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. […]
Cornish seafood supremo Nathan Outlaw is to close his celebrated flagship Outlaw’s New Road in Port Isaac next year. The venue is the highest-rated fish specialist on the newly published 2026 Harden’s 100 list of the UK’s best restaurants, and is ranked at number 8 overall. Its last service on March 28 will be closely […]
Our round-up of what the nation’s restaurant critics were writing about in the week up to 7th December 2025 London Standard Bonheur by Matt Abé, Mayfair David Ellis was the first critic to issue judgement on the heralded reboot of Le Gavroche by chef Matt Abé, backed by his old boss, Gordon Ramsay. It is, he […]
Ambitious French seafood restaurant Mazarine opened this week in Hanover Square, Mayfair, under former Le Gavroche head chef Thierry Laborde. Mazarine is from restaurateurs Khaled Dandachi and Fred Srouchi, the duo behind nearby Italian Sparrow Italia, who say the new venture is “conceived and curated with the discerning guest in mind”. Khaled added: “Mazarine in […]
A glossy new Cantonese restaurant called Dim Sum Library opens in Covent Garden next week, from the Hong Kong-based Aqua group, the people behind Aqua Shard and Hutong. Dim Sum Library has taken over the Long Acre address of the group’s former Italian restaurant Luci. Browsers will be able to watch the chefs in action […]
