opened in Chicago, followed by a slew of Paris openings in the 80s onwards, the Chicago/Paris chain Laura Todd is finally getting around to opening their first London store.

Gloucester Road tube station is the site they've chosen for their entry into the London bakery scene and they'll be opening in the actual listed station building itself.

If you haven't tried their cookies in France or Belgium before, then this is rather an upmarket offering with raw sugar, free range eggs, Patissier butter from Normandie, traditional

One of London's best pizzerias is growing, and this time they're getting into the current slice trend. Dough Hands' latest residency is at All My Friends in Hackney, and alongside their main pizzas, they'll be selling them by the XL slice. 

Run by chef Hannah Drye, you'll be able to order multiple pizzas by the slice here, so if you've ever wanted to try as many of her pizzas as possible, this is the place. Pizzas promised for the menu include the Tomato pie with anchovy, stracciatella & green sauce, Garlic sausage & pistachio pesto, Lamiri harissa aubergine & salted

They may have been the subject of much frenzied conversation on TikTok relating to what the girls of North London are doing on a Saturday, but Jolene have also been busy preparing for their first central London opening. Jolene Bridle Lane might sound more like a bakery out in the sticks, but it's actually right in the heart of Soho.

They're setting up shop inside streetwear company The Aries' flagship store, where their cafe will serve up coffee, sarnies

After nearly four years, Bar Des Pres is on the move. It's staying within Mayfair, though, just moving from Albemarle Street to South Audley Street. 

Taking over the space that was once Socca, this gives Cyril Lignac's restaurant a light-filled corner space. If you went to Socca in the past, you'll see that they've also dramatically changed the room, adding a large counter seating area (which was always one of the highlights of the Albemarle Street location). Meanwhile, the back area of the restaurant, which was always a tricky space to fill given that the main restaurant was

Every part of town has one, a restaurant site that nobody seems to be able to make work until someone comes along with something singular enough to break the curse. But it can be done. In our own neck of the woods, Islington, the fabulous Tofu Vegan successfully turned a restaurant blackspot into a thriving business.

In the West End, one such restaurant doom spot would definitely be 8-9 Market Place. Since we've been doing Hot Dinners, we've seen a slew of restaurants come and go. The most recent, Carmel, didn't even make it to the one-year anniversary.

So there's a lot

Early last year, Miller Prada left Humo somewhat unexpectedly and the restaurant somewhat struggled since, eventually losing its Michelin star earlier this year. Now the same group is getting ready to relaunch the restaurant as Igni, this time led by ex-Cycene chef Theo Clench. Clench was responsible for getting Cycene its Michelin star, so he'll definitely be looking to get one for Igni too.  

It doesn't sound like there will be much change to the room itself. Humo was a beautiful restaurant dominated by a long kitchen counter with lots of fire-led cooking and it sounds like that

8/4/26 - updated with menu details and an opening date.

In 2024, Opheem became the first Indian restaurant in the UK to be awarded two Michelin stars (followed only a few minutes later by Gymkhana). The restaurant is one of Birmingham's best and is its only two-starred venue. Now the man behind it, chef Aktar Islam (who you may have recently seen on Great British Menu), is opening his first London restaurant. 

Aktar is opening Oudh 1722 in Borough in a three-storey listed Victorian building (taking over from Lupins). It's named after the Awadhi region, and that

A few years back, we reported on the impending arrival of Mykonos restaurant Nammos, which was supposed to be heading to Knightsbridge. Now it turns out that those plans have changed and the restaurant is instead coming to Mayfair. 

They'll be taking over from Il Borro on Berkeley Street and are planning something subtly different to their Mykonos venture, more suited to their new Mayfair location, an "urban

Vagabond have been on a bit of a growth spurt recently, having recently unveiled their own urban winery in Canada Water. Now they're opening what's being described as their largest bar yet, in the middle of Soho. 

If you're still unfamiliar with the way Vagabond works, it's centred around their enomatic-style wine system, which lets them offer around 120 wines available by the glass at any time. Just bring your glass around the room, choose which wine you fancy, and

Updated 8/4/26 with opening date

If there's one thing we love here at Hot Dinners, it's a new Chinese or Japanese bakery. So we're delighted to bring you news of a hot new opening coming to Marylebone soon. Cantoast Bakery have been popping up all over London for the past couple of years. Behind the bakery is talented baker Haydon Wong, whose CV includes time spent at Bao, as a research and development chef at Dumpling Shack and, most recently, as a baker at Forno in Hackney. He's joined by pastry chef Natalie Tj, who's worked at the Hotel Lutetia in Paris and Arome in

There have been some changes at Rum Shack of late, with the group now owned by The Rhumshack Group, who also own Cottons. After that happened, all the previous Rum Kitchens closed, but now they're about to open the first new restaurant and bar under the new ownership, this time in Camden. 

Taking over a space that used to be Ma Petite Jamiaca, this will be a restaurant and late-night bar, with a menu that features beach shack-style food. That means snacks like salt cod fritters, oxtail croquettes and coconut prawns and bigger dishes of curried mutton and Jamaican fried chicken as

Updated 12.01pm - yes this was our 2026 April Fool's (although we maintain it's only a matter of time before it happens...) Click here to see all our April Fool's stories in one place.

You can hardly move right now in East London for hip vinyl bars, but one new Shoreditch spot is hoping to switch things up a level. Seedy in Shoreditch sees two well-connected bar alumni opening their first standalone venture.

What will set them apart from their fellow music bars in the city is

We reported on this one way back in June 2025, but now it's being confirmed, Mazi is coming to Mayfair - although this outpost will be called Maza. 

It's been over a decade since Mazi opened its doors in Notting Hill. The refined Greek food restaurant by Adrien Carre and Christina Mouratoglou has since spawned sibling establishment Suzi Tros, also in Notting Hill, and this central London opening will launch in the old Pizza Express building opposite The Guinea on Bruton Place. The space, you may remember, was briefly taken over by the Guinea during Covid and used as the Guinea