Snag a table at these NEW RESTAURANTS
From Jason Atherton and Yotam Ottolenghi to boats full of cheese and Korean chicken joints, after far too many dormant months, the restaurant scene is awash with exciting new openings. Alex Mead gives you an update from across the country...
It’s a big time for Jason Atherton; not only is he the subject of our Origins feature (turn to p130), but he’s also part of a series of major moves from Harrods on the food front, having just opened the doors to Harrods Social, based on his hugely successful Social Eating House. His trusted right-hand man Dan Welna is head chef and the opening comes alongside other updates, including the launch of the new Chocolate Hall – labelled a ‘theatre of chocolate’, with lots of live demos. harrods.com
Yotam Ottolenghi is another of the culinary big guns to add to his franchise. This time the chef-restaurateur and best-selling food writer is opening a new Ottolenghi Deli on Marylebone Lane, with an art gallery aesthetic and a no-reservation communal dining area for breakfast, lunch or coffee and cake. For breakfast we’re talking shakshuka with braised eggs, labneh and grilled focaccia; then from 11am, a selection of salads and mains, such as roasted aubergine with lemon and lime yoghurt, amba, harissa oil and masala peanuts, and chargrilled Loch Duart salmon with sweet chilli sauce. A sweet counter will take care of the afternoon. ottolenghi.co.uk
Fans of The Harwood Arms will be glad to see the ethos expanding not only to Chester (see Beyond London), but also to Westminster ‘village’, where Sally Abé, who’s been head chef at the acclaimed gastropub for four years, is flinging open the doors to the Blue Boar Pub the first of her four new openings at Conrad London St James. Given her ‘best of British’ approach at The Harwood, there’s sure to be plenty of game, the freshest of seafood, and undoubtedly one of the best Sunday roasts in town. blueboarlondon.com
Brixton continues to build on its culinary reputation with Bellefields based in The Department Store Studios. Serving up modern Mediterranean cuisine, influences from the Aegean and the Balearics to the Levantine basin result in dishes from linguine vongole to lamb tagine and Turkish manti. bellefields.com
Later this month, heading to Canary Wharf could mean tucking into some crispy, double-fried Korean-style chicken at Judy Joo’s Seoul Bird – only the second outlet from the Korean-American chef. New to the street-foodstyle menu will be mixed buckets overflowing with double-fried tenders, wings and thighs, as well as the tender bucket, and the grilled bucket with thighs and wings all cooked over charcoal. seoul-bird.co.uk
Over in Paddington Central,
The Cheese Barge is docked and opening up its doors. Cropwell Bishop Stilton devils on horseback and Windrush goat’s curd with lamb ‘scrumpets’ will be among the cheesy small plates from
British producers, served with wine and cocktails on this bespoke
Somerset-built 96ft double-decker barge. cheesebar.com
Back on dry land, and with crispy calves’ brains with sauce ravigote in a house-baked milk bun, and French onion soup toastie already high on our must-eat list, we’ll be heading for Frank’s, from the team behind Maison François. The underground bar in St James’s Duke St also houses 200 small production natural and biodynamic wines. maisonfrancois.london
There are several new Greek restaurants opening, including Soho’s INO from the founders of OPSO and two-Michelin starred Athens restaurant Funky Gourmet. They’ll be cooking all the best things from both Britain and Greece over charcoal and serving them with an entirely Greek wine list. inogastrobar.com
Smashing Plates is another Greek-owned newcomer, this time bringing its own twist on Greek and Cypriot street-food classics to London Bridge, with gyros and bold flavours at the heart of the menu. smashingplates.uk
If you love authentic udon noodles and tempura, you’re in for a treat, as Marugame Udon, renowned across Japan and Asia, are arriving in London this July with their first UK brand in the form of a 370sq m, 100-cover restaurant near Liverpool Street. Go for traditional kama age, beef nikutama with sweet short-rib beef and a soft poached ‘onsen’ egg on udon and broth, two pork tonkatsu with chashu and spicy miso pork, and chicken katsu curry udon. marugame.co.uk
And, finally, if that isn’t a big enough restaurant for you, then take a seat at the 650sq m
Ave Mario in Covent Garden, where the people behind Gloria and Circolo Popolare have drawn inspiration from ‘Liguria to Venice to Milan’ to serve up everything from Puglian burrata to carbonara ravioli with Pecorino Romano cream, egg yolk and crispy guanciale and a gigantic Cotoletta Milanese using high-welfare rose veal. bigmammagroup.com
BEYOND LONDON
Master of game Mike Robinson has launched a new 70-seater restaurant in Chester, once again showcasing his passion for wild and locally reared meat, cooked over wood and charcoal. The Forge joins his stable of restaurants which includes Michelin-starred
The Harwood Arms in Fulham, The Woodsman in Stratfordupon-Avon and The Elder in Bath. The restaurant uses only British ingredients to cook up dishes such as grilled haunch of wild fallow deer with roast bone marrow, dirty mash and deer gravy. Roux Scholarship finalist and local Chester boy Curtis Tonge is at the pass. theforgechester.com
In Manchester, food lovers can now make their way to not just one new restaurant, but a new 740sq m food and culture hub with Society, home to five independent kitchens – think artisan burgers, Asian and Indian street food, a pizzeria and Korean joint – a cocktail bar and specialist taproom from craft brewers Vocation. societymanchester.com
Into Scotland now and in Edinburgh’s west end, working closely with Scottish farmers, The Palmerston is aiming to bring a nose-to-tail ethos and ‘explorative menu of innovative and traditional dishes’ together when they open in July. Not just for carnivores, the 60-cover restaurant, set in what was a 19th-century bank, has partnered with local veg and fruit growers to ensure the menu has plenty for vegans, vegetarians and flexitarians, too. thepalmerstonedinburgh.co.uk
Doubling back to the southern tip of the British Isles, chef Harriet Mansell, who launched the acclaimed Robin Wylde restaurant last year, is set to open Lilac in Lyme Regis, Dorset, for small plates showcasing West Country produce and low-intervention wines. robinwylde.com