Our round-up of what the nation’s restaurant critics were writing about in the week up to 7th April 2024 The Evening Standard The Shoap, Angel Jimi Famurewa thoroughly enjoyed himself at this “hybrid cafe, food shop and bar that bills itself as ‘London’s first Scottish deli’”, from Glaswegian former economist Gregg Boyd – a “brilliant … invigorating, […]
The Emory, a new luxury hotel overlooking Hyde Park in Knightsbridge, opens next week, with a signature restaurant from New York celeb chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten. Billed as London’s first all-suite hotel, the nine-storey Emory was designed by the late architect Richard Rogers and is clad in his trademark glass panels. It is the fourth London […]
A swish, design-led and Japanese-inspired Middle Eastern restaurant opens on Monday (18 December) near Harrods, under the far from glamorous name of Clap. Clap takes over three storeys of a building in Knightsbridge’s Basil Street, and incorporates a main dining room with open kitchen, a street-level café and a rooftop bar. The brand made its […]
A ramen bar from a self-taught Indian chef based in Dubai is the surprise arrival in the roster of new outlets announced for the reopening of Harrods Food Hall next month. New Delhi-born Neha Mishra was a successful video producer when she became obsessed with the notion of cooking ramen 10 years ago – in […]
Veteran New York-based sushi master Masayoshi Takayama is the latest superstar chef who has agreed to launch an outpost at big-spending Harrods in Knightsbridge. Born into a family that ran a fish shop, Masa did an eight-year apprenticeship in Tokyo’s smart Ginza shopping district before heading to Los Angeles, where his restaurant helped popularise sushi […]
Markus Thesleff, founder of Notting Hill Mexican/Japanese hybrid Los Mochis, has acquired veteran Knightsbridge trattoria Sale e Pepe, which celebrates its half centenary next year. The unlikely-sounding deal brings together the Finnish-born restaurant innovator, who coined the label ‘Baja-Nihon’ to describe the tacos served with Japanese precision at Los Mochis, with Italian dining of the […]
London’s growing ranks of upscale African restaurants will be swelled this month with the launch of Isibani, under Nigerian-born chef Victor Okunowo (pictured), at the very plushest of addresses on Knightsbridge Green. Meaning “bring the light” in Zulu, Isibani’s founders describe it as “a love letter to West African cuisine” and a celebration of their […]
Osteria San Lorenzo, the celebrity haunt in Knightsbridge launched as the Swinging Sixties took off in 1963, will not reopen, having remained closed since last year’s Covid lockdown. Named after the early Christian martyr roasted to death on a grid-iron, who coolly asked his torturers to turn him over because he was “done on that […]
The Mandarin Oriental in Knightsbridge is replacing pimped-up New York-style burgers with a hyper-trendy oriental import with today’s opening of The Aubrey in the space formerly occupied by Bar Boulud. Named after the decadent fin de siècle artist Aubrey Beardsley, the Aubrey pitches itself as an “eccentric Japanese izakaya experience”, offering upmarket food and cocktails […]
Björn Frantzén, the Swedish superstar chef whose Stockholm flagship was this week pronounced No 6 in the World’s 50 Best Restaurant awards, is to open his first UK restaurant in Harrods next year. Last month Frantzén came second in another international contest, the Best Chef awards. Ashley Saxton, general manager of restaurants at Harrods, said it […]
