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News
Restaurant openings in 2011
A quick rundown of next year’s most interesting and anticipated restaurant openings from Heston Blumenthal’s first London venue to the return of the BT Tower and the Playboy Club.
Dinner by Heston Blumenthal at the Mandarin Oriental – Heston Blumenthal opens his first London restaurant next year at this Knightsbridge location. Dinner will replace the current restaurant at the hotel, Foliage. With 140 covers the venue will serve lunch, dinner and afternoon tea. Opens 29 January.
The Gilbert Scott – Marcus Wareing gives his protégé, Chantelle Nicholson, the reins at the renovated St Pancras Hotel site.
The Capability – A new venue for the Waldorf Astoria’s newest hotel, London Syon Park. Head chef will be Lee Streeton, formerly of The Ivy and executive chef of Browns hotel. Set in the west London grounds of Syon Park, landscaped by Capability Brown, the restaurant will include a wine room, herb garden, terrace and Martini bar. Opens February.
Pollen Street Social – After leaving Gordon Ramsay Holdings earlier this year, this will be Jason Atherton’s first restaurant since he worked at Maze. In an interesting addition, the 60-cover venue will feature London’s first dessert bar.
Spuntino – Described by Russell Norman as a “speakeasy with food; it will feel like a machine-age downtown NYC Italian diner,” this 30-seater venue is Polpo’s new sister restaurant. Located on Maiden Lane in Covent Garden and featuring head chef Rachel O’Sullivan, current sous-chef at Polpo, expect queues when it opens in early 2011.
Novikov Berkeley – Russian millionaire restaurateur, Arkady Novikov, is planning “three restaurants in one” at this Mayfair address. One restaurant will focus on Asian seafood, another on Mediterranean dishes and the third will be a bar with a Far Eastern theme. Opens in early 2011.
The Playboy Club – The first half of next year will see Hugh Hefner bring his own particular brand of taste and style to Mayfair. It is Hefner’s first foray back to the UK in 27 years, following a police raid on the last Playboy Club after a tip-off regarding gambling irregularities that shut it down.
José Pizarro at Tower Bridge – A mixture of wine bar meets restaurant meets tapas bar from José Pizarro as he returns to cooking and the south bank of the Thames following the sale of his share in Brindisa. Opens May 2011.
34 Grosvenor Square – Another Mayfair opening being tipped as a future celebrity hang-out, this 100-cover steakhouse in the middle of Grosvenor Square has the teams from Le Caprice and Scott’s behind it. Opens summer 2011.
Wolseley Aldwych – A sister venue for the Wolseley in theatre-land, this new venture from James King and Chris Corbin promises to be a European inspired brasserie. Opening is scheduled for Autumn 2011.
Rupert Millar, 21.12.2010