Restaurant Radar: October
Mana
Former Noma chef Simon Martin’s debut restaurant in Manchester’s Ancoats area plans to serve its dishes in “quick succession” with up to 16 courses arriving within a two-hour meal. The inugral menu is entitled ‘Fall’ and will include the likes of early autumn bark and fresh juniper; beetroot cured radishes and baked English kelp; scallops and nutritional yeast broth; next year’s cucumber grilled with lemon thyme; and squash cooked in lacto-fermented barley and birch syrup. The 16-course menu is priced at £95. Martin - who has also cooked tat Gordon Ramsay’s three-star flagship - has taken on Anthony Barnes, the former owner of now-closed tasting
menu-only restaurant Squid Ink, as director of operations.
42 Blossom Street, Manchester M4 6BF
www.manarestaurant.co.uk
Berenjak
The latest project from JKS Restaurants (Gymkhana, Brigadiers), Berenjak is billed as a reinterpretation of the hole in the wall ‘kabab’ houses lining the streets of Tehran and will take inspiration from chef Kian Samyani’s Iranian upbringing. It will also draw on his cooking experience at a number of JKS Restaurants’ Indian restaurants. The restaurant will have an open kitchen that gives guests a full view of the chefs, who will cook mainly on tandoors, mangal-style barbecues and doner rotisseries. Most meals will start with Iranian ‘mazeh’, an assortment of punchy small plates including kashk e bademjoon (blackened aubergine with whey, walnuts and dried mint); ash e reshteh (Azerbaijani bean and noodle soup). Main course dishes include various types of kebabs served with freshly baked bread; jigar (lamb’s liver, bergamot and lavash); koobideh (tender minced meat dish); and Persian-style (khoresht) stews including khoresht e karak.
27 Romilly Street, Soho W1D 5AL
berenjaklondon.com
Heaneys
Chef Tommy Heaney is to officially open his first Cardiff restaurant, Heaneys, on 10 October. It comes after the chef crowdfunded £40,000 towards the project after taking on the former Arbennig restaurant site in the Pontcanna area of the Welsh capital. The 50-cover space has been redesigned with a new bar area, offering standing room for 30 and seating for eight. Menu options range from bar snacks to small plates, a suggested sharing tasting menu and a weekly Sunday Roast. Dishes will change regularly depending on the seasons and availability of produce. “I wanted [the restaurant] to be the kind of place where I would go to eat; not fine-dining, not stuffy, but somewhere where anyone could come and grab a drink and just eat tasty food,” says Heaney, who is currently representing Northern Ireland on Great British Menu.
www.heaneyscardiff.co.uk
6-10 Romilly Crescent, Cardiff CF11 9NR
Caractère
Chefs Emily Roux and Diego Ferrari are now taking bookings for their debut London restaurant Caractère, which means ‘character’ in French. Roux is the daughter of chef Michel Roux Jr and granddaughter of Albert Roux, while the Italian-born Ferrari has been head chef at the family restaurant Le Gavroche for the past three years. In Notting Hill, the launch means Roux is the third generation of her family to operate a restaurant in the UK. The husband and wife team say the menu will combine their love of classic French and Italian food, serving more refined versions of dishes they cook for each other at home. It will be divided in to six character traits including ‘curious’ and ‘robust’ with up to three dishes to choose from each section.
209 Westbourne Park Road, Notting Hill W11 1EA
www.caractererestaurant.com
Cattivo
The team behind Brixton’s Canova Hall and Hackney’s Martello Hall will open a new venue in Briston later this month. Located on Ferndale Road, Cattivo is billed by Albion & East group as an Italian café and cocktail bar with a late license and cabaret-style entertainment. The food offer is described as small plates with a southern Italian theme: home-cooked ragus, meatballs and filled pasta taking centre stage. Like the other venues in the group, the drinks program will be gin-focused. The group plans to open a fourth venture under its Hall brand in Old Street’s Bower development early next year.
Address and website to be confirmed
Coal Drops Yard
One of the most important restaurant developments of 2018, Coal Drops Yard further strengths King’s Cross stellar line-up. A former Victorian coal store, the area combines contemporary design with the surviving grand brick viaducts, ironwork and cobbled streets. The Harts Group (Barrafina, El Pastor) have a significant presence at the development with no less than three concept: Mexican restaurant Casa Pastor, wine bar The Drop, and its largest Barrafina to date. These will be joined by former Murano head chef Pip Lacey’s debut restaurant Hicce; and Anthony Demetre’s Italian food and vermouth-focused restaurant Vermuteria.
Tracks & Records
Usian Bolt’s Jamaican themed restaurant sprints into The City this month with plans for a suitably pacey rollout across the UK (15 sites over the next five years as part of a deal between Jamaican franchise company Franjam and the UK’s Casual Dining Restaurants Group). The restaurants are built around ‘brand Jamaica’ and serve burgers ‘a la Usain’; crock pots of curried mutton; and rum barbecue wings. Tracks & Records, which has opened two restaurants in Jamaica since 2011, is actively searching for UK sites with the aim of launching in the next few months. “I’m happy to be able to share a taste of the Jamaica that I know and love with the rest of the world through the opening of these restaurants across the UK,” says Bolt. “London has always been a special place for me and I thank CDRG for giving us the opportunity to share our vision and our culture with you all.”
94 Middlesex Street, The City E1 7EZ
tracksandrecords.com
Wahlburgers
The burger chain owned by actor Mark Wahlburg and his brothers Paul and Donnie has been delayed, but is expected to make its UK debut this month. The two-storey restaurant will launch in Covent Garden, serving a signature list of burgers with sides including macaroni salad; macaroni cheese; and tater tots. The chain has 22 restaurants across the US and its own eponymous reality TV show. Mark himself is expected to be present at the launch, although there is speculation he may be there in hologram format, as opposed to in the flesh.
8-9 James Street, WC2E 8BT
wahlburgersrestaurant.com
Levan
The team behind Brixton small plates restaurant Salon will open a new south London restaurant later this month. Levan will launch in a converted warehouse block in Peckham, serving an all-day European-inspired menu. Breakfast options will comprise pastries; tartines made with bread baked in-house, house-cured salmon, goat’s curd and pickled elderberries; and a croque monsieur. The lunch menu will include the likes of potato, chanterelle and Vacherin cheese pie; fig salad with candied walnuts and goat’s cheese; and apple tart tatin with Ivy House cream. Founder Nicholas Balfe and his team will be working to try and repurpose or reuse over 90% of the restaurant’s waste. Larger evening dishes to be eaten in the main dining room include smoked Pollock with spinach and asparagus; and 50-day aged rump cap with wild garlic aioli and grilled calcots.
12-16 Blenheim Grove, Peckham SE15 4QL
levanlondon.co.uk
