Our round-up of what the nation’s restaurant critics were writing about in the week up to 8th December 2024 London Standard Mondo Sando, Camberwell David Ellis trekked to an “incandescently brilliant” new sandwich shop from Jack Macrae and Viggo Blegvad, who were already “cultishly famous in South London” for their pub residencies in Camberwell and […]
A former Mersey ferry docked on the Liverpool waterfront is to open as restaurant, bar and events space Daffodil next week following a £3.5m makeover. Formerly MV Royal Daffodil, the ferry plied the route from Liverpool to the Wirral for more than 60 years and is now moored in Canning Dock, close to the Royal […]
Veteran celeb chef Aldo Zilli makes his return to the London restaurant scene next week with the launch on Tuesday (10 December) of Undercroft in Mayfair, a dramatic new dining venue set in the crypt of historic St George’s church off Hanover Square. The venue was heavily trailed earlier this year as the site where […]
Babbo, the former Mayfair Italian restaurant with footballing connections, completes its transfer to St John’s Wood next week, while its fellow glossy Italian Bocconcino opens a seafood spinoff in the Strand called Osteria del Mare (pictured). Launching on Monday, Osteria del Mare takes inspiration from the Tuscan coastal resort of Forte dei Marmi, with ex-Barrafina […]
Provençal bistro Socca in Mayfair has closed down suddenly, in what is an unusual backward step for its co-founders Samyukta Nair and Claude Bosi – separately, two of London’s most prolific restaurateurs in recent years. The pair announced the move without any notice on Saturday (30 November), saying “It is with a very heavy heart that […]
Our round-up of what the nation’s restaurant reviewers were writing about in the week up to 1st December 2024 – a much shorter list than usual, with Christmas coming early for a number of critics as their publications switched focus to seasonal recommendations London Standard AngloThai, Marylebone David Ellis beat a path to a restaurant “famous before […]
The Groucho Club has closed its doors following the suspension of its licence pending a criminal investigation, in a severe blow to ArtFarm, the hospitality arm of Swiss art dealership Hauser + Wirth, which bought the Soho membership club for £40m three years ago. Westminster council suspended the licence for 28 days on Tuesday, following […]
Sardinian chef Achille Pinna is to open a new self-named restaurant by the entrance to Shepherd Market in Mayfair next week. Pinna is backed by prolific restaurateurs George Bukhov-Weinstein and Ilya Demichev, the duo behind Burger & Lobster and Goodman, who earlier this month launched Fantomas in Chelsea. Achille is a former executive chef at […]
Less than three months after closing his highly rated Islington restaurant 12:51, chef James Cochran is opening a new venture nearby – a ‘bistro pub’ called The Brave in a revamped Essex Road boozer. “We’re creating something really special here at The Brave,” says James. “Given all the love we received from locals when we closed […]
A new Lebanese restaurant from industry veteran Pierre Hobeika opened this week in Barnes – a part of southwest London with no other Middle Eastern cuisine available. Omm, meaning mother in Arabic, has taken over a generous corner site in White Hart Lane long occupied by local favourite Annie’s, and more recently by the short-lived Farmer’s […]