Belgian gourmet chip shop Frites Atelier is to open a branch in London, in the former Balans Soho premises in Old Compton Street. Frites Atelier was launched in 2016 by Sergio Herman, the chef behind world-famous restaurant Old Sluis, which he closed three years earlier to focus on several different projects. There are currently three […]
New-wave Shoreditch wine bar Oranj is moving into larger new premises next week, with an outdoor kitchen and dining terrace. The new venue, in pedestrianised Dray Walk, is five minutes’ walk from the original site in Bacon Street near Brick Lane – which the current Harden’s guide notes is “very buzzy” and “usually packed”, but where […]
The duo behind Italian-inspired restaurant Legare at Shad Thames near Tower Bridge have opened a new wine bar, bottle shop and restaurant almost next door called Luna. Former Barrafina manager Jay Patel (left in picture) and ex-Trullo chef Matt Beardmore (right) have earned a strong reputation in the six years since they opened Legare, which […]
The Duck and Rice, the Soho pub that combines Cantonese food with British boozer, has opened a first spin-off – a full decade after its launch – in the redeveloped Battersea power station. The new branch is twice the size of the original, seating 185, and instead of looking like a spruced-up old pub is […]
The Coconut Tree group of Sri Lankan restaurants faces collapse after failing to meet the terms of a company voluntary arragement (CVA). The West Country-based group has eight branches; a ninth, in Cardiff, closed in March. The group was founded by five Sri Lankan friends who took over an old Cheltenham pub in 2016, winning […]
Our round-up of what the nation’s restaurant critics were writing about in the week up to 8th July 2025 London Standard Acme Fire Cult, Dalston David Ellis has revised his opinion of a live-fire grill restaurant he dismissed on his first visit three years, declaring after a couple of recent meals that its B-movie “cult” […]
A smart new northern Chinese restaurant called Mulan Noodle with an open kitchen producing hand-pulled noodles has opened on Acre Lane, between Clapham and Brixton in South London. Mulan also offers live traditional Chinese music on Friday and Saturday nights, featuring instruments including a 21-string zither called the guzheng and the pipa, a four-stringed lute. […]
A new restaurant opens next week on the Sandridge Barton wine estate beside the River Dart in Devon’s South Hams. Roam promises to offer ‘bold, bistro-style’ cooking rooted in European and Basque traditions, with a menu that changes regularly to ‘reflect what’s best right now’. Roam has replaced restaurant Circa at the same venue, on […]
An ambitious new Middle Eastern restaurant with cocktails from Mr Lyan Studio has opened in St Christopher’s Place, just off Oxford Street in London’s West End. Noreen, from Bahrain’s long-established Al Abraaj restaurant group, showcases dishes from the Arabian peninsula to the Levant. Mehdi Hani, head chef at Harrods for the past four years, has […]
Ed Templeton of Carousel (left in picture) has linked up with actor and fellow Highbury resident Theo James (right) to launch a Rome-inspired local restaurant called Lupa, after the she wolf who nursed the ancient city’s founders, Romulus and Remus. The kitchen is led by Naz Hassan (centre), the Bangladeshi-born former head chef at Pidgin […]
