Restaurant Radar: Openings March 2017

Claude Bosi at Bibendum, Chelsea, London​

  
Claude Bosi will launch his long-awaited revamp of the restaurant at the iconic Michelin building in South Kensington with a larger central open kitchen and new menu. Dishes will include fine dining classics from Bosi’s former Mayfair restaurant Hibiscus, alongside a set lunch priced at £36.50 for three courses and £49.50 with a half bottle of wine.

There’ll also be an Art Deco dessert trolley and a carvery trolley serving a selection of beef rib, rotisserie chicken, pork belly and lamb leg at weekend lunchtimes.

Moor Hall, Aughton, West Lancashire​

  
Chef Mark Birchall will take charge of this 50-seat restaurant housed within a former Grade-II listed Tudor house, when it opens early this month. The Roux Scholarship-winner was previously executive head chef at iconic two Michelin-starred Cumbria site L’Enclume in Cartmel, and has also worked at Northcote Manor, The Walnut Tree, and the three-starred El Celler de Can Roca in northern Spain.

Moor Hall is undergoing a two-stage, 18-month renovation and launch, and will by mid-2017 include the main dining room, a 14-seat PDR, a charcuterie and cutting room, a dairy, a meat-ageing room, and a second, more informal restaurant in the renovated barn. The main dining room will serve a choice of modern British menus for lunch and dinner.

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Etch, Hove, Sussex​

MasterChef: The Professionals​ winner Steven Edwards is opening an ambitious tasting menu-only restaurant in Hove that aims to put Sussex produce centre stage. The 36-cover site will offer four course, six course and eight course tasting menus at £40, £50 and £60 respectively. Dish descriptions are brief in the extreme, almost invariably consisting of two ingredients (for example beef/radish, lemon/orange). A former curry house, the restaurant is located on the western end of Hove’s main drag and opens for dinner Wednesday to Friday, and for lunch and dinner on Saturdays from 24 March.

Albertine, Shepherd’s Bush, London​

Leon co-founder Allegra McEvedy is going back to her roots with the relaunch of this once family-owned wine bar in Shepherd’s Bush. Albertine will be more food focused than before with head chef and business partner Roberto Freddi serving British and European dishes in the newly created upstairs dining room.

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Mere, Fitzrovia, London​

Monica and David Galetti’s debut restaurant opens its doors in London’s Fitzrovia on 6 March. Pronounced ‘Mary’ and named after Monica’s mother, the 64-cover restaurant will have a menu that features six options for each course, with dishes including scallop with black curry, basmati, lime, kumquat and puffed rice; and roast squab breast, confit leg pastilla, cauliflower, rhubarb and ras el hanout.

Andi’s, Stoke Newington, London​

Chef and Great British Menu judge Andi Oliver and long-term business partner Kelly Miles will launch Andi’s in Stoke Newington mid-month. Serving brunches throughout the day and take on a brasserie-style format in the evening with dishes including French toast bacon sandwich with maple syrup; Reuben sandwiches (including a vegan option) and variations on baked eggs, it promises to “uplift the spirit and calm the heart,” says Oliver.

Cheese Bar, Camden, London​

After three years popping-up at festivals around the UK, toastie specialist The Cheese Truck is putting on the brakes for a permanent site in Camden Stables Market. Cheese Bar will champion urban cheese makers within the M25, with dishes including a breakfast poutine with candied pancetta and gringa dairy cheese curds; and a dark chocolate ice cream sundae made with honey and creamy ewes milk cheese; alongside its signature sandwiches.

Il Pampero at The Hari Hotel, Belgravia, London​

Chef Claudio Covino, formerly at London restaurants Novikov and Locanda Locatelli, will bring his Italian-style cuisine to this 58-cover site at The Hari hotel, in the capital’s Belgravia. The property, which was known as Belgraves before it relaunched by Hong Kong-based Harilela Hotels last year, was previously the site of now-closed restaurants by Mark Hix and later Sophie Michell. Covino will now serve traditional dishes with fresh pasta, bread, and cured meats, including chestnut tagliatelle with hare ragu, and pumpkin gnocchi with Taleggio cheese.

Hot Pot Soho, Soho, London​

Thai restaurant chain Hot Pot makes its UK debut this month with a premium offshoot of its hot pot restaurant brand in London’s Chinatown. Expect a choice of five broths that can be used to cook a choice of over 60 ingredients such as quail’s egg, wagyu beef and lobster fresh from the tank. Unlike neighbouring Shuang Shuang, the restaurant is designed for groups to share, with a mix of booths and large tables spread over two floors.

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The Game Bird at The Stafford, Mayfair, London​

The Stafford London’s renamed and refitted restaurant has been conceived to broaden the Mayfair hotel’s customer base with an offering that’s described as good value for the area. It’s not a specialist game restaurant but there will be a focus on game during the season and some sort of game on the menu all year round. Executive chef James Durrant - who worked for Gordon Ramsay Group for nearly a decade - has penned a launch menu that includes Rhug Estate venison tartare; and wood pigeon pot au feu. 

Also opening this month:​​

• Chop restaurant Blacklock ​will double up with a city location
• Pizza Pilgrims​ is heading east with a site in Shoreditch
• Polpo​ is extending its tentacles to Exeter
• Modern European restaurant Bokan ​will open in Novotel Canary Wharf
• Art, music and food venue Number 177 Bar & Kitchen​ launches in London’s Hoxton