From Mark Greenaway's return to the Scottish capital to a second bun in the oven in Chinatown, here's the hot new restaurant openings for April.
Grazing
Mid April will see high profile Scottish chef Mark Greenaway will take on the brasserie at the Waldorf Astoria Edinburgh, which had previously been operated by the Galvin brothers. The 170-cover restaurant is billed as the “first step in a new direction” for the chef as he “builds a more diverse restaurant portfolio”. It’s certainly more casual than anything he’s put his name to previously, with a menu that includes BBQ shiitake mushrooms on toast; roast chicken to share; and a sticky toffee soufflé. Greenaway closed his eponymous Edinburgh fine dining restaurant last September after five years of trading. Princes Street, Edinburgh waldorfastoria3.hilton.com
Vinegar Yard
The brainchild of Flat Iron Square founder Benji Scrimgeour, the Vinegar Yard development will open at London Bridge on April 3. The food and retail space will host a rotating line-up of eateries, including Million Pound Menu winners Baba G’s, who will serve Indian-inspired pachos and their signature ‘naanwhiches’; Argentinian-inspired steak and chimichurri from barbecue experts Up in My Grill; and burgers and croquette from Nanny Bills. St Thomas Street, London Bridge www.vinegaryard.london
Bun House Chinatown
The second BUn House will have a similar focus to the original Soho restaurant, namely traditional Cantonese steamed buns, but with two new additions to the menu - a beef brisket bun and a brioche-style pineapple bun. Other new dishes will include new rice offerings, including scallion chicken; and chilli marinated egg as well as traditional Hong Kong street food snacks such as curried fish balls and cheung fun (rice noodle rolls topped wok-fried vegetables). Split over two levels and with space for around 70 covers, the double-fronted Chinatown restaurant will be significantly larger than the group’s debut 10-seater Greek Street restaurant. Lisle Street, London bun.house
Caviar Kaspia
Caviar Kaspia first made its mark in London in the early 2000’s, before it closed and was replaced by Bellamy’s in Mayfair. Now the Parisian institution is returning to the capital to open in former Chess Club private member’s club in Mayfair. Though further details on the site are scarce, the group’s menus typically contain poached eggs with beluga caviar; smoked fish; and its signature caviar-topped baked potato. 1a Chesterfield St, Mayfair, London W1J 5JF http://www.caviarkaspia.com/
The Oyster Club
The Oyster Club is the second Birmingham opening from chef Adam Stokes, who has run the Michelin-starred Adam’s Restaurant in the city with his wife Natasha since 2013. Taking its name from a group of intellectuals and scientists who used to meet in Edinburgh in the 1770s to debate and exchange ideas over dinner, the menu for the 24-cover Oyster Club includes caviar farmed in Exmoor, fish pie with lobster and a sea bass sashimi. Fresh oysters – sourced from Jersey, Scotland, Essex, Cornwall and France – will reportedly be shucked in front of diners and served on plates of six or twelve. 43 Temple Street, Birmingham www.the_oyster_club.co.uk
Lucknow 49
Dhruv Mittal, the chef behind Soho’s Dum Biryani, is to open his second London restaurant this month. Lucknow 49, though it was formerly announced as Lucknow Social, will launch in Mayfair serving kebabs, curries and biryanis. The menu, designed by founder Dhruv Mittal and executive chef Irfan Khan, is inspired by the slow-cooking style of Awadhi cuisine native to the city of Lucknow in Northern India. Dishes will include lamb kakori kebab spiked with clove, black pepper and cinnamon; and taar gosht (sticky lamb). Wine consultant Zeren Wilson has curated a wine list designed to pair with Lucknavi cuisine, and Lucknow 49 is teaming up with London Fields Brewery to launch their own beer and Bimber Distillery to create a bespoke gin. Lucknow 49, 49 Maddox St, London, W1S 2PQ http://lucknowldn.com/
Santo Mare
Santo Mare, the 3rd London opening from self-made Italian restaurateur Andrea Reitano, is to open in London’s Marylebone on April 4. The 100-cover restaurant will specialise in premium Italian seafood, sourced from day boats fishing the Tyrrhenian Sea and displayed to diners on a large fish counter in the centre of the restaurant. Signature dishes will include whole salt-crusted sea bass, and homemade gnocchi with red prawns and pecorino cheese. Reitano, who also owns Osteria Romana in Knightsbridge and Mayfair’s Caffè Rei, also plans to open his 4th London restaurant, Osteria Napoletana, in Notting Hill later this month. 87-89 George Street, London www.santomare.com
The Sea, The Sea
Taking its name from Iris Murdoch’s 1978 novel, The Sea, The Sea is the latest project from Bonnie Gull co-founder Alex Hunter. It will open in Chelsea and run as a fish shop and deli by day and seafood and champagne bar by evening. The daily-changing menu will focus on the day’s best catch, with small plates, seafood platters and British rock and native oysters. The Sea, The Sea will also sell own-brand retail products such as pies, sauces and cured fish. 174 Pavilion Rd, Chelsea, London SW1X 0AW https://www.theseathesea.net/
The Flinthouse
Brighton and Hove-based chef restaurateur Ben McKellar will open a casual restaurant in the city’s The Lanes area later this month, taking his portfolio of restaurants and pubs in and around the city up to five. The new-build space will comprise a downstairs restaurant and an upstairs bar and terrace that’s more geared towards drinking with equal attention paid to wine and cocktails. The Flinthouse is the only restaurant within a newly created street to the rear of the old Hanningtons department store building in The Lanes (McKellar’s neighbours are all high-end, boutique-y retail brands). Tom Wright is heading up the kitchen day-to-day and has worked with McKellar to create a tapas-style menu of modern British dishes. Hannington’s Lane, Brighton www.flinthousebrighton.com
Wild Flor
Billed as a bistro, Wild Flor is a partnership between Robert Maynard, James Thomson, Faye Hudson and chef Oliver Derby. All are well known on the Brighton and Hove food and drink scene having worked at restaurants including Cin Cin and The Ginger Pig. The quartet have taken the former Skyfall site on Church Road, Hove. Wine will be given equal billing to food, with much of it supplied by Maynard’s former employer Butler’s Wine Cellar. A draft menu posted on Instagram includes rabbit and chicken terrine with parsley, mustard and girolles; pork collar, BBQ turnips, pear and pork jus; and rum baba with pineapple gazpacho and vanilla cream. 42 Church Road wildflor.com/
Serata Hall
Opening near London’s Old Street Station this month, Serata Hall is from the same stable as Martello Hall in Hackne and Canova Hall and Cattivo in Brixton. Like its sister venues the food offer will focus on pizza and pasta, with dishes including truffle tagliatelle with gorgonzola, walnuts, mushrooms, truffle oil and pink peppercorns; and 12-hour cooked beef rigatoni, with the owners claiming that the restaurant will have the biggest selection of tap wine outside the US with 12 different options available. 207 Old Street, London www.seratahall.com
Soutine
The latest venue from brasserie doyens Corbin & King celebrates St John’s Wood’s strong artistic heritage as well as takes inspiration from the great boulevard cafés of Paris, according to the group, and will be an informal neighbourhood cafe and restaurant. Details are still scant but expect a ‘Colbert meets Fischer’s’ approach of comfort food dishes in classy surroundings. 60 St Johns Wood High Street, London soutine.co.uk
Endo at the Rotunda
Located on the eighth floor of the former BBC Television Centre in White City - aka the Rotunda - Endo at the Rotunda is the debut restaurant from third-generation sushi master Endo Kazutoshi. With soft launches out of the way, the 16-seat restaurant opens proper this month to give Londoners a memorable Omakase style dining experience - for one of the courses Kazutoshi places the nigiri directly into his diners’ mouths. The restaurant is part of the Lord Simon Restaurant group, which also owns Ichibuns Super Diners, and features a two-hundred-year-old Hinoki wood sushi counter ‘sourced from the mythical forests of Tochigi’. 8th floor, The Helios, 101 Wood Lane, London www.endoatrotunda.com
