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Our round-up of what the nation’s restaurant critics were writing about in the week up to 7th June 2026 The Guardian Bar Shrimp, Manchester Grace Dent nabbed “one of the best seats in Manchester right now, if not the entire north” at a new cocktails-and-seafood bar from the trio behind Higher Ground next door. And […]
A bakery that morphs into a bistro and wine bar as day moves to night has opened in St John’s Wood High Street. No Forty Nine is from head chef Ella Williams (right – ex-Mountain and Crispin) and owner Jake Finn (left), who founded Cinder, a minute’s walk along the high street. Breakfast is served from […]
Our round-up of what the nation’s restaurant critics were writing about in the week up to 31st May 2026 The Guardian Skof, Manchester Grace Dent had to wait almost two years after its opening to bag a table at this “intensely relaxed yet still ferociously fancy” restaurant from former L’Enclume head chef Tom Barnes. Luckily it […]
Prolific chef Jackson Boxer launched his latest restaurant this week – Vesper in Exmouth Market, which he bills as his “tribute to London”. The venture takes its name – and possibly its colour palette – from Venus, the evening star. It occupies the former site of Taqueria, whose Notting Hill sister restaurant Jackson helped relaunch as Taq in […]
Appalachia, a restaurant inspired by cooking from the mountains of eastern USA, launches in Shoreditch next week – with former Smoking Goat head chef Ali Borer running the open kitchen. Set in a converted traditional pub near Old Street with a smart marble chef’s counter, Appalachia has replaced Counter 71, where chef Joe Laker served […]
New York celeb chef Jody Williams is opening a branch of her French-inspired Buvette in Covent Garden next week. She has taken over and extended the former St John Bakery in Neal’s Yard to create an 80-seat space that will be open from 8am every morning until 9pm (Sun-Wed) or 10pm (Thurs-Sat) – so not quite […]
A 1930s Lloyds bank in Notting Hill Gate has been converted into an all-day Lebanese brasserie with a dramatic triple-height dining room. Opening on 1st June, it is called Kinz – appropriately, ‘treasure’ in Arabic. The team behind the project includes Rasha Khouri Bruzzo (co-owner of the highly regarded Palestinian restaurant Akub, around the corner […]
Franklin’s in East Dulwich, one of south London’s longest-serving neighbourhood restaurants, has been relaunched this week under its original name as The Victory – a dining pub run by local hospitality veterans Jamie Younger and his wife Rema Waterhouse. Former owner Rod Franklin bowed out last month after 26 years at the helm, saying “a small […]
Our round-up of what the nation’s restaurant critics were writing about in the week up to 17th May 2026 London Standard Le Garrick, Covent Garden David Ellis revisited a 40-year-old classic French restaurant he has known since his teenage years and still relies on as a refuge, sanctuary or asylum – “depending on the crisis”. Then he […]
