A restaurant dating back to 1757 will launch its first outpost in London’s Chinatown next week – introducing a new variety of noodles to the capital. Songhelou in Wardour Street is descended from a restaurant that opened during the Qing dynasty in Suzhou, a city about 50 miles west of Shanghai. The long-lived Qianlong Emperor is […]
Pioneering US-style barbecue Bodean’s is relaunching its menu next week, having signed up meat guru Richard Turner as its chef-director. Launched in Soho’s Poland Street 23 years ago by Canadian-born Andre Blais, Bodean’s was an early entrant into the barbecue market and expanded fast, opening offshoots across London, but in recent years it has retracted […]
Two high-achieving restaurants – Humble Chicken in Soho and Hjem in Northumberland – are closing temporarily as they gear up for further improvements. Angelo Sato, Tokyo-born founder of Humble Chicken, announced his move fresh from the award of a second star from the French tyre men last month, with a declaration of intent on social media […]
Fooderati favourite Australian chef David Thompson made his long-awaited return to the London food scene this week with the launch of Long Chim – 12 years after he closed Nahm in Belgravia and relocated to Bangkok. Billed as a modern interpretation of the cooking found in Bangkok’s markets and alleyways, Long Chim – meaning ‘come and […]
Peckham’s Artusi Italian restaurant is making a leap to the West End with the opening this evening of a spinoff in Theatreland. Artusi Soho has taken over the site vacated by Cafe Kitty in the Underbelly Boulevard theatre – where it will offer pre-theatre menus between 5 and 7pm at £25 for 2 courses and £30 […]
The brothers behind Blanchette in Soho have opened a new live-fire grill restaurant in Kingly Court called Goldies. Yannis and Max Alary say: “Combining flame with sustainable local produce, our menu will provide dramatic and smoky sensations, with twists on classic dishes and our twice-fried Goldies frites.” While 10-year-old Blanchette – named after their mother […]
A Japanese restaurant that has made a big splash in Taiwan and mainland China will open its first UK site in Soho’s Wardour Street next month. Kanpai Classic specialises in yakinuku, with customers cooking meat and vegetables themselves on a table-top grill. The grilling options will be led by a choice of 10 cuts of […]
Park Row, the ambitious Batman comic-themed ‘experiential dining’ complex off Piccadilly Circus, and TV chef Monica Galetti’s Mere have this week both announced their closure. Monica and her husband David Galetti will serve their last meal next Tuesday, April 17, after seven years in Charlotte Street, Fitzrovia. Park Row has shuttered after a two-and-a-half-year run, […]
Our round-up of what the nation’s restaurant critics were writing about in the week to 3 March 2024 Evening Standard Camille, Borough Market Jimi Famurewa kicked off the Gallic theme that dominates the week’s reviews with his visit to “a supremely creative and confident new-wave bistro” from the team behind Soho’s Ducksoup, where he found an […]
Former Fat Duck and Dinner by Heston exec chef Ashley Palmer-Watts has emerged as the mystery third man behind new Soho pub The Devonshire, which opens today. The long-planned venture close to Piccadilly Circus is on a prominent corner of Denham Street, originally a pub from 1793 and more recently a Jamie’s Italian. It is […]
