Temper lines up fifth London restaurant in Paddington

The group has acquired the former KuPP site on Merchant Square by Paddington Basin for its latest opening.

It comes just over a year after the launch of Temper Shoreditch, which marked a return to the expansion trail for the group following a four-year hiatus​​.

Temper was founded by restaurateur Sam Lee, who continues to lead the business; and chef Neil Rankin, who subsequently left the group in 2019.

It opened its first site on Broadwick Street in Soho back in 2016 and followed this with Temper City in 2017, and Temper Covent Garden in 2018.

In its original form, each of Temper's restaurants had its own specific focus, with the original Soho site majoring on tacos and mezcal; the City site specialising in gin and curry; and Covent Garden focusing on house-cured meat, pizza and vermouth.

However, all restaurants in the group now serve an almost identical food menu that includes a selection of barbecue, smoked meats, seafood and tacos.

The menu at Temper Paddington will adhere to this and feature steaks sourced from rare-breed British cattle that are butchered in-house and cooked over fire; yellowfin tuna tostadas; and aged beef nachos.

Speaking to Restaurant ​last year​​ ahead of the Shoreditch launch, Lee discussed her ambition to grow the business further.

“Covid slowed us down, but we do want to grow,” she said.

“We want to move into different parts of London and potentially different parts of the country.”