A Sri Lankan entrepreneur has opened his first international outpost in Canary Wharf – Prawn Crazy, which he has ambitions to turn into a global brand. Apinash Sivagumaaran launched Isso (meaning prawn in Sinhala) ten years ago as a 16-seater dining spot in central Colombo, and has grown it to a group of five across […]
A new Turkish-Cypriot restaurant from a former Bibi head chef kicked off a year-long residency at the Globe Tavern in Borough Market this week. Kismet is a joint production from chef Kieran Mustafa and restaurateur Dom Hardy, the man behind Bistro Freddie, Crispin and Canal. Kieran has worked in senior roles at some of London’s […]
Chinese/Texan smokehouse Hon’s BBQ opens in Hackney Wick today, bringing founder Man Hon Luk’s slow-cooked meat with East Asian flavours to a permanent home with the help of a crowdfunding campaign that raised £36,000. Hong Kong-born Hon road-tested his barbecue skills with a two-year residency at nearby hangout All My Friends under the name Uncle […]
Belfast-born chef Chris McClurg and his partner Alice Stewart this week launched their ambitious debut restaurant at the Regency House boutique hotel in the city. Chris was previously chef patron at Paul Ainsworth’s No 6 in Padstow, Cornwall, which appears regularly on the Harden’s 100 list of the UK’s best restaurants. He stepped down in […]
Our round-up of what the nation’s restaurant critics were writing about in the week up to 12th July 2026 Financial Times Margaret’s, Cambridge Jay Rayner gave a big thumbs-up to this “diffusion” restaurant from chef Sam Carter and his wife Alex Olivier, apparently named after a regular at their “more grown-up” venture Twenty-Two, which is […]
Aberdeenshire-born chef Orry Shand opens his debut restaurant next week – Falls by Orry Shand on Royal Deeside, about 20 miles from Aberdeen. Orry trained in top Scottish kitchens including Restaurant Andrew Fairlie at Gleneagles and Number One at the Balmoral Hotel in Edinburgh, and came to prominence as Scottish National Chef in 2019 and UK […]
Veteran Edinburgh vegan and vegetarian restaurant Hendersons this week launched its first venue outside the Scottish capital – in Glasgow, home city of founder Janet Henderson. Janet founded Hendersons in 1962 but it closed down during the Covid epidemic in 2020 before being revived two years later by her grandson, Barrie Henderson (pictured with co-owner Clara […]
Chef Andrew Wong is shifting his celebrated Chinese restaurant A Wong to the Mandarin Oriental hotel in Mayfair for a six-week residency this summer, to allow for a through renovation of his Pimlico HQ. A Wong is a regular in the upper reaches of the Harden’s 100 list of the UK’s best restaurants, offering a […]
Chef Paul Ainsworth and his wife Emma are this month relaunching the St Enodoc Hotel at Rock, across the Camel estuary from their flagship restaurant No 6 in Padstow, as their Cornish mini-empire grows to Rick Stein-like proportions. The couple took over the 21-bedroom hotel – best known for hosting Nathan Outlaw’s superlative seafood restaurant in […]
Johnny Boy’s, an all-day neighbourhood restaurant serving comfort food inspired by the multicultural communities of Southern Californian, opens today in Stoke Newington. Founder Julian Dennis, known in east London for his Chinese restaurant Facing Heaven and dive bar Easy 8 in London Fields, was born in Los Angeles to a Portuguese mother and Puerto Rican […]
