Restaurant radar: 2020
Kol
Former Noma Mexico chef Santiago Lastra is to open his long-awaited London restaurant in Fitzrovia March 2020. Kol, which takes its name from the Spanish word for cabbage (col), will draw on Lastra’s Mexican roots and background sourcing ingredients for Rene Redzepi’s restaurant. Lastra was headhunted by Redzepi to act as project manager during Noma Mexico’s six-week run during 2017.
Eataly
Totalling 42,000 sq ft of retail and restaurant conessions, Eataly’s UK debut is being billed as the country’s largest food hall. Located on Bishopsgate close to Liverpool Street Station, the Italian food ‘marketplace’ joins sites as far flung as Japan and Brazil.
NoMad London
Hot on the heels of Davies and Brook, Daniel Humm’s Make it Nice group will be overseeing the F&B at NoMad London when it launches in Covent Garden. Expect a casual yet very slick restaurant and bar that will explore Humm’s time cooking in Switzerland, California and New York City.
Noble Rot Soho
Mark Andrew and Dan Keeling’s smash hit Bloomsbury wine bar and restaurant will get a younger sibling next year when the duo take on the former The Gay Hussar in Soho. Created by Noble Rot head chef and consultant chef Stephen Harris, the menu will include subtle references to the iconic Hungarian restaurant’s glory days.
Dishoom Birmingham
The brand that caused the biggest ever shake up of the traditional Indian restaurant model will open its third site outside London early next year within Birmingham’s Paradise development. The hugely successful Irani café-inspired brand will join Vinoteca at the development, which is located in the city centre between Chamberlain Square and Centenary Square.
Muse
Tom Aikens will make a surprise return to fine dining in early 2020 with the launch of a bijou restaurant in Belgravia. Muse will offer a tasting menu inspired by the chef’s ‘life so far’ and has already come in for some stick for its rather odd menu descriptions which gave little clue as to what would actually be on the plate.
Selin Kiazim’s bakery
Selin Kiazim and Laura Christie’s Fitzrovia Turkish pasta restaurant Kyseri will close at the end of the year to make way for a Turkish bakery. The as yet unnamed concept will launch in early 2020 and will see chef Kiazim ‘pursue her long-time personal passion for Turkish baking, complemented by Christie’s love of wines from the same region’.
Mercato Metropolitano Ilford
The slightly eccentric London food hall group is heading east for its latest site, a 31,000 sq ft covered market in a former car park. MM Ilford is designed be the UK’s first circular-economy food market, with an urban farm set to produce 60 – 80 tonnes of vegetables a year for use by restaurants and retailers on-site.
Din Tai Fung Centre Point
Famed Taiwanese restaurant chain Din Tai Fung caused a stir when it arrived in London’s Covent Garden in 2018, sparking long queues for its xiaolongbao despite some mixed reviews from critics. But the year-long delay to its planned second site has cast doubt over whether it will ever open. The restaurant is understood to still be going ahead at the Centre Point development at Tottenham Court Road, so watch this space.
Hoppers King’s Cross
February will see the launch of third site for JKS restaurants’ Sri Lanka and southern India concept Hoppers. The restaurant will be distinct from the first two restaurants that opened under the brand with a menu and decor based on the coastal journey from Colombo, the island’s capital, to the historical Dutch town of Galle. Expect a focus on seafood and a much larger bar than the previous sites, featuring a selection of beers on tap, including two of Hoppers’ own brewed beers.
Lerpwl
Brothers Ellis and Liam Barrie, who are behind lauded Anglesey caravan park restaurant The Marram Grass, will open their first Liverpool site in February. Lerpwl will make use of Welsh produce, as well as celebrating Merseyside’s international trade links. Ellis will also be appearing on the BBC’s revival of Ready Steady Cook in 2020.
28 Market Place
Ex-Soho House director Ben Crofton and his wife Vanessa are opening a restaurant, wine shop and bakery in the picturesque market town of Somerton, Somerset in January 2020. Great British Menu finalist Dan Fletcher is heading up the kitchen, with a menu celebrating West Country and British produce. Bread, pastries and doughnuts will be made in-house daily, with the wine shop stocking up to 100 varieties not on the main restaurant list.
Gymkhana
Influential Michelin-starred Indian restaurant Gymkhana is to reopen its restaurant in Mayfair early next year, after a fire forced it to temporarily close its doors back in the summer. As part of the refurbishment, Gymkhana’s basement space has been remodelled, with the bar area repositioned and new furniture installed that’s inspired by the work of Pierre Jeanerette. The ground floor restaurant area will retain its original design, which is inspired by India’s elite gymkhana clubs.
Shelter Hall
The food market movement shows no signs of abating, with Brighton seafront set to unveil its own version of the fast-casual phenomenon in the summer. Shelter Hall will be run by Sessions Market, a new company led by former Deliveroo managing director Dan Warne and restaurant industry veteran Graham Turner, and will be able to house up to 10 independent traders, all of which will be from the ‘Brighton and Hove area’.
Padella 2.0
Beloved fresh pasta restaurant Padella is finally opening its second site at the end of February, on Phipp Street in Shoreditch. Owners Jordan Frieda and Tim Siadatan have waited four years to expand, in which time they’ve worked on refining their preparation and cooking processes. The 70-cover space will serve a similar menu to that the original Padella restaurant in Borough Market, but the addition of a deep fat fryer means a range of fritti will now be included on in the antipasti section.
The Connaught Grill
After a 20-year hiatus, The Connaught Grill is to return to London’s Connaught Hotel. The restaurant will reopen in early 2020, with chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten at the helm, who will help launch a ‘modern interpretation’ of the restaurant on the ground floor of the hotel.
Nico Simeone London
Scottish-born chef Nico Simeone had an incredible year in 2019, taking his ‘ever-evolving’ Six by Nico dining concepts from two sites to six. Clearly not wishing to rest on his laurels, Simeone is now preparing to bring Six by Nico to the capital later this year, marking the next stage in an astonishing expansion drive that appears to show no sign of abating.
Nusr-Et Burger
The wait for Nusret Gökçe’s (aka Salt Bae) first London restaurant to open has been going on now for more than 18 months. In June last year it was reported that he was set to open one of his Nusr-Et Steakhouses on London’s Knightsbridge in December, but it never materialised. Now Eater has suggested that Gökçe’s Nusr-Et Burger brand may be coming to the capital at some point this year, with a site on Mount Street in Mayfair rumoured to be in the offing.
Manzi’s
Spring will see Jeremy King and Chris Corbin pay homage to legendary West End fish restaurant Manzi’s. Set across two floors and flooded with natural light, the 240-cover fish restaurant will be an homage to ‘old Soho’ and the interiors will evoke nautical themes. Manzi’s will be located on Soho’s Bateman Street (the original Manzi’s was on the fringes of Chinatown on Leicester Street). Corbin & King is also expected to open a restaurant in Notting Hill later on in the year.
Smokey Kudu and Little Kudu
Amy Corbin and Patrick Williams, the owners of South African-inspired restaurant Kudu, are to increase their presence in Peckham with the launch of two new venues in early 2020. The pair will open cocktail bar Smokey Kudu in January under the arches by Queens Road station; followed by Little Kudu in March, situated next to the original Kudu restaurant on Queens Road. Smokey Kudu will be arranged around a central horseshoe bar, have 37 seats, and offer table service.
Som Saa
Having recently smashed their crowdfunding target, the trio behind Shoreditch Thai restaurant Som Saa are expected to launch a second site in 2020. The second restaurant will be part of what the founders describe as a ‘monetisation strategy’ and will be ‘strongly value led’ serving a menu that is more efficient to prepare and at a lower price point than at the original restaurant. As such food hall, grab-and-go and takeaway options may well be part of their plan.
DC Universe restaurant
The former Mash Steakhouse site near Piccadilly Circus will soon be home to a 300-cover immersive restaurant that will take its cues from the DC Universe. The as-yet-unnamed venue will be a multi-faceted affair - including one top-end restaurant - and will aim to make diners feel as if they are having an experience from within one of DC’s superhero IPs, which include Batman and Superman.
Alan Yau
Wagamama founder Alan Yau is to open three new restaurants in London in 2020; two in Canary Wharf and one at the Westfield London shopping centre in Shepherd’s Bush. The Canary Wharf sites will both offer ‘Asian gastronomy with a twist’: Chyna will combine Cantonese and modern European cooking while Yau Grilling will be a more informal all-day operation specialising in oysters and grilled beef, lobster and king crab. The third restaurant will be a second site for Yau’s Turkish street food brand Yamabahçe. Yamabahçe, which currently operates a site in Marylebone, features a menu that includes pides topped with either rib-eye beef; minced lamb; and spicy Turkish sausage.
Bundobust
Gujarati vegetarian food and craft beer concept Bundobust is to open a second site in Manchester that will also be home to a large in-house brewery. The three-strong restaurant group, which operates sites in Leeds, Manchester and Liverpool, has secured a 4,000sq ft site that will have space for 120-140 covers. However, the “jewel in the crown” of the group’s latest venture, according to co-founder Marko Husak, will be its nine brewing vessels that will be able to produce 28,500 pints of beer each month.
Mathura
Chef Atul Kochhar and Tina English, former commercial director of the Cinnamon Collection will open a second Indian restaurant together early next year. Housed in Westminster’s former fire station close to The Cinnamon Club, Mathura will cover a 5,000 sq ft site and have 200 covers. Named after north Indian city where the Hindu deity Krishna is said to have been born, Mathura’s menu is expected to ‘stay true to the signature Indian flair for which Kochhar is known’.
