Island
Chefs Brad Carter and Tom Brown join forces this month to open Island, a restaurant where the Birmingham chef’s nose-to-tail ethos meets with Brown’s extensive knowledge of sourcing and cooking seafood. Located inside the Chandelier Room at Mare Street Market King’s Cross, the duo look like they are intent on having fun with a menu that will include snacks such as caviar crisps; pickled cockles; and charcuterie such as trout pastrami and monkfish cheek ham and lardo with family-style dishes of unexpected pairings such as quail stuffed with prawn paella or the signature island mixed grill. Desserts will be an oyster ice cream sandwich and chocolate fudge cake while the drinks list will have playful cocktails and fishbowls for the table, taking diners back to Faliraki in the noughties and more simpler times.
Mare Street Market, Kings Cross, Lewis Cubitt Square, London N1C 4DY // marestreetmarket.com/kingscross/#island
Brasserie Constance
The latest project from London chef Adam Byatt, Brasserie Constance is inspired by famed florist, cookery writer and educator Constance Spry – the original creator of Coronation chicken – and will launch within Fulham FC’s newly built Fulham Pier development this month. Byatt is overseeing the restaurant on a consultancy basis as its director with Charlie Cote as its head chef - contract caterer Sodexo will handle the day-to-day running – and it will fuse Byatt’s love of French technique with quintessentially British flavours. Think Coronation chicken pâté en croute, a dish that Spry would no doubt be proud of, and mussels and cockles with cider and soda bread.
Level 1, Fulham Pier, Stevenage Road, Fulham, SW6 6HH // brasserieconstance.com
The Ancient Shepherds
Chef Mark Poynton turns his former MJP @ The Shepherds restaurant in Fen Ditton into The Ancient Shepherds later this month with a little help from new business partners Gareth and Emma John. Poynton is trying to keep things as simple as possible, with The Ancient Shepherds to be tasting menu only using as many ingredients as possible from the kitchen garden located at the back of the restaurant to ensure food costs are tightly managed and to make it easier to manage staff. Dishes on the launch menu will include chilled pea mousse, cottage cheese and truffle; wakame cured cod, tomato and elder ponzu, and lemon puree; and loin of hogget, tapenade puree, tomato, anchovy, and courgette.
5 High Street, Fen Ditton, Cambridge CB5 8ST
ACE Pizza
London’s obsession with both pizza concepts shows no signs of abating with the launch of ACE Pizza this month in Victoria Park Village. Led by founder Rachel Jones, Ace Pizza specialises in 12” pizzas made with a ‘biga’ Neapolitan dough starter that’s slow fermented for over 48 hours. Having found acclaim through a long-running pub kitchen residency at The Pembury Tavern in Hackney, this new opening marks ACE Pizza’s first bricks and mortar site. Toppings will include favourites like the ‘Honey Pie’ with fior di latte, spicy salami, fennel seeds, guindilla chillies, and chilli honey; and a new vodka penne pizza. The restaurant’s interior will pay homage to ‘80s nostalgia, featuring warm pink and soft yellow tones reminiscent of classic ice cream parlours, paired with chestnut wood panelling and plush booth seating.
126-128 Lauriston Road, London E9 7LH // thisisacepizza.com
Duck & Rice Battersea
A decade on from the launch of the original Duck & Rice in London’s Soho, the Chinese gastropub brand is doubling up in the capital with a new opening within Battersea Power Station. Billed as combining British pub culture and Cantonese cuisine, the new site is described as ‘a significant milestone’ and will feature a 185-seat, open-plan restaurant featuring an open kitchen and a raised bar area. The new menu will include hero dishes from the original restaurant, including the Cantonese house roast duck; while the interior design, overseen by Macaulay Sinclair, will take inspiration from the aesthetic and atmosphere of the cha chaan teng tea houses of Hong Kong.
Level 1, Turbine Hall B, Battersea Power Station, 330 The Power Station, Circus Rd S, London SW11 8DD // theduckandrice.com/battersea
Crust Bros Covent Garden
The pizza player will open its new two-storey, 135-cover restaurant on Bedford Street in the heart of the West End on 7 July. On offer will be Crust Bros’ classic Neapolitan dough or gluten free with an assortment of sauce, meat, cheese, and vegetable options from which to choose as well as a savoury take on bombas - Italian enriched dough donuts – a first for the restaurant group. Said bombas include the Lasagna Bomba, made with six-hour ragu, parmesan, bechamel, and a deep-fried lasagna sheet; the Nduja Bomba, made with ‘nduja mascarpone and dusted with ‘nduja sugar; with sweet options also available filled with either nutella, dolce de leche, or lemon zabaglione. Maybe not how nonna made it, but fun nonetheless.
29 Bedford St, London, WC2E 8JF // crustbros.co.uk
Speedboat Notting Hill
A follow up to Luke Farrell’s smash hit Thai restaurant Speedboat Bar will add further excitement to Notting Hill’s burgeoning restaurant scene when it opens this month. Operated in partnership with JKS Restaurants and the Soho House Group, the west London follow-up to the Chinatown restaurant will serve Thai dishes with the same fiery flavours that have made the original a firm favourite among diners but will have a different style of interior, which is described as ‘less Bangkok shophouse with a clubhouse above, more engine room’ and will have a chrome Thai speedboat engine as its centrepiece.
191 Portobello Road, London W11 2ED// speedboatbar.co.uk
Patatino
Taking its name from an Italian term of endearment - literally ‘little potato’ – Patatino opens today (I July) within The Hoxton in Edinburgh. Described as a modern Italian restaurant inspired by the traditional trattorias and lemon grove-lined streets of Sorrento and will serve hearty, Italian dishes using local Scottish produce, the menu will include antipasti, house-made pastas, sourdough pizzas, meat and seafood cooked over hot coals in the Josper - and classic Italian desserts that include a traditional Tiramisù, made to a recipe shared by the Hoxton’s chef in Florence and Rome.
5‑21 Grosvenor Street, Haymarket, Edinburgh EH12 5EF // thehoxton.com/edinburgh/patatino
Elephant Hackney
A Victorian pub is being given new life in East London. Elephant Hackney will open its doors on Lower Clapton Road later this month, offering Southern Italian food, a strong drinks line-up and a design that nods to the area’s cinematic heritage. The project is led by Stevie Thomas, co-founder of The Rum Kitchen and MD of The Jam House Birmingham, alongside chef Francesco Sarvonio, formerly of Manteca. The pub features a 25-year-old skylight salvaged from a former East End cinema, casting light over a dining room decorated with David Shrigley prints, vintage Italian film posters, and nostalgic artwork. Sarvonio’s menu blends regional Italian recipes with British seasonal produce. Highlights include frittatina with peas and basil, ox cheek croquettes with anchovy mayo, and Neapolitan pizzas such as the Elephant Marinara and La Squisita with pancetta and squacquerone.
43 Lower Clapton Road, London E5 0NS //
Shanghai Me
The latest London opening from the Dubai-based Fundamental Hospitality group, Shanghai Me will take over the rooftop space on the 28 floor of the London Hilton hotel on Park Lane that previously housed Galvin at Windows. The restaurant, which already has sibling sites in Dubai and Doha, will open on 21 July and boast 1930s Shanghai-inspired interiors by designer Richard Saunders and feature deep red velvet chairs and low lighting intended to create a ‘glamourous and romantic atmosphere’. The menu is inspired by the culinary traditions of East Asia and will feature an extensive ‘library’ of dim sum, alongside signature dishes such as roast duck with foir gras and caviar; yellowtail carpaccio with black truffle; and ‘Shanghai style’ braised beef short rib. As with the brand’s other international outposts, the London iteration will be complimented by Shanghai Me’s dedicated lounge concept, Bund.
28th Floor, Hilton on Park Lane, 22 Park Lane, London W1K 1BE // shanghaime-london.com
Luna
The team behind modern Italian restaurant Legare near London Bridge are launching a sister concept directly opposite it on Shad Thames this month. Positioned as a neighbourhood-style wine bar, bottle shop and restaurant, Luna takes its name from the moon’s role in biodynamic wine making and describes itself as championing ‘a more classic style of wine bar’ that’s ‘removed from the natty styles that have been popular in recent times’. Holding 34 covers, the aesthetics at Luna will differ from Legare, with darker wood tones and reclaimed Moroccan zellige tiles used for the flooring. The food and drink will also serve as a counterpoint to its older sibling with the former featuring a broader, seasonal offering of modern European cooking; and the latter focusing on producers in regions outside of Italy.
Unit 6 36 Shad Thames Butlers Wharf Building SE1 2YE // lunawinebar.co.uk
TRUST by Modou
Chef Modou Diagne is to open a second restaurant in Glasgow next month, taking over the site that was briefly home to Tobias Fiegel’s pan-Asian restaurant Extra_Ordinary. TRUST by Modou will feature an ‘ever-changing’ tasting menu experience centred on seasonality and ‘bold flavours’. The five-course menu, which will be priced at £30 per person, will feature no previews or dish descriptions with the idea that diners put their trust in Diagne and his team.
1132 Argyle St, Finnieston, Glasgow G3 8TD // trustbymodou.co.uk
MOI
The first London opening under hospitality entrepreneur Artem Login’s ambitious new MAD Restaurants group, MOI (pronounced m-o-y) will launch this month on Soho’s Wardour Street and offer a menu of sushi and Japanese-inspired dishes cooked over fire, showcasing British producers and seafood from the UK’s coastal waters. Led by former Gordon Ramsay Group chef Andy Cook, MOI will be set across two floors (ground and lower ground) and have a total of 150 covers spread across a main dining room, a private dining room for up to 20 people, an omakase-style sushi bar and a listening room. The space has been designed with a tactile fusion of natural reclaimed woods, raw concrete and soft lighting, evoking ‘a contemporary take on Japan’s affinity to nature and simplicity’.
86 Wardour St, Soho, W1F 0TQ // moirestaurant.com
ROAM
Devon-based Dart Valley winery Sandridge Barton will open the doors to its new restaurant this month. Opening on 9 July, ROAM will be situated in the former Circa site and will embrace a farm-to-fork ethos, using hyper-seasonal and ethically sourced ingredients. It is the latest venture from restaurateur Ian Alexander and will be led by head chef Sean Blood, whose CV includes time in the kitchens of restaurants including St John’s Tavern, Café Boheme, Soho House Berlin, and Soho House Shoreditch. Blood’s menu will inspiration from the Basque region and will features meat sourced from the estate, vegetables from the kitchen garden, and produce from local no-dig growers and nearby regenerative farms. The front-of-house will be led by general manager Miles Tuddenham, previously of Noble Rot, Planque, and Norman’s Café.
Lower Well Farm, Waddeton Road, Stoke Gabriel, Devon TQ9 6RL // sandridgebarton.com
KORA
Opening on the ground floor of Chelsea’s Beaufort House, KORA will serve a Mediterranean menu created by executive head chef Sasha Ziverts, former head chef at Wright Brothers. Designed for ‘long, leisurely lunches’, dishes will include starters of yellowtail kingfish; red mullet crudo; and bluefin tuna crudo and larger dishes cooked over a grill such as dry-aged short loin; saganaki prawns; whole BBQ turbot; and Garnett Farm pork chop. Desserts will include dishes such as semifreddo al miele; feta and amarena cheesecake; and tahini and sesame ice cream.
354 Kings Road, Chelsea, London SW3 5UZ // korachelsea.co.uk
Little Fires
A new late-night cocktail bar with a strong agave spirit focus is set to open its doors in London’s Shoreditch this month. Little Fires, the debut project from a creative collective with roots in hospitality, music and design, will launch on 25 July on Bethnal Green Road. The trio behind the venture - Christian Pecoraro, Florian Schulze, and Horacio Sainz – have collaborated with the team behind Sabina Sabe, the Oaxaca-based bar ranked among The World’s 50 Best, to create a mezcal-forward cocktail programme that will feature contemporary twists on classic agave-based serves. Alongside this, a tight menu of Oaxacan-inspired small plates has been created by Rodolfo Castellanos, winner of Top Chef Mexico and chef-owner of Oaxaca’s acclaimed Origen. Dishes will include tostadas, elotes, and ceviche.
125 Bethnal Green Road, London E2 7DG // littlefires.bar
HUŎ Belsize Village
Pan Asian restaurant HUŎ will double up in London’s well-healed Belsize Village, adding to its original location in the equally upmarket area of Chelsea. Divided into three distinct areas: a dedicated bar with high seating for eight, a main dining room with capacity for 86 covers, and a private dining room downstairs that seats 18 and includes its own bar, as well as a 16-cover outdoor terrace, the new HUŎ will serve a menu that draws inspiration from across the region, with dishes rooted in traditional Chinese, Thai, Malaysian and Singaporean recipes.
29 Belsize Lane, Belsize Park, London NW3 5AS // nw3.huo.london
Sinners
Opening beneath the Eden Lounge in Hoxton, Sinners is a new late-night dining and cabaret experience from gallery and club owner Alex Proud. On the food side signature dishes will include bone marrow croquettes with crispy bacon crumble; spaghetti carbonara with smoked egg yolk; and roasted lamb rump with cannellini bean stew while entertainment will include themed nights throughout the week - from Tequila & Tarot Tuesday to Forbidden Thursdays. There will also be a Bloody Mary sommelier on hand to provide some bespoke drinking inspiration.
78 Great Eastern Street, London EC2A 3JL // sinners.co
Emilia’s Victoria
Pasta-specialist Emilia’s will head to Victoria later this month for its largest restaurant launch to date. Billed as the group’s new flagship, Emilia’s Victoria will seat 100 diners in total: 70 inside across two floors and a further 30 outside. In a reference to nearby Victoria Station, the design will take inspiration from early 20th century café and trattorias in and around Italian stations. Design details will include Murano glass chandeliers, terrazzo wall details, Venetian plaster, and deep oak tones creating an ‘elegant-yet-rustic’ feel’. As with all Emilia’s locations, Victoria will feature a fully open kitchen with counter seating.
56 Victoria Street, London SW1E 6QW // www.emiliaspasta.com
The Salusbury
Queen’s Park pub The Salusbury will begin a new chapter later this month under the stewardship of friends Gareth Cooper, Jon Drape and Alex Payne. The trio have recruited former Arbutus, La Trompette and The Pem chef Tarryn Bingle to lead the kitchen. Her menu will celebrate ‘assured but fun seasonally-led cooking that delivers on both substance and style, without compromise on flavour’. Dishes include oysters with homemade hot sauce; Parmesan and wild garlic churros; and crab and chilli linguine. The overhaul stays true to the venue’s history as a business of two halves: a local’s pub on the left and a proper dining room to the right. It will also include new private space for entertaining that seats 10-12.
50-52 Salusbury Road, London NW6 6NN // www.thesalusbury.co.uk