Chef Thomas Straker, a social-media star who built a following of 400,000 during the pandemic, opens his first restaurant this month in London’s Notting Hill. He says Straker’s, in Golborne Road, will be an “epic neighbourhood restaurant with east London wine-bar vibes”. Thomas, who has worked at Phil Howard’s Elystan Street and Dinner by Heston […]
John and Kimberly Calton of Newcastle bistro Route have announced plans to open an ambitious restaurant in the shadow of Sunderland football club’s Stadium of Light. Named Zinc, the restaurant will occupy a prime location of the now-derelict Grade II listed Stable Yards (pictured), overlooking the River Wear. The couple ran the successful Staith House […]
A star Ukrainian chef stranded in London when Russia invaded his home country is to open a restaurant in west London staffed by refugees from the war. The “neo-bistro” Mriya, from Yurii Kovryzhenko and his partner Olga Tsybytovska, launches in Chelsea’s Brompton Road this month. Yurii, who runs the restaurant Vintage Nouveau in Lviv, has […]
Manga fans will be able to feast in a manga-themed restaurant on a mashup of popular Japanese and pan-Asian dishes when it opens in Marylebone next week. Manga Banga in Lisson Grove is a concept from Guy Holmes, managing director of Captivate Hospitality, a restaurant branding and marketing agency. Based on the idea of the […]
Former Barnsbury pub The Cuckoo reopens today as The Tamil Prince, showcasing the food of Tamil Nadu on the southern tip of India. The transformation has been led by Tamil Nadu-born chef Prince Durairaj and former Bao operations manager Glen Leeson, who first worked together at Roti King. They are also the team behind Tamila, […]
Highly rated Middle Eastern vegetarian restaurant Bubala will open a second branch in Soho on Monday 11 July. The original, in Commercial Street, Spitalfields, was opened three years ago by founder Marc Summers and head chef Helen Graham (pictured) to general acclaim – and not just from vegetarians. The current Harden’s guide hails its “Tel Aviv […]
A couple brought together by the chef and writer Rowley Leigh are to open a country farmhouse restaurant-with-rooms near Deal in Kent next month. Updown Farm is a grade II-listed 17th-century farmhouse set in seven acres that has been refurbished in the past four years by Ruth Leigh – Rowley’s daughter – and Oliver Brown, who trained […]
Soho’s venerable L’Escargot, reputedly London’s oldest French restaurant, is to reopen its Suffolk summer pop-up as a permanent seaside outpost called L’Escargot sur Mer in Aldeburgh. Currently being renovated for the launch, L’Escargot sur Mer at 152 Aldeburgh High Street will have 60 covers, a wine bar, six bedrooms and a rooftop terrace with sea […]
Birmingham Symphony Hall is to open a new all-day café next month, with diners entertained to a free programme of live music from local artists. B:Eats is at the hall’s main entrance and will open from 10am to 5pm every day except Sunday for brunch and lunch, with an evening menu to run alongside music […]
Chef Rishim Sachdeva opens his “mostly vegan” restaurant Tendril today as a three-month summer pop-up off London’s Regent Street, while he continues his search for a permanent venue. This month he completed a successful crowdfunding campaign on Seedrs, raising £150,000 towards a project that he has already road-tested with a residency at the Sun and […]
