Restaurant Radar: September 2022

Alex Dilling at Hotel Café Royal​
Opening on 1 September, this ambitious West End restaurant marks a return to the stoves for Alex Dilling after the closure of two Michelin-starred restaurant The Greenhouse back in 2020. Dilling’s new restaurant, which is located within the five-star Hotel Café Royal and which has a prime spot overlooking Regent Street, is going to be an intimate and high-reaching experience with space for 34 diners among the silk panelled walls. Dilling will be doing what he does best, cooking contemporary French cuisine with dishes set to include marinated red mulled with cockles and oyster cream; beef sirloin with dauphinois potatoes and butterhead lettuce; and whole roast Scottish monkfish with Alsace bacon, red cabbage and morteau sausage. Menus will start at £65 for a three-course lunch with things ramping up for dinner in the form of a six-course menu priced at £155 and a special six-course chef’s menu for £195.
Hotel Café Royal, 68 Regent Street , London, W1B 4DY ​
hotelcaferoyal.com/alexdilling​​

Tutto​
Tutto, the latest venture from Brighton-centric restaurateur Raz Helalat, will open its doors next month on Marlborough Place, close to the seaside city's North Laine area. Set in a restored 1930’s former bank and holding 100 covers across its dining room and terrace, Tutto - meaning 'all’ - will be inspired by ‘traditional Italian dining culture’ with Helalat bringing in former Café Murano and Padella chef Mirella Pau to lead the kitchen. The menu will be split between cicchetti, antipasti, primi and secondi dishes, with Pau combining classic ingredients with some not traditionally found in Italian cuisine including jalapeño, fermented chilli and orange mustard. Dishes will include breaded butterflied sardines with spiced chopped eggs; taglierini with native lobster, fresh datterini tomatoes and fermented chilli butter; and veal cutlet Milanese with rocket, pecorino and roasted San Marzano tomatoes.
20 - 22 Marlborough Pl, Brighton BN1 1UB​
tutto-restaurant.co.uk​​

Speedboat Bar​

Luke Farrell is to launch a second Thai restaurant in quick succession in the capital with a new project in Soho. Opening later this month on Rupert Street, the chef is once again partnering with JKS Restaurants for the launch of Speedboat Bar. Described as a ‘a love letter to Yaowarat Road’, the neon-lit street of Bangkok’s Chinatown, Speedboat Bar will feature ‘fast and furious wok cookery with roasted meats and zingy seafood salads’. The menu will include market staples such as drunken noodle dishes, stir fries, sticky meat braises, and curries, such as lychees and roasted duck; and soya chicken and winter melon. There will also be salads such as yam mamuang, made with green mango, crispy fish, chillies and pork floss; and the restaurant’s signature dish, tom yam mama soup. Only one dessert will be served - a candied pineapple and butter pie, Farrell’s twist on the popular Thai treat. Drinks will include a selection of infused Thai spirits and rice wines, slushies and cocktails such as Snakesblood Negroni; Shop Window Old Fashioned; and Jelly Bia made with frozen Leo lager; as well as soft drinks such as a snakefruit soda. Many specialist Thai ingredients will be sourced Farrell’’s nursery, Ryewater, in Dorset.
30 Rupert Street, London W1D 6DL​

Din Tai Fung Centre Point​​

Famed Taiwanese restaurant chain Din Tai Fung has confirmed it will finally launch its restaurant at London's Centre Point this month, in the space previously occupied by British brasserie Vivi Opening on 22 September*​, Din Tai Fung Centre Point will serve the same menu as its sister sites in Covent Garden and Selfridges, specialising in the brand's iconic xiao long bao. The 13,500 sq ft site will hold 218 covers, feature an open kitchen in the centre of the restaurant, and - like the Selfridges restaurant - use robot waiters to help deliver dishes to tables. Unique to the site will be a large separate bar area, serving the brand’s 'signature' cocktails Din, Tai, and Fung. In addition to various xiao long bao iterations, Din Tai Fung Centre Point will offer a varied menu of handmade dumplings and rice and noodle dishes.
*Update:​ Din Tai Fung has since announced it would be postponing the launch of its Centre Point restaurant until 1 October in light of the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
Centre Point, 11 St Giles Passage, London WC2H 8AP​​
dintaifung-uk.com​​​

Mayha​
Beirut-founded Japanese omakase restaurant Mayha is to launch a sister site in London's Marylebone this month, marking the first opening on UK shores for the Lebanon-based Nothing But Love group. Housed on Chiltern Street, Mayha will be spread over two floors. With interiors designed by Beirutbased studio MARIAGROUP, the ground floor will be home to a curved stone counter restaurant serving the daily-changing tasting menu; while the lower ground floor will offer a Japanese raw bar and courtyard. At the helm of the kitchen will be head chefs Jurek Wasio and Yuichi Nakaya, who are relocating to London from Mayha Beirut. While dish details remain under wraps, Mayha promises to serve 'meticulously-sourced seasonal ingredients from a range of local and Japanese suppliers'. Accompanying the menu will be a selection of sakes, rare spirits, fine wines and niche beers.
43 Chiltern Street, Marylebone, London W1U 6LS​
mayhalondon.com​​

Milk Beach Soho​

All-day Australian restaurant Milk Beach will bring ‘a little slice of Sydney to Soho’ this summer following the acquisition of the large ground floor site at the recently redeveloped Ilona Rose House. Milk Beach Soho will have the same Australian coastal aesthetic and friendly Aussie service as the Queen’s Park original – with a sunny, relaxed, atmosphere by day, transforming to a fun, lively vibe by night. However, Milk Beach Soho will feature new dinner and brunch menus, a new line-up of signature cocktails and an expanded wine list focused on independent low-intervention producers. New dishes will include native oyster, roasted chicken butter; crab ravioli, spiced courgette, fermented chilli oil; grilled prawns, crispy capers, tamari butter; whole deep-fried seabass with nam jim jaew; belted Galloway bone-in ribeye, smoked bone marrow, tare; Milk Beach 'Lamington' with chocolate sorbet, coconut and crumble.
Ilona Rose House, Manette Street, W1D 4AL​
milkbeach.com​​

Koyn​

Jamavar, Bombay Bustle and MiMi Mei Fair owner Samyukta Nair and LSL Capital will open a modern Japanese restaurant in London’s Mayfair on 21 September. Located off Grosvenor Square, Koyn will be headed by the New Zealand-born Rhys Cattermoul, whose CV includes The Greenhouse and Nobu. Both the interior and the menu at Koyn - pronounced coin - will be inspired by the ‘duality’ of Japan’s famed Mount Fuji where a ‘lush alpine environment peacefully co-exists with the fires raging below’. While the same menu will be offered throughout the Grosvenor Street restaurant, the space will be split into two distinct areas: a first-floor dining room called Midori that will be representative of the top of the mountain and a ground floor space called Magma that will represent the active volcano below. Dishes will include native lobster tempura sushi roll with chargrilled red pepper and creamy yuzu lemon; Applewood smoked Japanese A5 Kagoshima wagyu sushi roll with asparagus, kanpyo & black truffle; steamed clams ‘nabe’ with cordycep mushroom, yuzu sake soy and spinach and samphire; and hojicha-smoked lamb marinated with spicy kuromame miso.
38 Grosvenor Street, Mayfair, London W1K 4AG​
koynrestaurants.com​​

Palmito​

Brighton and Hove-based chefs Kanthi Thamma and Diego Ricaurte will open an eclectic, spice-driven restaurant later this month. Located close to the Brighton-Hove border on Western Road, Palmito will explore how spices have migrated from the subcontinent to Latin America via Europe by way of a short, weekly-changing menu of small plates. Palmito will be mid-market, offering a flexible menu of small plates. Thamma and Ricaurte will cook together in the 20-cover restaurant’s open kitchen and do much of the serving themselves. Dishes will include wild bass with ginger; prawn vadai from coriander; Trenchmore short rib with cloves; and banana with chai spice. The majority will be either cooked over wood or in a wood-fired oven. Average price per head is anticipated to be £35 including a drink.
16 Western Road, Hove, BN3 1AE​

M Canary Wharf​
Rare Restaurants will finally open its third M restaurant this month, in London’s Canary Wharf, some six years after it secured the site. M restaurant and members lounge will be a 10,000sq ft venue located in a 220-metre residential skyscraper, known as the Diamond Tower. It will sit over two floors with a 180-cover dining room, two private dining rooms, a wine tasting room, a ‘wagyu and wine café’ and private members’ lounge. Interiors will be from René Dekker Design and will be inspired by the French Riviera and in particular vintage Riva Yachts, with teak and leather throughout. Executive chef Michael Reid will oversee a Mediterranean-focused menu that will feature meat cuts such as 9+ grade Blackmore wagyu and 10+ grade Kobe steaks as well as stuffed lamb rack; Iberico pork; salt baked bonito; and dry aged king fish tail with crispy crackling. There will also be an ‘ice’ section of the menu with dishes including cobia tartare; octopus carpaccio; and lobster, wasabi and avocado salad.
10 Newfoundland Place, London E14 4BH​
mrestaurants.co.uk/restaurants/canary-wharf​​

Temper Shoreditch​

London-based steakhouse and barbecue restaurant group Temper will open its first restaurant in four years this month in the heart of Shoreditch. Situated on Great Eastern Street, the new site will encompass temper’s core concept of smoked meat. The restaurant itself will be split level, with a cocktail bar – a first for Temper – on the ground floor that will feature regular DJ sets, and a basement restaurant with counter seating and tables. Expect punchy tacos and rare-breed steaks, alongside bottomless brunch options and Sunday roasts.
78 Great Eastern St, London EC2A 3JL​
temperrestaurant.com/temper-shoreditch​​

Brightsmith On The Water ​
Brightsmith On The Water, a new bar and restaurant located within Hilton Birmingham Metropole, will officially open its doors on 9 September. Part of the hotel’s multimillion-pound refurbishment and boasting an enviable waterfront location, Brightsmith will serve a menu of small and large plates, brunch at weekends and feature a wide-ranging cocktail menu. Inspired by the artisan makers at the heart of Birmingham’s world-renowned jewellery quarter, Brightsmith’s food and drink mission is to ‘capture the attention to detail of these craftspeople, and their expertise in combining the best of ingredients’. The kitchen, headed up by chef Peter Daly, will serve dishes including chicken lollipops with a harissa dip; scallop and crab in a bisque with chorizo oil hollandaise and caviar; truffle and rosemary marinated beef fillet; and pea croquettes filled with black bomber cheddar.
Hilton Birmingham Metropole, Pendigo Way, Marston Green, Birmingham B40 1PP​
brightsmithonthewater.co.uk​​