- London-based Napoli on the Road has been named the World’s Best Pizzeria at the 50 Top Pizza World Awards in Naples, marking the latest major accolade for founder Michele Pascarella. The pizzeria group, which has ranked among the world’s top five since 2024, began in 2016 with Pascarella serving Neapolitan-style pizzas from a wood-fired oven fitted into a three-wheeled Ape Piaggio van. Since then, the business has grown to restaurants in Chiswick, Richmond and, most recently, Soho, where its pizza tasting menu draws on Pascarella’s Italian heritage and childhood. Pascarella, who moved to the UK from Maddaloni near Naples at 19, was also named Pizza Maker of the Year by 50 Top Pizza in 2023.
- The future of ‘London’s oldest’ Mexican restaurant Café Pacifico in Covent Garden is uncertain after liquidators were appointed to its operating company, Laverlathe Limited. Robert Dymond and Joanne Hammond of Begbies Traynor were appointed joint liquidators last month, following the company’s compulsory winding-up in March after a petition was filed in November. The restaurant remains open and is still taking bookings, although it is unclear whether it has been sold to a new operator or continues to trade under the liquidators’ control. Established on Langley Street in 1982, Café Pacifico describes itself as London’s oldest Mexican restaurant and tequila bar and claims to have been the first restaurant to bring Mexican cuisine to the UK.
- More than 800 hospitality businesses have signed an open letter calling on the Prime Minister to set out plans for a lower rate of VAT for the sector, following earlier comments in support of the idea. The campaign brings together a broad cross-section of the industry, from independent pubs, bars, restaurants, cafés, hotels and leisure businesses to major operators and some of the UK’s best-known chefs. Angela Hartnett, Clare Smyth, Heston Blumenthal, Jason Atherton, Nathan Outlaw, Paul Ainsworth and Tom Kerridge are among those backing the letter, alongside groups including Big Table Group, Bill’s, Franco Manca, Pizza Express, Wagamama, Wahaca and Wasabi. The push follows comments made in February by then Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham, who said he would argue for a hospitality VAT rate more closely aligned with those across Europe.
- Plaza Khao Gaeng and Speedboat chef Luke Farrell is set to open YAI, a fine-dining restaurant focused on the cuisine and culture of southern Thailand, in Marylebone early next year. The project will take over the former Bellazul site at 43 Blandford Street, with the opening bringing Farrell’s JKS Restaurants-backed Chaiyo Restaurants portfolio to six central London locations. The menu will focus particularly on Phuket, with southern Thai ingredients including Songkhla shrimp paste, Betong soy sauce, Pattani sea salt, Phatthalung palm sugar and Sangyod rice. Produce from Farrell’s Ryewater Nursery in Dorset will also feature alongside British meat and fish.
- The former Hakkasan site on Hanway Place is set to become AJ Records, a new 7,000 sq ft dining and nightlife concept combining a southern French restaurant with a late-night cocktail bar, live performance space and recording studio. Billed as London’s first urban culture dining club and expected to open early next year, the Fitzrovia venue has been created by Josephine Garreau and Alexandre Santamaria, with French rapper, lyricist and producer Dinos joining as music director and shareholder. The site has been vacant since Hakkasan closed early last year after almost 25 years.