Hot new London restaurant openings

Brat

One of the most hotly anticipated openings of the year so far is Brat – talented young chef Tomos Parry’s debut solo venture. Parry made his name working alongside Chris Leach at Kitty Fishers in Mayfair, and has this time collaborated with the owners of Kiln and Smoking Goat on Brat, which shines a light on wood-fired Basque cuisine and at the same time pays homage to Parry’s Welsh roots.

Housed above Smoking Goat in trendy Shoreditch, dishes are made from seasonal ingredients on wood ovens in the centre of the room and include the likes of cedar wood sea trout with Jersey cream; wild mussel and cockle soup; soused red mullet; spider crab, cabbage and fennel; and a whole wood-fired turbot for £55. We love the sound of the brown bread ice cream for pud.

Wines come by way of Mark Andrew and Dan Keeling’s recently formed Keeling Andrew & Co. Given the restaurant’s Spanish roots, the pair make a hero of Sherry via an amontillado and tonic cocktail and a strong selection of Sherries including rare drops from lusted after bodega Equipo Navazos.

On the still wine front you’ll find the likes of Godello from Telmo Rodriguez; Lopez de Heredia’s iconic Tondonia Blanco from the 2004 vintage; and juicy Beaujolais from Fleurie-based bright young thing Julien Sunier.

Tortilleria El Pastor

There’s no stopping the Hart brothers. Following on from their success with taco emporium El Pastor in Borough Market, this month the Harts will open a 26-seater second incarnation on Druid Street next to Maltby Street Market, which includes its own ‘tortilla factory’.

As you’d expect, tortillas are made fresh on site every day and can be bought to take away for those facing lunch ‘al desko’. On the filling front, old favourites from the original like the signature ‘El Pastor’ taco, rammed with 24-hour marinated pork shoulder, caramelised pineapple and guacamole, will make an appearance.

Mezcal fans should get their lips around the restaurant’s house mezcal, made in partnership with La Clandestina distillery.

Gizzi Erskine at Mare Street Market

Known for her angel wings tattoo and Audrey Hepburn updo, celebrity chef Gizzi Erskine will open her first permanent restaurant this month inside the shiny new Mare Street Market in Hackney.

Aiming to please, the place will have multiple personalities, operating as a florist, record shop and coffee roasterie in addition to a wood-fired restaurant and cocktail bar.

The 70-cover space, which was initially intended to be run by Nuno Mendes, will boast a giant rotisserie and wood-fired ovens and will serve dishes inspired by California’s farm to table movement with a firm focus on veg.

Dishes on the opening menu include rotisserie chicken with bearnaise and watercress salad; roasted buffalo cauliflower with gorgonzola and pickled celery; whole salt-baked celeriac with romanesco; and steak tartare with bone marrow and marmite soldiers. Don’t miss the miso caramel banana split dessert.

Heinz Beck at Browns

Having tested the water with a successful six-week pop-up called Ora at Browns hotel in Mayfair before Christmas, German super chef Heinz Beck is back in the capital and has made a permanent home for himself at the Rocco Forte hotel.

Beck, who also runs the three Michelin-starred La Pergola in Rome, will keep things casual at Browns, cooking Italian classics with British ingredients.

Among the dishes to look out for are dressed crab with wild herbs; spaghetti cacio e pepe with lime-marinated langoustine; risotto with aged Parmesan and artichokes; and grilled black cod with a nduja crust, red peppers and cucumbers. The Sorrento lemon cheesecake pud sounds divine.

Hide

One of the most ambitious openings of the year will see chef Ollie Dabbous join forces with Russian tech billionaire and owner of Hedonism Wines in Mayfair, Yevgeny Chichvarkin, to launch a 170-seater fine dining restaurant set across three floors within a 1960s building overlooking Green Park.

Called Hide, the venue boasts three separate sections – cocktail bar Below headed up by Dabbous’ former business partner Oskar Kinberg; Ground, a more casual dining restaurant at street level; and Above; a tasting menu driven fine dining restaurant run by Dabbous.

Master Sommelier Piotr Pietras has been plucked from Launceston Place to look after what will be London’s largest wine list, stretching to 6,800 bottles, and a team of 16 sommeliers.

Every single bottle sold at Hedonism will be available to order from iPad wine lists at Hide, and Pietras promises that bottles can be delivered to the restaurant in as little as 12 minutes.

The site also features three private dining rooms, a walk-in cellar, and the option for guests to choose their own decanter.

Scully

Yotam Ottolenghi’s right hand man, Ramael Scully, has opened his first solo venture in St James’s Market. Like he did at Nopi, the focus at Scully is on lader-based cooking, and a lot of the ingredients are made in house, from vinegars and pickles to syrups and preserves.

Scully’s heritage takes in China, India, Bali and Ireland, so his dishes are as diverse and colouful as his background. Grab a spot at the six-seater counter and tuck into octopus, salt-baked avocado and black garlic; beef tendons with oyster mayo; eggplant sambal with bergamot labneh; and crispy baby artichokes with black shallot aioli.

Make sure you leave room for the matcha ice cream sarnie with miso and yuzu.

Mãos

Having just closed his quirky Taberna do Mercado venture in Spitalfields, Chiltern Firehouse’s executive chef, Nuno Mendes, is to open a 14-seater kitchen table and wine room on Redchurch Street in Shoreditch this month that serves modern European cuisine.

Called ‘Mãos’, meaning “hands” in Portuguese, the restaurant is a joint venture between Mendes and James Brown of cult fashion store Hostem. Dinner at Mãos, which needs to be pre-booked, will cost £150 per head and drinks will be extra.

Tickets to the one table venue can be booked through the Mãos website but details of the menu are being kept under wraps.

Mendes was once christened the Heston of Hoxton due to his fondness for molecular techniques, which were deployed at Bacchus in Shoreditch.

Post Bacchus, the El Bulli-trained chef launched The Loft Project supper club at his home in Dalston, which acted as a platform the likes of young talents James Lowe and Issac McHale, who went on to open the hugely successful Lyle’s and The Clove Club respectively. 

Leroy

Michelin-starred London Fields bistro Ellory has a new name and location. Its new incarnation is called Leroy and the quirky small plates venue has upped sticks to Shoreditch.

Inspired by the buzzy bistros of Paris, Leroy is more laid back than its big brother, and will serve sharing cuts of meat and fish for groups, alongside oodles of shellfish.

Owner Ed Thaw has also done away with the tasting menu, and is instead encouraging head chef Sam Kamienko to take inspiration from his days cooking at La Verre Volé in Paris.

On the current menu are delights like whipped cods roe; whelks and garlic mayo; smoked eel with quail egg and crêpe parmentier; scallops with lemon butter; lamb sweetbreads with morels in a nettle and wild garlic sauce; and poached rhubarb and milk ice cream.

On the drinks front you’ll find homemade vermouth in addition to a sizeable wine list filled with European drops, including Aglianico from co-founder Jack Lewens’ Italian project Vigneti Tardis in Campania, and wines from further afield.

Stem

Mark Jarvis, the brains behind modern British darlings Anglo and Neo Bistro, is opening a third site in Mayfair this month called Stem housed inside an 18^th century building on Princes Street just off Regent Street.

Head chef Sam Ashton-Booth, Anglo’s former head chef, will be whipping up the likes of pigeon with coconut and salted peanut; the madcap sounding smoked eel with celeriac and white chocolate; and pineapple with olive oil and lime salt.

Wines come by way of the group’s opps manager, Jon Cannon, and will offer a diverse selection of drops from around the globe. Stem will have seating for just 35, alongside a six-seater chef’s table on the lower ground floor.

Sapling

We’re delighted at the emergence of an increasing number of new restaurants where wine is given equal if not top billing to food. One such newcomer is Sapling in Dalston, where the food is curated to pair with the ever-changing wine list.

Founded by former dairy farmer Bob Ritchie, Sapling’s sommelier is the aptly named Dan Whine, a former Liberty Wines man who has also worked under Gordon Ramsay. Whine’s list focuses on organic and biodynamic drops from boutique producers and shines a light on grower Champagnes.

Some of the stars from the list will be on pour in small measures via Coravin. But what of the food? I hear you cry. You can tuck into gooey gougères with smoked cods roe; Scottish langoustines blanketed in lardo; Jersey Royals with monk’s beard and pangritata; and Medjool date pudding with pistachio crème anglaise.

Cornerstone

All of the interesting new openings seem to be out East these days; and unsurprisingly given the sky-high rents in central London. Another newbie that has caught our eye is ex-Nathan Outlaw chef Tom Brown, who has opened Cornerstone in Hackney Wick where fish will be given pride of plaice.

Due to open on 24 April, on the debut menu you’ll find combinations like pickled oysters with celery and horseradish; octopus in cider with an apple dressing; chicken liver croquettes with devilled mayo; and chocolate mousse with peanuts, lime and stout. Cornerstone will feature and on-trend counter for those keen to get close to the action.