All-day restaurant The Vincent in Hackney Downs is the latest project from the trio behind the Sebright Arms live-music pub in Bethnal Green. Charles Ross, Richard Temple and Jamie Hempseed plan to open The Vincent this month, serving pastries and coffee in the morning and brunch at weekends. The lunch and evening menu, also available to take away, […]

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The team behind hit Hackney venue Pidgin are to open a modern British interpretation of a Chinese dim sum restaurant in Mayfair, with service based around trolleys and trays laden with small plates. Magpie launches in Heddon Street, off Regent Street, next month. True to its name, dishes will be “stolen” from an eclectic range […]

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MasterChef 2015 winner Simon Wood is to open an ambitious high-end restaurant in his native Manchester this summer. The 40-year-old former data manager (left in photo) will serve an unfussy modern interpretation of traditional flavours from an open-theatre kitchen. Menus will range from set lunch and pre-theatre to a la carte and a tasting selection with new dishes. […]

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Cartel, a new taqueria and late-night tequila bar in Battersea, is the latest in the new wave of Mexican taco joints that is sweeping across London. Named in what seems a clear reference to the Mexican narco wars involving drug cartels that have cost 100,000 lives in the past 10 years, the venue must also be an early front-runner in the “poor taste […]

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Brighton’s Chilli Pickle has reached its £700,000 crowdfunding target to bankroll an expansion into four “affulent market towns” in southern England. The first new branch is expected to open this summer. Chef Alun Sperring and his wife Dawn opened the original Chilli Pickle, serving authentic regional Indian cuisine, in Brighton’s Lanes in 2007. Having twice outgrown its surroundings […]

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Chef-entrepreneur Atul Kocchar will open his first UK restaurant under the Not Real Indian (NRI) brand in Birmingham this September, serving cuisine developed by Indian cooks living abroad. Born in India and trained with the Oberoi group, Kocchar made him name at Tamarind in London and in 2003 opened his Mayfair flagship Benares. He launched NRI in Mumbai last year, and […]

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A pair of chefs with impressive kitchen credentials have teamed up to open a tiny venture in Mayfair inspired by the new wave of bistros in Paris. Launching in May, Neo Bistro will accommodate just 25 diners, with banquette tables that can be reserved and counter seats for walk-ins. Following the Parisian lead, it will offer a daily changing […]

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One of London’s leading Japanese restaurants since it opened in Marylebone in 2006, Dinings is to launch a sister venue in Knightsbridge next month. Dinings SW3 aims to fuse Japanese tradition with European seafood bar culture, offering plateaux de fruits de mer fresh from Cornish dayboats, plus robata-style cuisine using a Josper grill, with a seasonal sake list […]

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The founders of Gunpowder, a home-style Indian in Spitalfields, are opening a Himalayan restaurant nearby on May 9. Madame D’s will combine Indian flavours with influences from the neighbouring cuisines of Nepal, Tibet and Chinese. The short menu of sharing dishes will include gold coin dumplings; pan-fried Tibetan duck momo; garlic coriander steamed chicken; and prawn […]

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Hot New York chef Marcus Samuelsson is bringing his Scandified soulfood joint Red Rooster to London with a double opening in May. Red Rooster Shoreditch will be in The Curtain hotel and members’s club, with the adjoining Rooster Taqueria serving Mexican-inspired breakfasts, tacos and cocktails. Born in Ethiopia, Samuelsson was adopted by a Swedish family and grew up […]

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