Restaurant radar: November 2021

Sarap Filipino Bistro​
As one restaurant leaves incubator spot 10 Heddon Street (see Fallow) another one arrives, this time in the form of Sarap Filipino Bistro. Described as ‘the latest evolution’ of chef-patron Ferdinand ‘Budgie’ Montoya’s Sarap brand, which has a restaurant in Brixton, the new Mayfair venue will serve a menu of Filipino-inspired small plates, signature large plates and sides that include rellenong crispy pata - twice-cooked adobo pork rice-stuffed trotter; ensaladang talong - smoked aubergines, tomatoes and salted duck egg; escabeche - grilled monkfish with sweet and sour red pepper sauce and pickled peppers; and ginisang monggo - squash stuffed with mung beans and spinach. Montoya is also going head-to-head with neighbour Sabor on the suckling pig front with his signature dish of lechon suckling pig stuffed with lemongrass aromatics and served whole with truffled adobo pork rice.
10 Heddon Street, London, W1B 4BX​
https://www.saraplondon.com/​

Sō-lō​
High profile chef Tim Allen will open his first ‘truly solo’ restaurant venture in the Lancashire market town of Ormskirk on 19 November. Based just down the road from Mark Birchall’s Moor Hall, which is currently ranked number one on the Estrella Damm National Restaurant Awards top 100 list, Sō-lō will be located in the site that was once home to Seafood Pub Company's Wine Bar, which closed as a result of the pandemic. The restaurant is expected to have 40 covers inside and a similar number outside and will serve informal modern British cuisine with influences from around the world and from the chef’s classical training. Allen has previously headed up a number of top restaurant kitchens including Launceston Place in London, The Wild Rabbit in Oxfordshire and The Flitch of Bacon in Essex, which all won Michelin stars under his tenure.
Town Green Ln, Aughton, Ormskirk, L39 6SE​
https://linktr.ee/solorestaurant ​

Manteca​
Chris Leach is relocating his craft-led, British-Italian restaurant Manteca to London’s Shoreditch later this month following a two-year stint in Soho. Taking over the former PizzaExpress site on Curtain Road, the new restaurant will be split over two floors, hold 110 covers in total, and feature a new glass-panelled hanging room for the restaurant's in-house butchery and salumi production. Designed by Box 9 architects, the soft, buttery yellow shades of the interior colour scheme will be complemented by blonde wood furniture that contrasts against the hard-wearing steel of the kitchen islands. The menu of small and large sharing plates will include signatures from the Soho site, as well as new dishes. 'Favourite' dishes set to return include the pig head fritti with apple mostarda; ‘nduja-steamed mussels with cream and parsley and sourdough bread; pickled chilli and duck sausage; and the brown crab cacio e pepe. New plates set to feature, meanwhile, include clam flatbread made with Wildfarmed flour and Duchess Farms ancient grains; pig skin ragù with Parmesan and crispy pig skin; and stuffed pig snout.
49-51 Curtain Rd, London EC2A 3PT​
https://www.mantecarestaurant.co.uk/​ ​

Warehouse​​
Former Silo head chef Brendan Eades is to lead the kitchen at Warehouse, which will open on the ground floor of The Conduit club in London’s Covent Garden later this month. The restaurant, which takes its name from the building’s previous use as a warehouse that served the original Covent Garden fruit and vegetable market, will have 80 covers in total and see Eades continue to focus on the sustainable philosophy championed at Silo. It will serve a menu focused on seasonality, using carefully selected suppliers including day-boat fishermen, organic dairy farmers, and those producing ancient grains. Mixologist Walter Pintus will be in charge of the bar overseeing a ‘hyper-seasonal’ cocktail list using fresh seasonal fruit or syrups, home-made cordials, vinegars and pickles created for out of season periods. The 2,000 sq ft ground floor space will have a décor that includes hand-painted tiles, hand-woven curtains and baskets, paved flooring, with reclaimed furniture throughout.
The Conduit, 6 Langley Street, London, WC2H 9JA​​
https://www.warehouselondon.com/​​

Lunar ​
Niall Keating is opening a restaurant located within Wedgwood’s Barlaston pottery that will be run in conjunction with The Great British Experience Company (TGBEC). Due to launch on 25 November, Lunar will be a 120-cover restaurant serving a menu of ‘progressive and creative’ food inspired by Korean, Japanese and French cuisine. The executive chef at Whatley Manor in Wiltshire, where The Dining Room holds two Michelin stars, will oversee the menu with the day-to-day running of the kitchen going to head chef Craig Lunn. Sample menu items include smaller plates of shellfish chawanmushi; roasted bone marrow with brioche; wild mushroom congee with sea herbs; and larger dishes such as poached lemon sole, nashi pear, yuzu kosho; and butternut agnolotti, XO, aged parmesan as well a sharing plates of Staffordshire clay baked chicken with treasured rice; roasted tranche of day boat turbot with truffle and caviar; and meat cut to order. The restaurant will also have a chefs table that seats 12 and requires a minimum spend of £1,000. Lunar’s name is inspired by the legendary Lunar Society, a supper club formed during the ‘Midlands enlightenment’, of which Josiah Wedgwood was a founding member.
World of Wedgwood, Barlaston, Stoke-on-Trent, ST12 9ER​
https://www.lunarwedgwood.com​​

Dai Chi​
Joshua Owens-Baigler and Amar Takhar are overhauling their Soho restaurant Golden Gai to replace it with Japanese ‘kushikatsu’ restaurant Dai Chi. Taking inspiration from Osaka’s ‘kushikatsu’ dining culture (also known as kushiage), Dai Chi’s menu will centred on skewers of meat, fish and vegetables fried with panko breadcrumbs. It will serve a ‘simple’ or ‘more complex’ tasting menu priced at £35 and £58, respectively with the omakase set menu comprising two crudo courses to start, followed by a selection of skewers that include shiso, shitake and hazelnut; scallop, bergamot ponzu and Exmouth caviar; lobster tail and hokkaido brioche ‘skewered’ lobster burger;and lamb neck with ginger, rosemary and soy, finished with harissa and mustard garnish as well as a course of Japanese risotto, and a dessert. The restaurant will have 34 covers, including a six-seat counter.
16A D'Arblay St, London, W1F 8EA​
https://www.daichi.london/​​

Carousel Fitzrovia​​
Chef residency restaurant Carousel relocates to Fitzrovia this month opening within three converted Georgian townhouses on Charlotte Street. The new venue will have a wine bar open throughout the day and that will serve a Mediterranean-inspired menu conceived by chef and co-owner Ollie Templeton as well as a 10-seater incubator for new concepts and longer-term residencies. There will also be separate spaces dedicated to private dining, workshops and events. As with the original restaurant, CaThe space will continue to give established and up-and-coming talent from all over the world a platform to showcase their skills.
19-23 Charlotte Street, London, W1T 1RL​​
https://www.carousel-london.com/​​​

Mallow​​
Plant-based food restaurant Mildreds is to launch an offshoot in Borough Market, opposite Southwark Cathedral, later this month called Mallow. Split over two floors the new restaurant will have a focus on sustainability and limiting wastage as well as seasonality and provenance with dishes that will feature produce directly from Borough Market traders as daily specials. Head of food development for Mildreds Sarah Wasserman will oversee the menu. It will be open from early morning with a plant-based breakfast offer until the evening and will serve a range of vegan wines, beers and cocktails alongside the food menu.
1 Cathedral St, London SE1 9DE​​
https://www.mallowlondon.com/​​​

Hawksmoor Wood Wharf​
Steakhouse group Hawksmoor has gone all out with its latest, and largest restaurant, with a 160-cover dining room (plus a 22-seat PDR), a 120-cover bar and space for a further 60guests on two waterside terraces. Launching on 25 November, the new venue will be located on a floating pavilion in Wood Wharf and will be the group’s first new restaurant in the capital for four years. The Lowback - its most ambitious bar to date - will serve a brand-new cocktail list that is the result of almost two years’ work by Hawksmoor’s head of drinks Liam Davy and New York bar manager Adam Montgomerie.
1 Water Street, London, E14​
https://thehawksmoor.com/news/introducing-our-new-restaurant-hawksmoor-wood-wharf/​​

Tallow​
Not to be confused with new opening Fallow (see above), Tallow is the new gastropub and restaurant from the couple previously behind The Compasses Inn, husband and wife team Rob and Donna Taylor. Located in Southborough on the outskirts of Tunbridge Wells, the new 26-cover restaurant (plus and upstairs PDR for 10 people) will serve dishes made with ingredients from Kent, from where Rob hails. The couple are keeping things simple with a three/three/three a la carte menu, although a nine-course tasting menu will be offered in the PDR, with sample dishes to include treacle cured beef, glazed ox cheek, braised baby gem and English mustard clotted cream; Stour Valley quail with Kentish cherries and black pudding; crispy confit lamb, mint pesto and goats’ curd; roast loin of venison, celeriac puree, pickled girolles and potato terrine; roscoff onion and cheddar cheese tart and pickled walnut ketchup.
15A Church Road, Southborough, Royal Tunbridge Wells, TN4 0RX​
https://tallowrestaurant.co.uk/​​

The Maine​
London’s Hanover Square has had a much needed makeover and it will soon have a restaurant that befits its new look when The Maine opens later this month. The New England-style brasserie from Montreal restaurateur Joey Ghazal will be located at the impressive-looking 20 Hanover Square - one of Mayfair’s only surviving Georgian Grade II listed buildings - and will be split across three levels with five distinct spaces. Rooms include The Drawing Room & Terrace, The Tavern, and The Brasserie, with menu items ranging from New England clam chowder; lobster rolls; steak frites; spicy shrimp linguine; lobster poutine; pulled suckling pig on toast; tomahawk steak; angry lobster pasta; and dover sole meuniere depending on where you choose to eat. The Tavern will also run a ‘shuck fest’ at 4pm-6pm on weekdays where oysters as just £1 each.
6 Medici Courtyard (at 20 Hanover Square), London, W1S 1JY​
https://www.themainemayfair.com/​
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Il Borro​
Taking the site that was once home to Nobu Berkley Street, Il Borro comes courtesy of London and Dubai-based Orange Hospitality but has links with Il Borro, a Tuscan wine estate that incorporates a Relais & Chateaux hotel and two restaurants. Executive chef Andrea Campani and head chef Fulvio Opalio have created a menu using ingredients sourced directly from the estate’s organic farm, including honey, vegetables and organic olive oil with classic Italian dishes such as vitello tonnato and tagilatelle al tartufo on the menu. The owners have opted for a neutral colour palette for the dining room, with light wooden flooring and tables, white upholstery and off white walls with black and white photography.
15 Berkeley Street, London W1J 8DY​
https://ilborrotuscanbistro.co.uk/l/​​

Yatay ​
Opening on the former Ichibuns site in Chinatown on 16 November, Japanese robatayaki restaurant Yatay will serve robatayaki skewers as well as  raw dishes, salads, and small and large sharing plates. Dishes will include stuffed shiso leaves with spiced organic chicken, garlic and lime tensoyu; monkfish karaage with gochujang mayo; and fried milk bread doughnut with matcha and sesame custard. The three-storey venue will have  a charcoal-powered robatayaki grill on the ground floor and a 50-cover ‘izakaya sake shop’ dining room while the basement will be home to the a late-night bar inspired by ‘roller zoku’ – Tokyo’s underground street culture – serving cocktails.
22 Wardour St, London, W1D 6QQ​
https://www.yataysoho.co.uk/​​

Fallow​
Sustainability-focused restaurant Fallow has upped sticks from its temporary Mayfair location at 10 Heddon Street and will re-emerge down the road in London’s St James’s Market. The larger 150-cover restaurant will have a 65-cover dining room with a bar, wraparound terrace, and seven-seater chef’s counter overlooking the open kitchen. The menu will be divided into six sections, with snacks to will include Fallow’s signature corn ribs with kombu seasoning, along with a string of new dishes such as caramelised cauliflower croquetas; smoked pumpkin skewers; and sourdough flatbread topped with veal tongue with smoked mayonnaise. Adjacent to the chef’s counter, meanwhile, will be a raw bar will serve British and Irish oysters; and fallow deer tartare.
2 St. James's Market, London, SW1Y 4AH​
https://www.fallowrestaurant.com/​​