A new boutique hotel opens in Mayfair next week called The Shepherd, with a modern all-day brasserie called Fayre. The 82-room hotel replaces the former Park Lane Mews Hotel, in a refurbished block of townhouses above a ‘secret wartime bunker’ from the 1940s, near cute Shepherd Market. Fayre offers a menu of classic European dishes using […]
Former Mangal II chef Sertaç Dirik is opening a new restaurant in Soho next week called Kid, in partnership with David Carter, the restaurateur behind a string of hits from Smokestak and Manteca in Shoreditch to Oma and Agora in Borough Market. Sertaç started out in the kitchen at his family’s Turkish grill in Dalston […]
Chef Dom Chapman (left in photo) and restaurateur Nigel Sutcliffe, who worked together at the Fat Duck 25 years ago, have joined forces to revive the Jack O’Newbury in the Berkshire village of Binfield, which reopens next Wednesday. ‘The Jack’ is a former village inn close to both Windsor and Ascot that has been transformed […]
Former Pahli Hill head chef Avinash Shashidhara is opening his first pub next week – the Talli Queen, formerly known as the Queen Adelaide, on the Uxbridge Road in Shepherd’s Bush. Taking inspiration from “Kerala’s toddy shops, Bangalore’s neighbourhood pubs and bars, the military canteens of southern India and the chai stalls and kebab joints of Lucknow”, […]
Barbecue chain Bodeans has closed its three remaining branches in Soho, Camden Town and Tower Hill, which may signify the end of the brand after 24 years. A message on its website reads: “We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience this may cause and would like to thank you for your continued support and loyalty. We […]
A smart new steakhouse called Cordelia’s is to open in Mayfair next week, taking over the site in Clarges Street previously occupied by L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon. Cordelia’s promises a selection of steaks headed by 45-day dry-aged British rib-eye but also featuring interesting cuts from heritage and rare breeds around the world. Galician beef will […]
A funky American-inspired barbecue using sustainable locally sourced ingredients opens next week in a 17th-century village pub on the northern fringe of the Cotswolds. Ember at The Chandlers Arms is in the hamlet of Epwell, between Chipping Norton and Banbury in north Oxfordshire, and combines the expertise of two old friends, chef Harry Flockhart (left […]
Ambitious Belgravia pub and Basque grill The Prince Arthur has closed ahead of a move next month to new premises near Brompton Cross in Chelsea. The venture opened just 18 months ago to rave reviews – and gasps at its high-end ingredients including own-label caviar. The move has apparently been forced by problems with the extraction […]
Australian chef Scott Hallsworth is closing his peripatetic punk izakaya Freak Scene in Balham this weekend, and replacing it with a more “family-friendly” pan-Asian restaurant called Joe’s Oriental Diner. The former Nobu chef has opened and closed several iterations of Freak Scene over the past nine years, including a site off Parson’s Green in Fulham […]
A beautifully designed family-run Afghan restaurant has opened in a converted railway arch next to Leyton Midland station in east London. Azra takes its name from the Hazara ethnic group, and founder Waheed Kazemi says he hopes the venture will “change the perception of Afghanistan by incorporating aspects of its traditional heritage, highlighting the educated […]
