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 […]
East Anglia chef Mark Poynton has relaunched his restaurant-with-rooms at Fen Ditton on the edge of Cambridge under new backers and a new name as Ancient Shepherds with Mark Poynton. He operated the venue – a former village pub dating from 1580 – as MJP @ The Shepherds for five years until May this year, when […]
Our round-up of what the nation’s restaurant critics were writing about in the week up to 29th June 2025 London Standard Belly, Kentish Town David Ellis ate at a new Filipino bistro from Omar Shah, a multi-site operator who he said is to Kentish Town what Chris D’Sylva is to Notting Hill, Samyukta Nair to Mayfair […]
