Casa restaurant in Bristol, successor to the famous Casamia from Peter Sanchez-Iglesias, has closed ‘until further notice’– without any explanation. A notice posted on the restaurant’s website this week reads: “At this moment, we are closed for future bookings. If you’re looking to book a restaurant, please check out our sister restaurant, Paco Tapas. “All vouchers […]
A new Italian restaurant called Canteen opened quietly this week in Notting Hill from the team behind The Hero in Maida Vale, which launched to rave reviews earlier this summer. Canteen has taken over the former Pizza East site on the corner of Portobello and Golborne Roads, with a kitchen run by two ex-River Café […]
Edinburgh sommelier James Clark (left in picture) launches his debut project today (4 October) – Sotto, a wine bar and restaurant in Stockbridge that celebrates Italian food and wine. Sotto – meaning ‘under’ or ‘beneath’, a reference to the under-street cellar where the wines are stored – comprises an upstairs ‘enoteca’ and a ground-level trattoria led by Calabrian-born Francesco […]
The French-owned, fantasy Italian Big Mamma group is to open its first UK restaurant outside London in Birmingham, taking over the former Vinoteca site in the Paradise development on Chamberlain Square. La Bellezza, a 150-cover trattoria with a 25-seat terrace, launches later this year and follows Gloria (pictured), Jacuzzi, Circolo Popolare, Ave Mario and Carlotta, […]
Artfarm, the hospitality arm of the Hauser + Wirth international art dealership, is to open its latest restaurant tomorrow – back where it began 10 years ago, at H+W’s rural art gallery on Durslade Farm near Bruton in Somerset. Da Costa restaurant is named after co-founder Iwan Wirth’s Italian grandfather, who was born in the village […]
Diners were disappointed to learn of two premature endings this week, with the closure of London risotto specialist All’Onda from first-time restaurateur Cordula Schluz (pictured) and the departure of veteran chef Simon Bonwick after 18 months at the Dew Drop Inn in Berkshire. All’Onda (meaning ‘on the wave’), in Charlotte Street, Fitzrovia, only lasted for […]
Florentine comfort food concept Dez Amore opens its first permanent restaurant next week, on a corner site in Chelsea with a retro-modern look inspired by Italy in the 1970s. Launched by two friends from Florence, Leonardo Masi and Simone Parentini (pictured), Dez Amore lays claim to a ‘double soul’ that combines traditional Italian cooking with […]
The River Café, Ruth Rogers’s iconic Italian restaurant overlooking the Thames near Hammersmith, has opened a café next door – and yes, they’ve called it The River Café Café. The new café, which launched this week, is open every day from 9am until 10pm (4pm Sundays, closed on Mondays), serving an all-day Italian menu prepared by […]
Two prominent chef-led neighbourhood restaurants in London are to close after more than a decade. Chef-patron Bryn Williams will serve his last dinner at Odette’s in Primrose Hill tomorrow, 25 May, while L’Amorosa near Hammersmith will close its doors on 13 July. Announcing that he had sold Odette’s after 16 years, Bryn said “It’s been […]
A Sicilian-themed restaurant, Sotto Cucina & Bar, has opened in Whitechapel, in the basement of the Hyatt Palace City East hotel. Head chef Alfio Laudani is from Catania, close to Mount Etna on Sicily’s east coast, and his menu is built around produce from the fertile volcanic soil of the region, including olives, olive oil […]
