INSIDERS Restaurant

DOLLARS AT RONDO LA CAVE

Until 29th October 2022
199-206 High Holborn, London WC1V 7BD

Rondo La Cave, the natty wine bar and incubator space below Rondo in Holborn, has a new resident. Dollars, in collab with Singapore’s Park Bench Deli founder Andrei Soen, is serving up American-style deli sandwiches made using produce from the likes of Swaledale butchers and Miller’s Bakery. The sarnie selection at Dollars includes Beef Bollito with braised beef belly, salsa verde & red chilli sauce in a white bap; Fried Chicken Sandwich with crispy fried thigh, dill pickles & comeback sauce in a potato bun; Pastrami Sandwich, with hot pastrami, Swiss cheese, coleslaw & Russian dressing on caraway bloomer; Burrata Caprese with fresh burrata, tomato, arugula, pesto & balsamic glaze on focaccia; Cubano with sweet ham, roast pork, dijonnaise, Swiss cheese & dill pickles in a sub roll; and Philly Cheesesteak with thinly sliced roast beef rump, sauteed onions, roasted bell peppers & cheese sauce in a Philly baguette. There’s also cheesesteak spring rolls, charred onion pho dip & crisps, and mortadella sliders to snack on with Rondo La Cave’s natural pours, coming by the glass, bottle and magnum.

AMETHYST

6 Sackville St, London W1S 3DD

The absolute first thing to mention about Amethyst, a new restaurant in Mayfair, is the dining table. Yes we do mean dining table singular, as all the guests are sat around a stunning centrepiece of a zig-zagging slab of quartz and amethyst. Those with a phobia of communal dining need not fear however – the angles and edges of the table ensure that each diner gets their own space free from any interference with your neighbours. The second thing to note is that Amethyst is the new restaurant from Italian chef Carlo Scotto, who earned rave reviews at his previous restaurant Xier, which closed during the pandemic. Carlo can be seen in the (very) open kitchen at the far end of Amethyst’s dining room, plating up dishes on a marble counter that’s a bit like a performance space. There’s a six or twelve course tasting menu on offer, with dishes like liquorice, tarragon & parmesan croquette; burnt hay black cod; and beef with medjool dates & nasturtium, and Carlo is proving there’s plenty of life left in fine dining.

MILK BEACH SOHO

14 Greek St, London W1D 4DN
OPENING HOURS
  • Monday: 12:00 – 11:00 PM
  • Tuesday: 9:00 AM – 11:00 PM
  • Wednesday: 9:00 AM – 11:00 PM
  • Thursday: 9:00 AM – 12:00 AM
  • Friday: 9:00 AM – 12:00 AM
  • Saturday: 9:00 AM – 12:00 AM
  • Sunday: 9:00 AM – 4:30 PM

It’s a fave in Queen’s Park and now Aussie restaurant Milk Beach boasts a second site in Soho at the Ilona Rose House building, a bright and airy space complete with an outdoor courtyard. A handful of faves from the original location have made the move over to Soho, including Chinese five-spice BBQ pork rib dumplings with chilli pho ga consommé, and koji marinated chicken ‘schnitty’ with fermented chilli mayonnaise, but there are plenty of newbies on the menu to get stuck into. We’re talking dishes like prawn toast with gochujang sweet & sour sauce; Belted Galloway bone-in-ribeye with tare, oyster & tarragon butter; grilled oyster mushrooms with fermented mushroom glaze & macadamia hummus; and Milk Beach ‘Golden Gaytime’ with toffee & buttermilk parfait, dark chocolate, and malt & honeycomb crumb. Drinks-wise, Milk Beach is maintaining its rep for low-intervention wines, with a selection from importers Modal, Liberty and Alliance, among others.

THE TENT (AT THE END OF THE UNIVERSE)

17 Little Portland St, London W1W 8BP
OPENING HOURS
  • Monday: Closed
  • Tuesday: Closed
  • Wednesday: 6:00 PM – 12:00 AM
  • Thursday: 12:00 AM – 12:00 PM, 6:00 PM – 1:00 AM
  • Friday: 6:00 PM – 2:00 AM
  • Saturday: 6:00 PM – 2:00 AM
  • Sunday: Closed

You can probably tell just by the name of this place that it ain’t ya average restaurant. And we wouldn’t have expected anything less from chef John Javier (@sex.pesto) who’s been cooking at hugely hyped pop-ups in London over the past couple of years. The Tent (at the End of the Universe) is his latest project and, having opened earlier in the year for members only in a new spot on Little Portland Street, the restaurant is now open for everyone to go and check out. It’s a very small dark room and the vibe is basically a deluxe dessert Bedouin tent with a star lit ceiling, hanging moon lights and tent-like fabric covering the walls – told you it wasn’t your average spot. There’s just a few tables plus decks where a DJ sits playing tunes each night on a ridiculously good sound system. Photos are forbidden so you can give yourself a night off the ‘gram. It’s all very unusual but we loved it for that. The food fits largely along a Middle Eastern route, but with several twists along the way, like hummus with chilli oil and burnt lime, tzatziki dressed with wakame oil, and Iberico pork schnitzel with a katsuobushi mayo.

THE BARING

55 Baring St, London N1 3DS
OPENING HOURS
  • Monday: Closed
  • Tuesday: 12:00 – 11:00 PM
  • Wednesday: 12:00 – 11:00 PM
  • Thursday: 12:00 – 11:00 PM
  • Friday: 12:00 – 11:00 PM
  • Saturday: 12:00 – 11:00 PM
  • Sunday: 12:00 – 6:00 PM

The Baring, on a quiet Islington backstreet just off Regent’s Canal, looks understated with dark green paint and dried flowers lifting the otherwise sparingly decorated room, but there’s some serious pedigree making the place run. Adam Symonds and chef Rob Tecwyn met at The Bull and Last in Highgate 10 years ago, and since then Rob has been head chef at the likes of Dabbous and The Henrietta Hotel, with Adam rocking up stints at Orasay and Six Portland Road. The Baring definitely leans more towards the gastro rather than the pub, though there are stools at the bar where you can perch with a pint from some of the UK’s best small breweries or a bottle from the low-intervention wine list. Sustainability, seasonality and provenance are central to the operation here for both the drinks and the food and it’s a superb menu that goes beyond standard gastropub fare by effortlessly incorporating different cultural influences into the dishes.

BUBALA SOHO

15 Poland St, London W1F 8QE
OPENING HOURS
  • Monday: 12:00 – 3:00 PM, 5:30 – 11:00 PM
  • Tuesday: 12:00 – 3:00 PM, 5:30 – 11:00 PM
  • Wednesday: 12:00 – 3:00 PM, 5:30 – 11:00 PM
  • Thursday: 12:00 – 3:00 PM, 5:30 – 11:00 PM
  • Friday: 12:00 – 3:00 PM, 5:30 – 11:00 PM
  • Saturday: 12:00 – 3:00 PM, 5:30 – 11:00 PM
  • Sunday: 12:00 – 4:00 PM

We’ve been big fans of Bubala ever since it opened in Spitalfields in 2019 so we were very excited to hear that founder Marc Summers had a second site on the way. Open in Soho on the site where Vasco & Piero used to be, the new 50-cover Bubala has the same vibe interiors-wise, with plaster walls, light wood, natural tones, plants dotted about the place, and counter seating at the (bigger) bar, and it follows the same formula of serving up excellent veggie Middle Eastern food. Executive Chef Helen Graham has kept many of the hit dishes from the Spitalfields restaurant, including the labneh with confit garlic, the honey-drenched halloumi and the confit potato latkes, but added some newbies that make use of the restaurant’s yakitori grill, like Chinese cabbage & preserved lime and oyster mushroom & tamari skewers, and corn ribs with black garlic pipelchuma, and every single dish is a hit.

BOTTLE + RYE

Ground Floor, 404-406 Market Row, London SW9 8LD
OPENING HOURS
  • Monday: Closed
  • Tuesday: 5:00 – 11:00 PM
  • Wednesday: 5:00 – 11:00 PM
  • Thursday: 5:00 – 11:00 PM
  • Friday: 2:00 – 11:30 PM
  • Saturday: 12:00 – 11:30 PM
  • Sunday: Closed

Robin Gill and his wife Sarah have opened a new bistro and wine bar in Brixton called Bottle + Rye and we can confirm it’s an absolute banger. Located on the edge of Brixton Market and Coldharbour Lane, the pair have carved out a little piece of Paris in south London, with a stellar line up of relaxed bistro dishes and superb natural wines. Lewis Wright has curated the wine list with a selection mostly sourced from France and Europe but also including a couple of bottles from Renegade in London, and head chef Ben Hughes-Gage has created a food menu to match – we’re talking dishes like anchovies on honey toast, raw scallop with watermelon & plum, smoked eel brandade with pink fir crisps, and gooseberry & fig leaf choux eclair.

CADET

57 Newington Grn, Newington Green, London N16 9PX
OPENING HOURS
  • Monday: Closed
  • Tuesday: Closed
  • Wednesday: 5:00 – 11:00 PM
  • Thursday: 5:00 – 11:00 PM
  • Friday: 5:00 – 11:00 PM
  • Saturday: 12:00 – 11:00 PM
  • Sunday: 12:00 – 10:30 PM

Cadet on Newington Green has been set up by an all-star team; Francis Roberts and Tom Beattie of wine importers Beattie & Roberts, and charcutier George Jephson. Plus heading up the kitchen is chef Jamie Smart who’s previously worked at the likes of Lyles, St John and Brawn. Having worked at several of London’s best wine bars between them, Tom and Francis started their own importing business a couple of years ago, and the wine list at Cadet is made up entirely of their own selection – no bad thing at all when they are one of the most respected specialist importers in London today. You can also buy the wines to take home too. On the food front, there’s a combination of George’s incredible charcuterie and Jamie’s seasonal small plates, like a stew of borlotti beans enriched with lamb fat and garlic; fresh tomato, sliced white peach and fennel pollen; mussels with cucumber and dulse; and oysters with gooseberries.

CAIA

46 Golborne Rd, London W10 5PR
OPENING HOURS
  • Monday: Closed
  • Tuesday: 6:00 – 11:00 PM
  • Wednesday: 6:00 – 11:00 PM
  • Thursday: 6:00 PM – 12:00 AM
  • Friday: 12:00 PM – 1:00 AM
  • Saturday: 12:00 PM – 1:00 AM
  • Sunday: Closed

Open fire cooking has come to Notting Hill as Caia (appropriately named after the Roman goddess of fire) has just opened on Golborne Road. Founded by locals Rishabh Vir and Tim Lang (who are also part of the team behind Fiend in Portobello) the neighbourhood spot is serving up seasonal dishes – think tomatoes & melon with Berskwell cheese, monkfish & sweetcorn and chocolate eclair with cherries & tonka bean chantilly – using locally sourced ingredients cooked on the open grill. Talking of the grill, there are seats directly overlooking it where you can watch the chefs at work, with two-tops the other side of the wall, a floor-to-ceiling wine display in the rear room, and more intimate tables downstairs. There’s also a pretty impressive sound system and vinyl selection downstairs, so you can be sure of a decent soundtrack to your dinner.

ROJI

56B S Molton St, London W1K 5SH
OPENING HOURS
  • Monday: Closed
  • Tuesday: Closed
  • Wednesday: 6:00 – 10:00 PM
  • Thursday: 6:00 – 10:00 PM
  • Friday: 6:00 – 10:00 PM
  • Saturday: 6:00 – 10:00 PM
  • Sunday: Closed

Husband-and-wife chef team Tamas Naszai and Tomoko Hasegawa, who’ve worked at Tokimeite and Sake No Hana between them, have opened ten-seat Japanese restaurant Roji in partnership with the group behind Chisou and Sushi Atelier. Roji, which can translate to ‘journey’, ‘path’ or ‘hidden alley’, is tucked away on South Molton Street in Mayfair and serves up a seasonal menu of sushi, pickled and preserved dishes, and charcoal-grilled dishes, with a focus on British produce like Cornish seafood and veggies from Nama Yasai farm in East Sussex. The pair are also showcasing crockery made by small family producers in both the UK and Japan.

THE TAMIL PRINCE

115 Hemingford Rd, London N1 1BZ
OPENING HOURS
  • Monday: 5:00 – 10:00 PM
  • Tuesday: 12:00 – 3:00 PM, 5:00 – 10:00 PM
  • Wednesday: 12:00 – 3:00 PM, 5:00 – 10:00 PM
  • Thursday: 12:00 – 3:00 PM, 5:00 – 10:00 PM
  • Friday: 12:00 – 3:00 PM, 5:00 – 10:00 PM
  • Saturday: 11:00 AM – 10:00 PM
  • Sunday: 11:00 AM – 9:30 PM

On the quiet backstreets of Barnsbury, The Tamil Prince has taken over a nice whitewashed corner pub building that was previously called the Cuckoo. As you can tell from the name change this is no simple change of management – the pub has been taken over and reinvented by an ex-Roti King duo, chef Prince Durairaj and Glen Leeson. So now we have a mash up of a classic London pub but with food inspired by Prince’s childhood home of Tamil Nadu in southern India, with the likes of okra fries, pulled beef uttapam with coconut chilli chutney, huge grilled prawns and channa bhatura with chickpea curry. With some top south Indian dishes served in a relaxed pub environment and good beers and cocktails too, The Tamil Prince is a royally good addition to the neighbourhood.

LISBOETA

30 Charlotte St., London W1T 2NG
OPENING HOURS
  • Monday: 5:30 – 11:00 PM
  • Tuesday: 12:00 – 2:00 PM, 5:30 – 11:00 PM
  • Wednesday: 12:00 – 2:00 PM, 5:30 – 11:00 PM
  • Thursday: 12:00 – 2:00 PM, 5:30 – 11:00 PM
  • Friday: 12:00 – 2:00 PM, 5:30 – 11:00 PM
  • Saturday: 12:00 – 2:00 PM, 5:30 – 11:00 PM
  • Sunday: Closed

Nuno Mendes is back in London and he’s brought a bit of Lisbon with him for his new restaurant Lisboeta in Fitzrovia. Taking over three floors of a townhouse on Charlotte Street, the restaurant is a love letter to Nuno’s home city and gives Londoners the chance to eat, drink and live life like a Lisboeta. The ground floor features a long bar made from repurposed tram wood and limestone from Lisbon, and is a place where you can dip into petiscos (aka little plates) and a glass of Portuguese wine. Upstairs in the main dining room, lunch and dinner is served ‘tasca’ style, with a menu including Goan spiced pork pies, Carabineiro prawns with garlic & piri-piri, chourico & beef tartare, slow-cooked lamb shoulder in a red wine stew, and egg yolk & pork fat custard with port wine caramel.

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