One of the most famous names in post-war London dining has bowed out with the closure of all five Spaghetti House venues, after the family company behind the brand was placed in administration. A Braccetto, the Earl’s Court trattoria opened two years ago by the second generation of the Lavarini family, has also ceased operation. […]
Handmade pasta specialist Padella will next week open its first West End branch – and third overall – in Soho, almost exactly 10 years after founders Jordan Frieda and Tim Siadatan (pictured) unveiled the original venue in Borough Market. The pair say, “We have always felt the energy of Soho was a perfect fit for Padella, and […]
The dust had barely settled following the closure of well regarded Papi in London Fields when a new restaurant called Auguste opened in the premises this week – and the Papi team revealed their plan to launch a ‘public house dining room’ called The Golden Tooth near Newington Green later this month. Auguste takes its name […]
An Italian restaurant called Cent Anni is launching in St John’s Wood next week on the prominent site occupied by Café Med for the past 25 years. A Grade II-listed late-Victorian building – originally The Blenheim hotel – it has a large outside dining terrace and, unusually for a restaurant so close to central London, off-street […]
Three-and-a-half years after closing his Hackney wine bar the Laughing Heart, Charlie Mellor is back with Osteria Vibrato, an old-school Italian restaurant in Soho that opens on Valentine’s Day. Charlie (left in photo) is joined by fellow bearded sommelier Cameron Dewar (ex-Luca and Burnt Ends; right in photo) in the new Greek Street venture, which […]
Birmingham-Sicilian chef Angelina Adamo launches her first bricks-and-mortar restaurant tomorrow (Saturday 7 February) – Vieni, in the new Goodsyard development in the city’s Jewellery Quarter. A graduate of University College Birmingham, Angelina trained at Simpson’s in Edgbaston and runs her own private dining company, Tutto Apposto, which also operates the Circle Lounge in the Birmingham Hippodrome. […]
Calabrian-born chef Francesco Mazzei this week opened his latest restaurant – Mezzogiorno in the Corinthia hotel, just off Trafalgar Square. Francesco made his name in London with L’Anima, which opened on the edge of the City in 2008. He followed up by launching Radici, Sartoria and Fiume with D&D London (now Evolv), and ran a six-month […]
Lara Boglione, whose family owns Petersham Nurseries on the edge of Richmond Park, opened a Florentine wine bar/restaurant in Notting Hill this week with her Tuscan winemaker husband, Giovanni Mazzei. Named Trogolo – Italian for ‘trough’, after the communal stone water troughs found across Tuscany – the Westbourne Grove venue promises “a slice of Florence […]
A smart and spacious all-day Italian restaurant called Campanelle – meaning ‘little bells’ – opened in the City this week, taking over the listed former London Shipping Exchange building in Billiter Street. The restaurant has 180 covers over two storeys, with a dining room, wine room and 44-seat all-weather terrace on the ground floor. Upstairs is another […]
Ed Templeton of Carousel (left in picture) has linked up with actor and fellow Highbury resident Theo James (right) to launch a Rome-inspired local restaurant called Lupa, after the she wolf who nursed the ancient city’s founders, Romulus and Remus. The kitchen is led by Naz Hassan (centre), the Bangladeshi-born former head chef at Pidgin […]
