Nuno Mendes' Portuguese restaurant in Fitzrovia, Soho House's long-time-coming move to Brighton, and Three Uncle's first permanent, sit-down venue are among this month's biggest restaurant openings.
Little Beach House Brighton
Soho House finally opens a venue on Brighton seafront later this month. Nearly eight years in the making, Little Beach House Brighton will feature a terrace pool looking out to sea; a club space with a bar; a Club Cecconi’s-branded restaurant serving a menu of Northern Italian dishes. The glass-fronted Grade II-listed building on Madeira Drive will takes design inspiration from the surrounding seaside ambience and local Art Deco architecture. It will be connected to a courtyard that will house a co-working space, Soho Works, which will launch later this year. The Terraces, Madeira Dr, Brighton BN2 1AY www.sohohouse.com
Walter’s
After a short delay The Oystermen duo Rob Hampton and Matt Lovell will throw the doors open at their second restaurant. Located in West Dulwich, Walter’s, it is named after Walter Hathaway, a local master milliner, costumier and original owner of the building in which the restaurant is housed. The 50-cover dining room will be split into two distinct spaces: a dining room to the front and a lounge area to the rear with the kitchen being led by head chef Khalid Hassan. Expect dishes such as apricot and harissa glazed lamb belly; Jerusalem artichoke orzo risotto; roasted venison loin and parsnip; and roasted hake with romesco sauce as well as a whole sea bass served table-side. 84 Park Hall Rd, London, SE21 8SW waltersdulwich.co.uk
Noci
Former Bancone head chef Louis Korovilas opens his neighbourhood pasta restaurant in London's Islington this month. Noci, which translates as walnut in Italian, draws inspiration from Korovilas's travels across Italy will serve a short, seasonal menu of pastas and Italian street food snacks. Dishes will include seasonal pasta plates such as a ragu of veal, pork and onions with tubes of paccheri; gnocchetti with confit tomato and smoked ricotta; and bucatini with brown butter cacio e pepe. There will also be daily specials handwritten on a central wall of white tiles. 4 - 6 Islington Green, London, N1 2XA www.nocirestaurant.co.uk
Market Halls Canary Wharf Cargo
Food brands including Gopal's Corner, DF Tacos, Baoziinn Le Bab, Pasta Evangelists and Inamo Sukoshi are among the line-up for the new Market Halls, which opens later this month at Canary Wharf Cargo. The new opening takes the number of Market Halls in the capital back up to three following the closure of its original site in Fulham, with its venue in Victoria back up and running and the one in Oxford Circus due to reopen later this week after an extensive refurb following its closure to Covid. 25 North Colonnade, Canary Wharf, E14 5HS markethalls.co.uk
Lisboeta
Meaning ‘a person from Lisbon’, Lisboeta is the latest London restaurant From Portuguese chef Nuno Mendes. Opening on 21 March, the Charlotte Street restaurant will be set across three floors in a townhouse building with the ground floor inspired by café culture with a long, seated bar and an upstairs dining room with banquette seats and whitewashed walls. There will also be a cellar space called The Adega that will house a glass-fronted kitchen and wine cellar when it opens later in the year. Lisboeta will serve a menu of small plate ‘petiscos’ and large sharing dishes for the table inspired by the popular ‘tasca’ restaurants of Lisbon. 30 Charlotte St, London, W1T 2NG lisboeta.co.uk
The Connaught Grill
After a 20-year closure and then a two-year hiatus in quick succession, The Connaught Grill has finally reopened. Overseen by chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten, menu items include a pie of the day with options such as venison, chicken, seabass en croute and shepherd’s pie as well as a traditional Sunday roast presented and carved on the restored silver trolley from the original Connaught Grill. Executive pastry chef Nicolas Rouzaud’s desserts, meanwhile, include sticky toffee pudding served with butterscotch sauce and coffee ice cream; chocolate soufflé with ice cream; and bread and butter pudding served with spiced pear and cinnamon milk sorbet. The new look, 46-cover restaurant has a dining room that is heavy on American black walnut wood that contrasts with the building’s ornate ceiling. The Connaught, Carlos Place, London, W1K 2AL www.the-connaught.co.uk
Samsons
Josh Whitehead, a semi-finalist of the 2016 MasterChef: The Professionals, is heading up the kitchen at new restaurant Samsons in Harrogate. Located in Cheltenham Crescent the 182- covers venue will have a main restaurant and bar as well as a private wine tasting snug room and will serve an all-day menu of British food. Town Centre House, Cheltenham Crescent, Harrogate, HG1 1DQ
Bridge 15
Tyler King, a former senior sous chef at Michelin-starred restaurant Prism in Berlin, has returned to his homeland to open a modern Scottish restaurant within The Bridge Inn in Edinburgh. Called Bridge 15, it will showcase Scottish produce with dishes on the launch menu to include an Arbroath smokie doughnut, spring onion emulsion; mushroom ravioli egg yolk pureé with mushroom broth, black garlic, puffed rice; monkfish mussel XO with burnt leek, pine nut, vermouth sauce; and Crowdie cheesecake mousse rhubarb and toasted oats. 27 Baird Rd, Ratho, Newbridge, EH28 8RA www.bridgeinn.com
Caravel
This 40-cover floating restaurant is housed in a converted barge moored on the banks of Regent’s Canal. Launched by brothers Fin and Lorcan Spiteri the boat, which takes its name from a small Spanish ship or sailing boat popular in the 15 to 17th centuries, will become a dining room serving British, Italian and French food. Main dishes will include white crab tagliatelle, fennel and garlic; crispy pork belly, green beans and anchoïde; and roast hake, confit potatoes and curry sauce while desserts will be a blood orange jelly with honeycomb; and almond cake with salted caramel ice cream.
Facing Heaven
As one door closes another opens for chef Julian Denis, who is launching vegan Sichuanese restaurant Facing Heaven in Hackney having just closed his nearby restaurant Mao Chow. Fans of Mao Chow will be pleased to know that Facing Heaven will be a larger (albeit not much), more mature evolution of the restaurant serving more complex vegan dishes from regional Chinese cuisines, such as Cantonese, Yunnan and Shaanxi. The 28-cover dining room will focus on sharing plates and feasting-style family dining with dishes to include Denis’ take on Macau style baked pork chop rice, using crispy oyster mushrooms, curry sauce, coconut rice, and vegan cheese; and spicy and numbing twice fried Jerusalem artichokes with green chilli dip. 1A Bayford St, London, E8 3SE www.facing-heaven.com
Three Uncles
Cantonese roast meat specialist Three Uncles’ first permanent, sit-down restaurant is coming to Brixton Village. The 25-cover restaurant will serve house-roasted and chopped-to-order Cantonese meats such as roast duck; crispy pork belly; and char siu pork; as well as lotus leaf rice with Chinese sausage, steamed chicken, shiitake mushroom and chestnuts; and steamed minced pork and preserved vegetables. Owners Cheong Yew, Pui Sing Tsang, and Mo Kwok have also created a roast duck and char siu lai fun noodle soup, a Hong Kong favourite, for the new venue. Unit 19 & 20, Brixton Village, London, SW9 8PR www.threeuncles.co.uk
No. 34 Garden & Grill
Opening at the start of this month, No. 34 Garden & Grill is described as a ‘botanical dining destination’ that serves a menu that is half plant-based and vegetarian, with the other half celebrating British farming and sustainable fishing. Dishes from the grill menu include grilled mackerel with roasted beets and horseradish; and chargrilled bacon chop with pineapple and chilli; while garden menu items include pea and mint fritters with saffron aioli; aubergine schnitzel; and grilled halloumi with harissa spiced couscous. Owners Jonathan Carter-Morris and Marc Hornby also run catering business Caviar & Chips and Shropshire-based boutique wedding venue Stockton House. 34 Stratford Road, Warwick, CV34 6AS www.no34gardenandgrill.co.uk
The Princess Royal
Cubitt House’s activity in the London pub space continues apace with the opening of The Princess Royal in Notting Hill this month. Chef director Ben Tish will oversee the menu that focuses on combing British and Mediterranean cooking styles with dishes to include red prawn crudo, rosemary and orange; English Burrata, blood orange, radicchio, coriander seeds and fennel; and Old Spot pork chop, salt roasted beets, new season carrots, walnut picada. There will also be a dedicated raw menu, featuring oysters; wild bream crudo and aged beef tartare. Cubitt House has been busy these past few months with the recent reopening of The Coach Makers Arms in Marylebone and there’s more to come from it with the opening of The Barley Mow in Mayfair this summer 47 Hereford Rd, London, W2 5AH www.cubitthouse.co.uk/the-princess-royal
Mano
Last year’s Omicron variant and more recent challenges with furniture supplies have hampered the opening of Romain Fargette and Alexis Colletta’s Mayfair restaurant, but it will finally open this month on Heddon Sreet. The Brazilian-Japanese restaurant is headed up by MasterChef: The Professionals semi-finalist Luciana Berry in the kitchen and will serve a menu of sharing dishes such as smoked picanha with yakiniku sauce; moqueca (Brazilian seafood stew with coconut milk and grilled sea bass); and Pudim (Brazilian crème caramel made with tapioca, salted miso caramel and brazil nuts). The duo are due to open a second restaurant in the capital, called Yuca, later this summer. 4 Heddon St, London, W1B 4BS www.manomayfair.com
Upstairs at The George
Following the successful opening of their latest London pub, The George in Fitzrovia, back in November, publican Dominic Jacobs, chef James Knappett and JKS Restaurants are now set to launch the second stage of the venture called Upstairs at The George – a dining room and English sparkling wine bar. The menu, overseen by Knappett, will feature pub classics with a twist like steak tartare with hay-smoked egg yolk, maple and black pepper sourdough; Scottish langoustine scampi with chips, tartar sauce and crushed peas; and sausage and mash with both a wild venison sausage and a lightly-seasoned pork shoulder sausage that are cured and stuffed in-house. The dining room will hold 28 covers, with a separate PDR will have space for up to 20. More than 80 English sparkling wines, some taken from estates not served anywhere else in the UK, will stock a dedicated bar, alongside seasonal cocktails and a wider, 300-strong wine list. 55 Great Portland Street, W1W 7LQ https://thegeorge.london/upstairs/
