It’s looking like another bumper year for London restaurants
There are so many new restaurant openings in London that it can be a hard task keeping track of what’s opening where and when. That’s why we keep a handy list of the best new restaurants regularly updated for you. If you like to plan ahead and secure those reservations early, we’ve also rounded up the best new openings planned for 2025 so you can start working on your restaurant hit-list. With this exciting line-up, plus a new unnamed Italian spot from the Pachamama Group planned for Marylebone, we predict your lists are going to be rather long…
Duck and Rice Battersea Power Station
Following the original restaurant in Soho, Duck and Rice, which blends a British pub and a Cantonese kitchen, is heading south to open a second location at Battersea Power Station. The 185-cover restaurant will include an open kitchen and raised bar area, and will take design cues from the cha chaan tengs and tea houses of south China. We don’t have a menu yet but we’d expect it to be similar to what’s on offer in Soho, where you can get the likes of dim sum, roast duck, crab & tofu claypot, sweet & sour pork and Singapore noodles.
Opens spring 2025
Circus Rd W, Nine Elms, London SW11 8DD
theduckandrice.com
Singburi
After announcing a sabbatical at the end of last year, it’s now been revealed that cult Thai restaurant Singburi is relocating from Leytonstone to Shoreditch. Chef Sirichai Kularbwong teaming up with chef Nick Molyviatis (who was the founding chef at Kiln and who helped launched OMA) and Alexander Gkikas (co-founder of Catalyst Cafe and Roastery), to open Singburi 2.0 inside the new Montacute Yards development close to Shoreditch High Street station. We don’t have any menu details yet but we do know that the there will be a grill at the new restaurant, there’ll also be a bar (so no more BYOB) and that the “ethos will remain rooted in the spirit of the original while embracing a broader, distinctly London perspective.”
Opens spring 2025
Unit 7 Montacute Yards, Shoreditch High Street, London E1 6HU
@singburi_e1
Café Kitsuné
A second Café Kitsuné is coming to London this spring, taking up residence in Seven Dials. The French-Japanese cafe, which has space for 15 inside and eight on the terrace, will serve up coffee, matcha and a range of baked goods, like the signature kitsune fox cookie and egg sando.
Opens spring 2025
55 Monmouth Street, London WC2H 9DG
maisonkitsune.com
Dishoom Permit Room
Dishoom is opening another London location but it’s not going to be one of its regular restaurants, rather it’s bringing its spin-off brand Permit Room to the capital. Permit Room, which currently has sites in Oxford, Cambridge and Brighton, is more of a drinks-led bar-cafe, with chaats and snacks on the menu alongside the likes of mattar paneer, tandoori chicken and black daal. The first London Permit Room will be opening in Notting Hill, taking over the space that was home to the Portobello Road Distillery.
Opens spring 2025
186 Portobello Road, London W11 1LA
permitroom.co.uk
Brasserie Constance
Big changes are ahead for Fulham FC in 2025 as the club’s Craven Cottage stadium is getting a significant upgrade. The Riverside stand is going to be home to Fulham Pier, a new waterfront development featuring Brasserie Constance, which’ll be helmed by Trinity’s Adam Byatt. The brasserie is named after Constance Spry, a local cookery writer (she invented coronation chicken), florist and ceramicist who worked with Fulham Pottery. There’ll be handmade ceramics throughout the space in homage, with the kitchen serving seasonal and approachable dishes alongside a set menu. There’ll be a sister bar called Flo (named after Spry’s friend and assistant Florence Standfast), which’ll be serving cocktails, a 200-bin wine list curated by the Trinity sommeliers (which’ll also be available in the restaurant), and its own small plates menu.
Opens spring 2025
Fulham Pier, Stevenage Road, Fulham, London SW6 6HH
brasserieconstance.com
Noisy Oyster
Madina Kazhimova and Anna Dolgushina, the co-founders of Firebird in Soho are opening seafood bistro Noisy Oyster in Shoreditch in the spring. Expect lots of local oysters, crudo dishes and whole fish on the menu alongside a bar offering that heroes the martini, including a range of signature mini martinis. The 50-cover space is going to look the part too with a monochromatic design featuring lots of wood, concrete and stainless steel.
Opens spring 2025
Shoreditch, London
noisyoysterlondon.co.uk
Luna
Jay Patel, founder of Legare on Shad Thames (part of his NinthCollective group of restaurants), has announced that he’ll be launching a new concept just across the street: Luna. Though new, it sounds like the restaurant and wine bar will feel like a classic, and it’ll be a joint effort with Jay’s current business partner Matt Beardmore (head chef and co-founder of Legare) who’ll be taking care of the food. We’re still quite far from the opening date, so we won’t have full details on the menu until later on, but we’ve been told to expect the likes of oysters shucked over ice, crudos and carpaccios sliced to order and straight-from-the-fryer French fries. Luna takes its name from the moon’s role in biodynamic winemaking and will have a suitably biodynamic wine list – though they’re aiming to move away from the “natty” wine bar label.
Opens spring 2025
Unit 6, 36 Shad Thames, Butlers Wharf Building, London SE1 2YE
@luna_winebar
Josephine Marylebone
When Claude Bosi and his wife Lucy opened Josephine in Fulham in early 2024, it was an instant hit. If you haven’t yet made it over to west London to try it, you’ll soon have a second Josephine to choose from as the pair are opening one in Marylebone in April. Though they’ll share the same name, the two restaurants will differ slightly in their menus. Whereas the Fulham Josephine takes inspiration from Claude’s hometown of Lyon, the Marylebone Josephine will nod to the brasseries of Paris. That means as well as an oyster kiosk and a dedicated potato menu, you can expect dishes like soufflé au camembert; escargots à l’ail; fruits de mer, including homard mayonnaise, langoustines, and crevettes roses; steak tartare; cordon bleu; soufflé glacé au Grand Marnier; and mousse au chocolat. If you fancy starting your day the French way, this Josephine will also be doing breakfast, with options set to include viennoiseries; bircher muesli with apple and pomegranate; croque monsieur; and breakfast baskets filled with baguettes, jams, pastries and charcuterie.
Opens Thurs 24th April 2025
6-8 Blandford St, London W1U 4AU
josephinebistro.com
Bianca’s
He’s won a Michelin star for his Hackney spot Casa Fofó and now Adolfo De Cecco is moving up the road into Stoke Newington for his next opening, Bianca’s. The wine bar will be more casual than its big sis, allowing people to drop in for a glass of wine and a few snacks at the open kitchen counter or stay for a long dinner of sharing plates out on the terrace. Bianca’s will have a dedicated charcuterie room, producing house-made cured meats served one cut at a time. The rest of the menu will feature seasonal British ingredients and showcase a sustainable philosophy, where fermentation is used to reduce waste. You can expect dishes like pork agnolotti with smoked mackerel broth; sheep’s sausage with mash and crab curry; British wagyu loin with spinach and black beans; salted milk ice cream with rhubarb and seaweed; and wholewheat crêpe with hazelnut and shiitake. The wine list will focus on natural and low-intervention bottles, with around a 100 on the list, including special bottles that Adolfo has been collecting and ageing for years.
Opens Thurs 24th April 2025
175 Stoke Newington Road, London N16 8BP
@biancaslondon
Shan Shui Social
We first reported that restaurateur Ellen Chew, who has Rasa Sayang, Arôme Bakery, Singapulah and Mrs Chew’s Chinese Kitchen on her books, was opening a London branch of Shan Shui back in 2021. Now, four years on, it looks like the restaurant, an offshoot of the brand named Shan Shui Social, opening on Buckingham Palace Road in Victoria will be welcoming customers very soon. First opened in Bicester Village in 2018, followed by an outpost in Heathrow Airport Terminal 2, Shan Shui serves a range of Chinese and South East Asian dishes. At Shan Shui Social you can expect the likes of crispy aromatic duck, Cantonese braised beef noodles, Sichuan mala wontons, pan-fried Chilean seabass and roasted pork belly char siu.
Opens Fri 25th April 2025
14 Buckingham Palace Road, London, SW1W 0QP
@shanshuisocial
Brilliant Gastro
Opened by Gulu Anand in 1975 and then run by his daughter Dipna, Brilliant Restaurant was a Southall institution and served up Punjabi classics to locals for half a century. The restaurant has now closed but the Brilliant brand is going nowhere, with Dipna opening Brilliant Gastro in Parkside Yards, part of Southall’s Green Quarter development, this April. The 80-cover spot (with more space on the outdoor terrace) will serve up Punjabi faves alongside inventive Indian gastropub dishes, with the menu set to include crazy chilli corn ribs, chicken biryani arancini, banging chicken tikka burger, charred spiced cauliflower steak, meat feast and vegetarian thalis, cardamom-infused sticky toffee pudding, and gulab jamun bomb.
Opens Fri 25th April 2025
Parkside Yard, 1 Seva Drive, Southall, UB1 1GH
brilliantgastro.com
MR PORTER
No relation to the menswear site, MR PORTER is a steakhouse form the Entourage Group (who also have sites in Ibiza, Amsterdam and Barcelona) and it’s coming to London this year. Opening inside the Park Lane Hilton Hotel (where Trader Vic’s used to be) the restaurant will feature a wine library, a 360-degree bar, a chef’s table and an open kitchen where you’ll be able to see ribeye, chateaubriand, tomahawk, sirloin and bone-in fillets cooked over fire. The menu is also set to include dishes like roast beef carpaccio, avocado carpaccio with Beluga caviar, prawn salad with grilled corn and dried chilli sauce, oven-roasted sea bass in adobo, and popcorn crème brûlée.
Opens Mon 28th April 2025
22 Park Lane, London W1K 1BE
mrportersteakhouse.com
Bubala King’s Cross
If, like us, you’re a big fan of Bubala – those potato latkes! That honey halloumi! – then you’ll be very pleased to hear that soon there’ll be even more of it to go around as a big third restaurant is opening in King’s Cross in the spring. Taking over a two-floor site in the Cadence Court development, complete with a dramatic arched entrance, Bubala King’s Cross will have 65 covers on the ground floor, 25 more upstairs and room for 30 on the outdoor terrace. Founder Marc Summers and Executive Chef Ben Rand have created a Middle Eastern menu that features some Bubala classics, like the confit latkes with garlic toum and the oyster mushroom skewer with tamari from the Spitalfields and Soho restaurants plus some brand new creations, including charred cucumber tzatziki; fava bean with vadouvan braised broad beans; mujadara – lentils, rice, tahini, zhoug and amba; spanakopita börek; and Bubala’s Big Pud – a sharing dessert made of chocolate mousse, brüléed bananas, coconut caramel, tahini and sesame snaps.
Opens Mon 28th April 2025
Unit 1, Cadence Court, 4 Tapper Walk, London N1C 4ED
bubala.co.uk
Pyro
After spending time in acclaimed kitchens like Elystan Street, The Ledbury, Petrus, and HIDE, Yiannis Mexis is going it alone with new restaurant Pyro. He’ll be bringing taverna vibes to Borough with the restaurant, which’ll feature an open kitchen, a large bar and an outdoor terrace, where a Greek Sunday feast will be held on the weekends. Yiannis will be cooking a contemporary Greek menu of small plates and sharing dishes that makes use of hyper-seasonal produce, authentic Greek ingredients and open fire, such as spanakopita with fragrant herbs and barrel-aged feta; mussel saganaki with toasted bread and vine leaf; pork pluma and hen-of-the-woods mushroom souvlaki with prunes, radicchio and sour apple; Dorset lamb with lamb fat flatbreads, smoked anchovy yoghurt and bitter leaf fricassee; whole charred aubergine with tomato stew and smoked mizithra; and whole lobster with mussels and roasted tomato orzo. The cocktails will come courtesy of Ana Reznik (ex-A Bar with Shapes for a Name), and feature flavours like jasmine, olive oil, mastic, seaweed, preserved bergamot and mahlep.
Opens Thurs 1st May 2025
53B Southwark St, London, SE1 1RU
pyrorestaurant.co.uk
Marjorie’s
Michael Searle and Josh Anderson are new on the city’s hospo scene and they’re hoping to make their mark with Marjorie’s, a Parisian-inspired restaurant and bar à vin, opening just off Carnaby Street this May. To bring Marjorie’s (named after Michael’s Francophile grandmother) to life, the pair have joined forces with head chef Giacomo Peretti. His menu will be a modern take on French cooking, featuring dishes like chicken liver rocher, hazelnut and morello; fried courgette, rouille and trout roe; Brie de Meaux, summer beans and apricot; escargot, seaweed, and pine nut cream; crab tart with crab bisque; red mullet, bouillabaisse and tapenade; bavette, egg yolk and girolles; and mille-feuille, strawberries and chantilly, plus a daily cheeseboard. That’ll all be paired with a tightly curated, all-French wine list.
Opens May 2025
26 Foubert’s Place, London, W1F 7PP
@marjories.london
Norbert’s
Rotisserie chicken is coming to East Dulwich this spring as restaurateur John Ogier (ex-Lyle’s and The Marksman) and chef Jack Coghlan (ex-Planque) are teaming up to open Norbert’s in the neighbourhood. The relaxed spot will be doing rotisserie birds in a top secret rub, served with salad and rotisserie potatoes, and as reported by Hot Dinners, as well as dishes like popcorn sweetbreads, chicken liver pate and brioche, and salt cod brandade. There’ll also be wines and cocktails like pina coladas and margaritas with chicken salt rims.
Opens early May 2025
5-6 Melbourne Terrace, Melbourne Grove, London SE22 8PL
@norbertslondon
SINO
Founder Polina Sychova and chef Eugene Korolev are bringing Ukrainian-inspired restaurant SINO to Notting Hill. Pronounced “see-no” and taking its name from the Ukrainian word for hay, SINO will serve a menu that blends regional Ukrainian flavours and ingredients with British produce and modern cooking techniques. Eugene, president of Bocuse D’Or Ukraine, left his Dnipro restaurant to fight on the front line of the war in 2022. He’ll be back leading a kitchen at SINO, alongside a largely Ukrainian brigade brought over from his former establishment. His menu will include dishes like hay-infused wild mushroom broth; aubergine marinated with dill flowers, fennel and garlic served with Kyyrma bread; beef tartar with ceps sabayon, Jerusalem artichoke crisps and lovage oil; cherry glazed BBQ catfish, fried parsley root, samphire, kovbasa (a traditional Ukrainian sausage), dried grated mussels and bell pepper sauce; vareniky (dumplings) with oxtail, spicy beef broth, and housemade mushroom garum; and aged walnut ice-cream with smoked plum chocolate mousse.
Opens early May 2025
7 All Saints Road, London, W11 1HA
sinorestaurant.co.uk
Hello JoJo
Forza Win may be leaving Camberwell but the site won’t be empty for long as Hello JoJo, a restaurant and bakery run by locals Jo Lavender and Rob Newlan, is moving in. Open from breakfast through to dinner, the restaurant menu will include deli-inspired lunches, brunch plates and elevated comfort food, with dishes like house sourdough with grilled sardines, marinated courgettes and asparagus salad; Baker’s eggs and potato crumpet with brown butter and sticky mushrooms; Tamworth pork chop with buttery spring garlic sauce; smoked potato dumplings with spring greens; and marmalade tart. As well as freshly baked bread, the bakery will serve up a range of sweet and savoury pastries, including honey buns, vegan vanilla buns, chocolate rye Swiss roll, and pizza buns.
Opens Sat 10th May 2025
31 Camberwell Church Street, London, SE5 8TR
hellojojo.co.uk
Town
Stevie Parle has opened a number of London restaurants in his time, including Pastaio and the now-closed Rotorino, Palatino, Sardine and JOY, but Town, opening on Drury Lane, is his most ambitious one yet. Town will be working closely with Wildfarmed and will be the first restaurant to serve Wildfarmed Beef, from its own herd of grass-fed cows raised in Oxfordshire. Cheeses served at the restaurant will come from Lost Valley Dairy, run by Stevie’s brother and sister-in-law Mike Parle and Darcie Mayland. The menu is set to include dishes like potato bread with Wildfarmed beef dripping; day boat crudo with tomato water and Todoli grapefruit; East Kent asparagus with Mangalitsa lardo and aged cherry vinegar; wood-grilled Romney Marsh hogget with chianti and anchovy butter; Welsh lobster with lardo and Town XO; and Morello cherry pie with cherry stone ice cream. Kevin Armstrong, owner of Satan’s Whiskers, is curating the cocktail list, which’ll feature a range of aperitifs, smaller serves and lower-ABV drinks.
Opens Mon 12th May 2025
26-29 Drury Lane, London, WC2B 5RL
town.restaurant
Duchy
Alex Grant and Simon Shand met at Leroy in 2021 (with Simon holding a Michelin star at the restaurant until his departure in February 2024) and now, around six months after the restaurant closed, they’re giving it a new lease of life by turning it into Duchy. Though the space is getting a new lick of paint, the place will feel familiar thanks to the open kitchen and selection of 200 albums for the soundtrack. Duchy is inspired by the historical Duchy of Savoy, which encompassed a large part of south east France and north west Italy, as well as Simon’s classical French training and passion for game and pasta. He’ll be using seasonal British produce to put his own spin on dishes from the region, including pork shoulder & smoked eel croquettes; and anchovies with lardo on marjoram toast; fresh spaghetti with bottarga and olive oil; Dover sole with Grenobloise sauce; côté de beouf with grilled baby gem and gorgonzola butter; cherry and walnut tart; and latte fritto with vanilla gelato. Wine regions like Savoie, Jura, Provence, Piedmont, Rhône, and Liguria sit within the Duchy of Savoy area, so you can expect one hell of a wine list at Duchy.
Opens May 2025
18 Phipp Street, London, EC2A 4NU
@duchy.restaurant
Osteria Angelina
After finding success with their Japanese-Italian fusion at Angelina in Dalston, founders Joshua Owens-Baigler, Amar Takhar and Laura Horta are opening a second, bigger site inside a converted warehouse space in the City. Taking inspo from the osterias of northern Italy, the 75-cover Osteria Angelina will be more relaxed than the original and will focus on fresh pastas with a Japanese twist. You’ll be able to see the pastaio at work in a glass-walled section of the dining room and the main kitchen will be open too so you can see the chefs in action. The eight pasta options, which’ll change regularly, will be joined by a selection of antipasti, crudi and fritti plates; big cuts, like whole fish and ribeye steaks, from the binchotan grills; and a Gran Bollito Misto (a traditional Italian mixed meat stew), served tableside from a traditional trolley.
Opens Tues 20th May 2025
1 Nicholl’s Clarke Yard, London, E1 6SH
angelina.london
Hannah
Even though it’s been operating for a number years, Hannah always felt like one of London’s best kept secrets. Tucked away inside the County Hall building on the Southbank, the restaurant offers one of the best omakase experiences in town. At Hannah, chef proprietor Daisuke Shimoyama takes inspiration from the kaiseki style of service and blends both Japanese and British cooking techniques and ingredients. Now the restaurant is on the move, leaving County Hall at the end of March and moving to Stratford to take up residence in The Stratford Hotel in May.
Opens May 2025
Olympic Park, 20 International Wy, London E20 1FD
@hannah_japanese_restaurant
Simpson’s in the Strand
Not content with opening The Park and reviving Le Caprice, Jeremy King is also bringing back Simpson’s in the Strand. The restaurant has had a tough time since it closed during the pandemic – it never found a way to open during the ever-changing lockdown restrictions and in the summer of 2023 it auctioned off a load of its assets, including light fixtures, crockery and its famous silver carving trolley. Thankfully that didn’t spell the end of the restaurant for good, merely a wiping of the slate, with King and The Savoy breathing new life into the old dog.
Opens May 2025
100 Strand, London WC2R 0EZ
Berenjak Mayfair
The JKS-backed Iranian restaurant group Berenjak, led by Kian Samyani and which already has sites in Soho and Borough, is opening location number three in Mayfair, taking over a spot on the corner of Duke Street and Brown Hart Gardens. That’s all we know so far – the latest posts on the restaurant’s Instagram account show that the site has been completely gutted ahead of a refurbishment – but we’re expecting plenty of charcoal-grilled kababs and signature mazeh small plates.
Opens spring/summer 2025
Brown Hart Gardens, London, W1
berenjaklondon.com
Panadera Soho
After the recent closure of the Kentish Town location, Panadera was down to just one bakery in Marylebone. But it’s not staying that way for long as co-founder Florence Mae Maglanoc has revealed that she’s secured a new site in Soho. We don’t know anything else about it at this stage, other than it’s bigger, but we’d expect to see all the Panadera classics, like garlic cheese pandesal, strawberry matcha cookies, buko pandan frappes, and corned beef hash sandos on the menu.
Opens spring / summer 2025
3 Hopkins St, London W1F 0DP
panaderabakery.com
Barbarella
We’d been hearing word that the Big Mamma Group had its eyes on Canary Wharf, and now it’s been confirmed. Barbarella, inspired by the golden age of Roman cinema, will be bringing the maximalist vibes to the YY Building this June. The waterside restaurant will feature jungle-themed interiors, with a mirrored bar, a three-metre-wide amber chandelier, vintage Ferragamo silks, and a 70s chromed lounge upstairs with a gold-framed open kitchen. That statement bar will be shaking up the group’s largest ever cocktail list, which’ll include serves like the pistachio espresso martini, and pouring its most extensive wine list, complete with an exclusive selection of Italian vintages and magnums. From the kitchen, led by Roma-born Marco Rastelli, expect dishes like extra-thin, extra-wise Ruota di Carretto pizzas, caramelised Italian tomato tatin with Parmigiano cream, one-metre long spaghettone, Cornish lemon sole to share, and 1.2kg T-bone steak.
Opens June 2025
YY Building, 30 South Colonnade, Canary Wharf, London E14 5HX
bigmammagroup.com
Mareida
Prenay Agarwal is opening Chilean-inspired restaurant Mareida in Fitzrovia this summer and he’s bringing a killer Chilean team with him, including Head Chef Trinidad Vial Della Maggiora, chef Carolina Bazán (voted Latin America’s Best Female Chef in 2019 by the World’s 50 Best) and sommelier Rosario Onetto. Guest chefs from the Southern Anders will also be invited in for pop-ups. The menu will showcase dishes from across the country, from the coast to the mountains, with the wine list that reflects the diversity of Chile’s wine regions. Artworks in the restaurant will reflect the Chilean landscape and Chilean DJ and producer DJ Raff will curate a soundtrack featuring Chilean, Peruvian and Bolivian influences.
Opens June 2025
160 Great Portland St, London W1W 5QA
@mareida.london
Le Caprice
The Chancery Rosewood is opening on the former American Embassy site in Grosvenor Square, promising a number of bedrooms and suites, a ballroom, five shops, a wellness facility and a variety of restaurants. One of those restaurants is going to be a revival of Richard Caring’s Le Caprice (which will no doubt draw comparisons to Jeremy King’s reincarnation of the same restaurant, albeit with a different name). Caring’s two-floor space will hold 120 covers in the main dining space and an additional 88 on the year-round terrace, and the menu will feature some Le Caprice faves like salmon fishcakes, bang bang chicken and steak tartare. But it won’t all be retro, as Caring told The Standard, “Im sure a lot of people will want to see Le Caprice as it was, but I believe it should be moved into the 2020s. I want it to be chic, comfortable and classic. I think it’s fabulous to mix the old and the new both in style, customers and in food.”
Opens June 2025
1 Grosvenor Square, London W1K 4BN
rosewoodhotels.com
Cafe Linea
A new restaurant, bar and bakery is opening inside the Grade-II listed arcade overlooking Duke of York Square this summer. Founded by husband-and-wife team Greg and Felicity Godik, Cafe Linea will serve fresh breads and pastries, like allumettes with ham, cheese & miso and banoffee bostocks with banana cream in the mornings alongside brekkie and brunch menus. The all-day a la carte menu will feature modern classics and elevated comfort food dishes, like ricotta dumplings with mushrooms and curried chicken pie, with bar snacks and patisserie available to pair with wines and apertifis.
Opens summer 2025
Duke of York Square, London, SW3 4LY
linealondon.com
Legado
Nieves Barragán Mohacho has been at the forefront of London’s Spanish food scene for two decades, leading Barrafina to great acclaim and then opening her own restaurant Sabor in 2018, where she holds a Michelin star. Now she’s celebrating her journey and her love for Spain’s food culture by opening Legado (meaning ‘legacy’), in partnership with JKS Restaurants, in Shoreditch this summer. As her largest project yet, Legado will allow Nieves and her team the space to explore different regional Spanish dishes and dining traditions, so expect to influences from the tabancos of Cádiz and Jerez, whole-animal cookery inspired by the asadors of Castilla y León, seafood dishes from the Galician coastline, hearty stews from Asturias and more.
Opens late summer 2025
1 Montacute Yards, 185-186 Shoreditch High Street, E1 6HU
legadorestaurants.com
Claridge’s Bakery
Claridge’s is opening a bakery this summer that will celebrate the art of British baking. Richard Hart (who’s worked everywhere from San Francisco to Copenhagen to Mexico City) will be leading the charge as Executive Baker & Creative Director. His menu will include classics like bloomers, granary loaves, sourdough breads, iced fingers, jam tarts, Belgian buns, custard tarts and more, with the baked goods being available for both hotel guests and visitors.
Opens late summer 2025
Brook Street, London W1K 4HR
claridges.co.uk
Carbone
As well as housing Richard Caring’s Le Caprice, the Chancery Rosewood is also going to have a London outpost of iconic NYC hotspot Carbone. First opened in Greenwich Village in 2013, Carbone, an upscale take on classic red-sauce Italian-American restaurants, was popular from almost the instant it opened and has become one of the city’s biggest celeb magnets, drawing in everyone who’s anyone for baked clams, spicy rigatoni vodka and veal parm. Major Food Group, which operates the restaurant, has opened sister sites in Las Vegas, Miami, Dallas and Hong Kong, and now it’s London’s turn.
Opens 2025
1 Grosvenor Square, London W1K 4BN
carbonenewyork.com
Velvet Taco
Velvet Taco, which started in Dallas, Texas in 2011 and now boasts almost 50 locations Stateside, is on the expansion train and London is its first stop. The Piccadilly Circus opening, slated for 2025, will be followed up with more UK sites in the coming years. Over in the US, Velvet Taco is known for incorporating global flavours across its 20-taco-strong menu, like the Spicy Tikka Chicken taco made with crispy tenders, house-made spicy tikka sauce, buttered cilantro basmati rice, raita crema and Thai basil; and the Fish ‘n Chips taco with beer-battered cod, curry aioli, french fries, malt vinegar and napa slaw. It also does a WTF (Weekly Taco Feature) where a new special hits the menu each week, and sides like red curry coconut queso dip and elote guac.
Opens 2025
Piccadilly Circus, London
velvettaco.com
Holy Carrot Spitalfields
Originally started as a pop-up, Irina Linovich finally took vegetable-forward, root-to-tip restaurant Holy Carrot permanent in the summer of last year when she teamed up with chef Daniel Watkins (co-founder of Acme Fire Cult) and opened on Portobello Road. Since then, the restaurant has won a legion of fans (and a listing in the Michelin Guide) for its inventive approach to plant-based cooking, sustainable ethos, and cocktails created in collaboration with A Bar With Shapes For A Name. Now it’s heading east, opening in Old Spitalfields Market later this year. The new site will also have that same creative, low-waste ethos but will represent an evolution of the Holy Carrot concept, taking inspiration from its east London surroundings and the history of Spitalfields.
Opens late 2025
Old Spitalfields Market, London, E1 6AA
holycarrot.co.uk
Kricket Covent Garden
Rik Campbell and Will Bowlby are men on a mission; the pair opened a Kricket restaurant and a second branch of cocktail bar SOMA in Canary Wharf towards the end of 2024, before establishing a fourth restaurant in Shoreditch this spring, which was also the first Kricket site to operate all-day with a breakfast offering. Now a fifth Kricket is on the way, opening in Neal’s Yard later this year. Joining neighbours like The Barbary and Story Cellar, this Kricket take up residence in a 4000 sq ft space and have room for 130 covers. Like the Shoreditch site, the Covent Garden restaurant will also run all day and serve breakfast (dishes on the Shoreditch menu include eggs bhurji, bacon pao and kedgeree), alongside an a la carte selection of modern Indian plates.
Opens late 2025
Neal’s Yard, London, WC2H 9DP
kricket.co.uk
Varrons
Jack Williams, who’s led some of the best kitchens in north London, including Westerns Laundry; bartender William Thompson, who opened Jolene and was most recently GM at Cadet; and wine expert Ben Clyde, former manager of Primeur, boast some mega CVs and now they’re pooling all their knowledge and experience together to open Varrons. The restaurant is named after a piece of land in the Jura region of eastern France, which sits between Alsace, Burgundy and the Swiss border. Varrons will be a celebration of French country-style dishes from the area, made using the finest seasonal produce, Jura wines, and quality service.
Opens 2025
Location tbc
@varronsrestaurant
DUÉ
With a stint as Executive Chef of Pujol, one of the best restaurants in Mexico City and currently number 13 on the World’s 50 Best list, under his belt, plus time spent in French restaurant Les Moustaches (also in CDMX) and the three Michelin-starred El Celler de Can Roca in Girona, it’s safe to say Jesús Durón knows his way around a kitchen. And now he’s bringing one of his own to London with DUÉ, which he’s opening in partnership with Lindsay Jang, founder of Hong Kong establishments Yardbird and RONIN. DUÉ will take inspo from global flavours with roots in both French and Mexican cuisines, and while we don’t have a menu yet (or a location either), dishes at pop-ups around the world have included chicken chicharron with pico de gallo and maylor shrimp; scallop tsukune with corn dashi and egg yolk; cuttlefish with green mole and crache leaves; and roast pigeon with spring onion and cacao.
Opens 2025
Location tbc
duerestaurant.co
Effie
£1 billion is being spent on the redevelopment of the old Whiteleys shopping centre, transforming it into transformed into luxury development The Whiteley. One of the new restaurants at the site is going to be Effie, a new concept from the Pachamama Group (who also have Pachamama in Marylebone and Pachamama East in Shoreditch, Bottarga in Chelsea and Zephyr in Notting Hill). Like Zephyr, the two-floor, 5000 sq ft Effie will have a Mediterranean rather than Peruvian slant, serving a menu of mezze and chargrilled meat and fish dishes inspired by the Aegean coast.
Opens 2025
149 Queensway, London W2 4YN
thewhiteleylondon.com
Nela
Nela, the Amsterdam-based live-fire restaurant from chefs Hari Shetty and Ori Geller and entrepreneur Gilad Hayeem, will be taking up residence at The Whiteley this year. The London outpost of Nela will feature an open kitchen, so you can see that fire in all its glory, as well as a 360-degree centrepiece bar. We don’t have any details on the menu yet but we’d expect it to be similar to the Amsterdam one, which includes a large vegetable section plus meat and fish dishes, a raw section and wood-fired pizzas.
Opens 2025
149 Queensway, London W2 4YN
thewhiteleylondon.com