Rufus Thurston launched Oli’s Thai with his wife Ladd in 2013, and followed up with tapas bar Arbequina, which he opened with Ben Whyles and Ben Bateman three years later. Harden’s caught up with him as he prepared to unveil a second branch of Arbequina in Oxford Covered Market later this spring. HARDEN’S: Oli’s Thai […]
Leading Spanish chef Nieves Barragán this week opened Legado in Shoreditch – her highly anticipated follow-up to Sabor in Mayfair. Expectations are high for the new venture: Sabor, which opened in 2018, has registered extraordinary scores of 5-5-5 in the annual Harden’s guide – the highest possible ratings for food, service and ambience – for three consecutive years. […]
Bar Kroketa, the tapas bar from the team behind Spanish import specialists Brindisa, has taken over José Pizarro’s former site in Broadgate Circus near Liverpool Street station, which it will open as its third and biggest branch next month. Chef/restaurateur José Pizarro announced the closure of his only venue in the City last December, after […]
Leading Spanish chef Nieves Barragán Mohacho, of Sabor in Mayfair, has unveiled plans to launch a second venue in London with the opening of Legado, meaning ‘legacy’, in Shoreditch High Street this summer. Sabor, which she founded in 2018, has been the Harden’s guide’s top-ranked Spanish restaurant in London for the past four years. It […]
Brindisa Tapas bars have just celebrated their 25th anniversary. Harden’s caught up with founder Monika Linton HARDEN’S: Monika, many congratulations on the first quarter century of Brindisa Tapas – but the bars are just the tip of the iceberg, the most visible aspect of the import company you set up in 1988 to import Spanish food. […]
Chef Isaac McHale (left in photo), co-founder of Shoreditch gastronomic powerhouse the Clove Clove, is to open a more informal offshoot just around the corner called Bar Valette, serving simple dishes inspired by French and Spanish coastal cuisine. Scheduled to open next month in the former premises of Two Lights (also backed by the team […]
Chester-based tapas bar Porta has opened its latest branch in the former premises of TV chef Simon Rimmer’s well-known West Didsbury venue Greens, the veteran vegetarian restaurant which closed down earlier this year with debts of about £600,000. Founded by brothers Joe & Ben Wright, Porta also has branches in Altrincham and Salford, and wins […]
A Spanish-inspired neighbourhood restaurant called Amari opens next week in Brighton, from the team behind Mexican spot Halisco. Chef Ian Swainson, previously of Amarillo in the city, will head the kitchen, with his partner Justyna Maria Ciurus, formerly of the Little Fish Market in Hove, running the front of house. They are backed by brothers […]
Veteran Edinburgh restaurateur Ignacio ‘Iggy’ Campos opens his latest venture next Wednesday (August 14) – a wine and tapas bar called Cata in Northwest Circus Place, Stockbridge. Now aged 72, he announced the opening with a social media post proclaiming “Iggy is back in business!” – “In Spanish, Cata means to taste, to try or a tasting of […]
Former Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons head chef Dorian Janmaat is to open his first restaurant next month – Ardor in St Ives, Cornwall, where he will combine his love of his twin childhood homelands, Spain and Cornwall. The restaurant occupies an old house in Fore Street, with seating over two floors as well as at […]
