Can it be nearly 10 years already since Barrafina first opened its doors. Yes, it was January 2007 that this phenomenal homage to Barcelona’s Cal Pep beamed down into Soho. The brainchild of Sam and Eddie Hart, they had the advantage of heritage (their mother was born in Mallorca) in their search to bring some genuine Spanish […]
Scottish craft brewer Innis & Gunn will accelerate plans to expand its Beer Kitchen casual dining concept into England after raising £1 million in 72 hours via crowdfunding. The two Beer Kitchens already open in Edinburgh and Dundee will be joined by another in St Andrews in the next couple of weeks, with Glasgow to follow in the […]
Highly regarded vegetarian restaurant The Gate is opening a new branch in Seymour Place, Marylebone, on December 1. The original Gate opened in Hammersmith 27 years ago, and has earned praise from the Harden’s Survey for “serious, thoughtful and imaginative” veggie cooking. A second venue was added in Islington in 2012. Founders Michael and Adrian Daniel set out […]
Bristol’s Sanchez Brothers opened Andalusian-inspired Paco Tapas this week, completing their trio of adjacent dockside venues a few minutes’ walk from the city centre. Casamia, the family’s fine-dining establishment, was no 4 on the Sunday Times/Harden’s Top 100 Restaurants list last year, winning praise from the Harden’s Survey for its “fabulous tasting plates”. It moved from suburban […]
A nightclub entrepreneur aims to remix Chinese dining with Mans Market, a new speakeasy-style venue in Leeds that opened this month. Ray Chan, who grew up in a Chinese takeaway in the Leeds suburb Horsforth, founded the Candypants nightlife events outfit. Mans Market is his first foray into the food sector, and he promises a […]
The Boisdale stable of Scottish-themed bar-restaurants will expand next week with a new opening – in a converted Mayfair stables. The latest venue is smaller than the Belgravia original and its City and Canary Wharf offshoots, so has more of a cosy whisky bar atmosphere – topped off with an in-house humidor and street-level cigar terrace. Set over two floors of […]
⦿ Jay Rayner of The Observer reviewed Margot in Covent Garden, a “fancy Italian” where dinner-jacketed waiters have “that easy, relaxed style around food which really pisses off the French because they haven’t a clue how to do it.” “At Margot they can offer you a special of tagliatelle with white truffles for £55 and not even raise their […]
Tv company Electric Ray are looking for talented “wannabe-restaurateurs ” who are ready to turn their idea into a business for an new TV project. Are you ready to take the plunge and open your own restaurant? Â Do you need investment to get your idea off the ground? Â If you’d relish the opportunity […]
Mexican celebrity chef Martha Ortiz is to open a restaurant at the InterContinental Hotel in Park Lane next spring. Dulce Patria, her Mexico City venture, is regarded as one of the most exciting restaurants in Latin America, combining research into historical Mexican gastronomy with creative modern twists. The Mayfair venue will be her first beyond Dulce […]
An ambitious Mediterranean restaurant featuring innovative chef swaps with twinned businesses across Europe is scheduled to open at Weetwood Hall on the outskirts of Leeds in February. Convive is the brainchild of veteran Yorkshire restaurateur Martin Pickles (left in photo) and his old friend Martin Hicks, managing director of Weetwood Hall. The pair met when they were both […]
