A new Aussie-inspired quick-service sushi restaurant called Saltwater opens in Berwick Street, Soho, next week from the team behind Milk Beach, offering freshly made handrolls to take away, as well as accommodating up to 50 sit-down guests. Elliot Milne, its Sydney-born founder, said: “London needs better takeaway sushi and Saltwater is here to deliver it. […]
Midlands chef Jonny Mills and his wife Hannah Barr are opening a tiny, eight-seater restaurant called Sael in Birmingham next week – almost a year after the original launch date, following delays with the fitout of the venue in the Goodsyard next to Jewellery Quarter station. Dinner will be served to guests around the kitchen counter […]
After an 11-year run, Josh Katz has closed his flagship restaurant Berber & Q, a North African/Middle Eastern barbecue specialist in a railway arch off the Regent’s Canal in Haggerston, east London. His debut restaurant, it was widely influential and led to his follow-ups Shawarma Bar in Exmouth Market and Carmel in Queen’s Park. Harden’s […]
Juliane Caillouette Noble, CEO of The Sustainable Restaurant Association, shares her perspective on what good leadership should look like in 2026. Hospitality is a sector that is fundamentally human. Hunger is biology; connection is humanity. Restaurants are about more than just food: going out to eat is built on the act of service. A meal […]
Our round-up of what the nation’s restaurant critics were writing about in the week up to 2nd August 2026 Financial Times Oudh 1722, Southwark Jay Rayner hailed the London debut of Birmingham-based chef Aktar Islam as “some of the best Indian food” in the capital, with dishes inspired by the royal court cuisine of Lucknow […]
Prominent restaurants Sorrel in Dorking and Berber & Q in Haggerston (pictured) have ceased trading this week as the hospitality industry continues to grapple with tough trading conditions. Sorrel was founded by chef Steve Drake nine years ago and achieved consecutive top-20 placings on the Harden’s 100 list of the UKs best restaurants in 2023 […]
A restaurant from Fukuoka has opened a branch in Charlotte Street, Fitzrovia, specialising in Japanese wagyu beef cooked at the counter. Wagyu Yakiniku Ushio only uses A5 akani wagyu, a leaner style with less marbling, which apparently delivers a beefier flavour than other wagyus. It is served as a 7-course omakase experience at £95 a […]
Chef Gabriel Waterhouse and his wife, designer Patricia Waikamba, are opening a new restaurant next week near Columbia Flower Market in Bethnal Green – less than two months after closing its predecessor nearby. The new incarnation, called simply Waterhouse, is described as “a modern Northumbrian restaurant in London”, reflecting Gabriel’s upbringing in the north of England, […]
Whitbread is calling time on 261 restaurants with the loss of 3,800 jobs, in the biggest mass-closure to hit UK hospitality since the Covid era. The company confirmed this week that it will close all its restaurants under various brands, including 106 Beefeater steak houses and 89 Brewers Fayre family-friendly carveries, by 10 September as […]
Gary Usher is closing his bistro Hispi in Didsbury next month, when it will be taken over by fellow northwest chef Andrew Sheridan’s Open Restaurant Group and relaunched as a live-fire restaurant called Arcadian. The new owners have pledged to retain all Hispi staff, so there will be no job losses. For Gary, whose Chester-based […]
