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Our round-up of what the nation’s restaurant critics were writing about in the week up to 11th January 2026 The Guardian Martino’s, Chelsea Grace Dent hailed the “beautiful bedlam” of restaurateur Martin (‘The Dover’) Kuczmarski’s “glitzy, sexy, mock-Italian trattoria” in Sloane Square – a place so superbly designed and operated, at once so cool and so laidback, […]
Cardiff diners have two interesting new options for 2026 following the Christmas launch of natural wine bar and restaurant Ogof in Canton and next week’s relaunch by chef Tom Simmons (pictured) of his Pontcanna flagship Thomas as a more relaxed brasserie. Ogof has taken over the former site of Poca and La Cuina on King’s […]
Well-travelled chef Ed Baillieu, previously executive chef of the Pelican in Notting Hill and the Hero in Maida Vale, has opened his first venue in London – close to where he grew up in Putney. Ruth’s, a neighbourhood restaurant and bar, has taken over a corner spot on the Lower Richmond Road occupied for 40 years […]
Our round-up of what the nation’s restaurant critics were writing about over the holiday period up to 4th January 2026 The Guardian Poon’s at Somerset House, Aldwych Grace Dent was an immediate convert to Amy Poon’s relaunch of the family’s restaurant brand in the New Wing of Somerset House, declaring it simultaneously “sweet, confident, feminine, […]
Veteran Vietnamese restaurant Sông Quê is to open its second branch early in the New Year, having taken over the Spitalfields premises occupied by Tom Brown’s Pearly Queen until it closed down in October. An early stakeholder on the Kingsland Road ‘Pho Mile’ when it opened in 2002, Sông Quê has been a regular in […]
Glasgow-based chef-patron Peter McKenna is to close his Finnieston fixture The Gannet at the end of the year, replacing it in early 2026 with a more casual bistro called Eleven Fifty Five, after its address in Argyle Street. The new venture, in partnership with maître d’ Kevin Dow, is pitched as an “upscale but approachable […]
Our round-up of what the nation’s restaurant critics were writing about in the week up to 14th December 2025 Financial Times Vetch, Liverpool Jay Rayner had his faith in top-end tasting-menu establishments and their frequently self-important, grandstanding chefs restored – well, “(almost)” – by dinner at this “sweet, modest and clever restaurant”, where chef Daniel McGeorge […]
A Turkish restaurant has opened in Mayfair with the ambition of ‘setting a new benchmark for modern Mediterranean-Turkish dining in London’. Chargal, from restaurateur Serdar Demir, has taken over the former site of Jeru on Berkeley Street and offers mezze at ground level, a more formal first-floor dining room and a late-night lounge in the […]
Hospitality couple Lidia and Simone Crepaldi will tomorrow launch their first venture together – Italian restaurant Hoax with a ‘secret’ basement bar called The Devil You Know (TDYK) in Dalston. Taking over the original site of Chick ‘n’ Sours on Kingsland Road, Hoax has a semi-open kitchen run by Sardinian-born chef Riccardo Lottero, Simone’s cousin, […]
After a six-year, £73million investment, Guinness this week opened its Open Gate Brewery visitor experience in Covent Garden, complete with three eating spots from two high-profile chefs. The most glamorous option is Gilroy’s Loft on the fifth floor, where a menu of oysters and seafood is served by a team headed by chef Pip Lacey. […]
