Gennaro Contaldo, best-known as Jamie Oliver’s mentor, has opened his latest restaurant near Piccadilly Circus – at the mature age of 77. Named Bolo after his signature Bolognese ragu, the 32-seat trattoria in Air Street serves a tight menu that revolves around seven pasta dishes – including the ‘Jamie’ (mezze maniche with sausage, Calabrian chilli bolo & […]
The Hispanophile Hart Brothers have closed their Borough Market grill restaurant Parrillan and will replace it with a Spanish-style neighbourhood bar or ‘cerveceria’ called Los Primos, where guests can enjoy a beer and a bite to eat for less than a tenner. Ice-cold Estrella Galicia will be sold by the caña – a small glass holding […]
Polish chef Marek Dziedzic is to showcase the cooking of his home country at his new County Durham restaurant Biedronka, meaning ‘ladybird’, which launches this Thursday (1 October). Marek is already well-known in the area as head chef at Scandinavian-influenced restaurant Hjem in nearby Wall, which closed down at the end of last year having […]
Our round-up of what the nation’s restaurant critics were writing about in the week up to 27th September 2026 The Observer Mor, Cornwall Tanya Gold hailed the new restaurant from chef Tom Sellers overlooking “the most pristine and eerie beach in Cornwall” at the Carbis Bay Hotel, host to the world’s leaders for the G7 […]
Live-fire restaurant group Temper is swerving away from the barbecue grill with its latest opening, a wine bar in Marylebone with the delightful name Temper Tantrums. The new venture launches next Wednesday (30 September) in the former Be At One bar in Wimpole Street, just off Oxford Street, and is said to be inspired by […]
A friendship between two matriarchs living on different continents has culminated decades later in the opening of a restaurant in Chiswick inspired by the regional cuisine of north Mexico. Mirtala was launched earlier this summer by Indian-born husband-and-wife duo Rishad and Benaisha Mehta, and is named after a Mexican friend of Rishad’s grandmother, Aloo. The […]
A glamorous Italian-style grill room and bar launches next week in Manchester’s Grade II listed former city library and registrar’s office off Deansgate. GiGi Gusto Griglia has taken over and transformed the former premises of Gusto, with an open kitchen and a central cocktail bar, Bar Elegenza, and aims to capture the ‘glamour, energy and […]
Acclaimed Hong Kong filmmaker Wong Kar-Wai is to direct a transformation of Yauatcha Soho, which closes this Saturday (26 September) for an overhaul that is expected to take a year. Kar-Wai is an auteur of uniquely vivid, visually striking films including his masterpiece, In the Mood for Love (2000), one of the most famous Asian […]
A traditional City chophouse originally founded in 1757 reopens next week under a new guise and new ownership – but with its historic interior painstakingly restored. Simpson’s Tavern in Cornhill closed down four years ago following a dispute with its landlord. It is being relaunched by the team behind Cloth in Smithfield as Cloth Cornhill – and […]
Our round-up of wha the nation’s restaurant critics were writing about in the week up to 20th September 2026 The Guardian Kid, Soho Grace Dent gave her seal of approval to the “distinctive, delicious” cooking at one of the year’s most anticipated new restaurants, from ex-Mangal II chef Sertaç Dirik and restaurateur David Carter of […]
