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 […]
London’s Theatreland will have a new restaurant next week with the opening of Cafe Kitty, from the Kitty Fisher’s group. It is part of the new Underbelly Boulevard in Soho, the first permanent venue from cabaret and festival outfit Underbelly. Kitty Fisher’s was one of the hottest restaurants in London when it opened in Mayfair’s […]
Changes are afoot in the culinary offerings available on Piccadilly, with historic brasserie Richoux moving out and contemporary wellness café Volonté moving in this week. Century-old Richoux was bought out of administration two years ago and relaunched by chefs Jamie Butler and Lewis Spencer, who now plan to move it to Soho next year. They […]
Victor Garvey’s highly rated Californian-style restaurant SOLA has closed for two months while builders transform the interior, doubling its capacity. The four-year-old venue in Dean Street, Soho – hailed in the 2023 Harden’s guide as “one of London’s finest gastronomic experiences” – is scheduled to reopen “in time for Thanksgiving”, which falls on Friday 24 November. The […]
Bob Bob Ricard, the decadently fun Soho restaurant famous for its ‘press for Champagne’ buttons on each table, is to open a spin-off rotisserie chicken specialist next month. Bébé Bob, in Golden Square, will offer ‘affordable’ wines and Champagnes, although a £75 mark-up limit indicates that some prices will be pretty high, while the chickens […]
A new Italian restaurant with a retro New York theme declaring itself “proudly gay-owned” opened in the heart of Soho’s ‘gay village’ this week, coinciding with the annual LGBTQ+ Pride celebrations. Nima Safei (pictured) launched 64 Old Compton Street as a sibling to his 40 Dean Street just around the corner, which he opened 15 […]
Anglesey-born chef Tomos Parry opens his new restaurant Mountain next week, bringing together his love of robust Spanish cooking with ingredients from his native Wales. The restaurant, a former Byron just off Regent Street in Beak Street, Soho, is the chef’s follow-up to Brat in Shoreditch, where he refined his approach to cooking over wood […]
A dream team of pub landlord Oisin Rogers (right in photo) and Flat Iron founder Charlie Carroll (left) have teamed up to open their “dream pub” in Soho. The Devonshire, just off Piccadilly Circus in Denham Street, is scheduled to launch this autumn. Oisin ran the Guinea Grill in Mayfair for six years, turning it […]
Alexis Gauthier, the classic French chef who has gone vegan, is to launch two new ventures from one site next month – 123V Bakery and Studio Gauthier, in the BFI building north of Oxford Street in Soho. Alexis opened his flagship, Gauthier Soho, in 2010 and announced the transition to meat-free menus eight years later, […]