High-profile pastry chef, writer and Junior Bake Off judge Ravneet Gill and her fellow-chef husband Mattie Taiano have this week opened their first restaurant, a ‘chophouse’ called Gina in Chingford, on north London’s Essex outskirts. The restaurant – for many years a family-run Italian local, next door to the station – is named in memory of […]
Paris-based Big Mamma Group are opening two enormous new Instagram-friendly Italianate extravaganzas this month – Circolo Popolare (pictured) in Manchester, their first UK venue outside London, and Barbarella in Canary Wharf. Circolo Popolare Manchester, which launched last week, is themed around an al-fresco festa in Sicily and set across two floors of ex-footballer Gary Neville’s £400million […]
Our round-up of what the nation’s restaurant reviewers were writing about in the week up to 8th June 2025 London Standard Eel Sushi, Notting Hill David Ellis raved over a tiny no-booking bar with a dozen seats which serves “London’s best sushi”, the latest opening in the nascent Notting Hill empire from Chris D’Sylva, across the […]
Superstar West Country chef Michael Caines will finally make his London debut this year following the announcement of his appointment as ‘culinary strategist’ at the Stafford hotel in St James’s. Under the new arrangement, his Lympstone Manor in Devon becomes an ‘associate member’ of the Stafford Collection. Michael has been a dominant figure on the […]
Veteran Leeds Japanese restaurant Fuji Hiro has been given a new lease of life, and will reopen next week following its closure earlier this year after almost three decades. James Douglas, co-founder of the Red’s True Barbecue chain, stepped in to acquire the lease and renovate the Merrion Centre venue. He said: “Fuji Hiro has […]
The couple behind Cambridge’s high-flying Restaurant Twenty-Two are to open a more relaxed modern British bistro called Margaret’s nearby next week. Co-founders Alex Olivier and Sam Carter say the new venue will offer “uncomplicated dining with a casual yet considered menu that will move with the seasons”, using high-quality from the same local suppliers as […]
A new African restaurant opens in Sevenoaks, Kent today with a focus on the cuisine of Sierra Leone, from chef and food writer Maria Bradford. Shwen Shwen – which means ‘fancy’ in the Krio language of Sierra Leone – will showcase traditional Sierra Leonean dishes as well as fusion cooking from across West Africa. Maria learned to […]
A former Fortnum & Mason chef opens his debut restaurant in west London next week – Walter’s Bistro near Hammersmith Bridge, a tiny 12-seater where he will serve his personal take on British and Italian food. Born and brought up in Rome, Walter Cannavacciuolo has worked in London for 10 years, including a stint as a […]
Our round-up of what the nation’s restaurant critics were writing about in the week up to 1st June 2025 The Guardian Town, Covent Garden Given its Drury Lane address, Stevie Parle’s new restaurant might be considered suitable for pre-theatre dining. Wrong, according to Grace Dent: “the food is far too good to rush through in […]
A new casual sushi and sake bar called Noren opens in Mayfair this week, introducing the mini hand-roll ‘makezu’ sushi (pictured) to London, alongside a range of sakes, shochus, wines and beers. From the group behind Chisou, Noren has taken over the premises on South Molton Street vacated earlier this year by another Japanese venture, […]
