Restaurant Radar: February 2020
Lerpwl
Brothers Ellis and Liam Barrie are heading to Liverpool this month to open Lerpwl (which is Welsh for Liverpool)in the city’s Albert Docks area. The restaurant will use Welsh produce and have a menu that celebrates Merseyside’sinternational trade links.
Albert Dock, Liverpool
www.lerpwl.com
Bar Douro City
A sister site to the popular Portuguese restaurant in London Bridge officially opens this month following a soft opening period at the end of January. Bar Douro City follows a similar approach to its older sibling with a concise but well put together list of dishes that are divided into sections such as snacks, garden, sea and land.
Finsbury Avenue Square, London
www.bardouro.co.uk/city
Mozzasando
Alan Yau has joined forces with mozzarella bar Obicà for his latest project, which opens early this month on the former Obicà site in South Kensington after a short delay. Sandos are the heroes here, based on breaded chicken and veal Milanese. Mozzasando is the first of a number of planned restaurant openings from Yau in the capital this year.
96 Draycott Ave, London
www.mozzasando.com
Barrio Comida
Durham gets a new Mexican restaurant this month in the form of Barrio Comida, a 144-cover double headed restaurant that will have a casual taqueria on the ground floor and a higher end restaurant in the basement. The main ground floor restaurant will major on regional tacos using tortillas made from seven different varieties of corn imported from smallholding farms throughout Mexico while below will be more upscale Mexican concept La Mesa, which will feature a communal table for 16 diners as well as four counter seats in front of the pass. Here the food will be a ‘modern interpretation of Mexico’s vast culinary landscape while utilising the best of British and European produce’.
34 Church St, Durham
www.barriocomida.com
Gymkhana
The Michelin-starred Indian restaurant has been closed for refurbishment since last year following a fire, but it’s back open this month following a refurbishment. The ground floor retains its original design while the basement has been re-modelled with a Kashmiri chilli colour palette.
42 Albemarle Street, London
www.gymkhanalondon.com
Sushi Fabrique
European-wide restaurant group Sushi Fabrique will open its debut UK restaurant in London this month on Tottenham Court Road. The 80-cover restaurant will have a focus on sushi but will also serve a pan-Asian menu.
The Sushi Fabrique group currently runs around 20 sites across Europe.
East West
If fusion pizza is your thing then East West will be right up your street. Founded by Devinder Singh, the concept blends southern Italian-style pizzas with the home-cooked recipes of Singh’s childhood growing up in northern India. This translates to pizzas including one with saag paneer, grilled artichoke and crispy onions; and one topped with butter chicken, semi dried tomatoes, truffled oyster mushrooms and fennel pesto. Spread over two floors, the 48-cover restaurant will open in London’s Kentish Town.
135 Fortess Road, London
www.eastwestlondon.com
Lebnani
Yalla Yalla founder Jad Youssef will open his ‘Beirut soul food’ restaurant in Reigate this month. The restaurant will source much of its produce from the local area with launch dishes set to include Beirut Fattoush salad; chicken wings marinated in toum, lemon and pomegranate molasses; and roasted Surrey beef shawarma with baharat, sumac tatbila salad, and tahini.
11 Church Street, Reigate
www.lebnani.co.uk
Padella Shoreditch
Beloved Borough Market pasta restaurant Padella is finally opening its second site this month, on Phipp Street in Shoreditch. Owners Jordan Frieda and Tim Siadatan have waited four years to expand, in which time they’ve worked on refining their preparation and cooking processes. The 70-cover space (a slight increase on Borough) will serve a similar menu to that the original Padella, including signature pasta plates like the pici cacio e pepe; and the pappardelle with eight-hour Dexter beef shin ragu. The addition of a deep fat fryer, however, means a range of fritti will now be included on in the antipasti section.
1 Phipp Street, London EC2A 4PS
www.padella.co
Dominique Ansel Treehouse
Cronut creator Dominique Ansel is finally set to unveil his second London site. Located in Covent Garden, and split over two floors, Dominique Ansel Treehouse will house a takeaway bakery boutique on the ground level, with a bistro café upstairs. Unlike the pastry chef’s dedicated Belgravia-based bakery, Treehouse will not serve Ansel’s signature croissant-doughnut hybrid. Instead, the bakery will feature a selection of ‘desserts, pastries, tarts, and classic French viennoiserie’; while the bistro will serve a selection of small and large plates, each showcasing individual pastry-driven techniques.
24 Floral Street, Covent Garden, London WC2E 9DP
www.dominiqueansellondon.com
Hoppers King’s Cross
The third site for JKS restaurants’ Sri Lanka and southern India concept Hoppers is set to be its biggest to date. Opening on Pancras Square in London’s King’s Cross, the 130-cover restaurant will centre around an iron-clad concrete bar, complemented by warm, terracotta-toned floors and cast iron-framed glass lanterns that will illuminate the main dining room. The menu will feature all-new bar bites, seafood grills and beachside snack sections, with Negombo crab kari; Jaffna isso vade; and black pepper curry leaf prawn skewers all set to appear exclusively.
Pancras Square, Kings Cross, N1C 4AG
www.hopperslondon.com
Chuku’s
Nigerian pop-up restaurant Chuku’s is opening its first permanent site this month, on Tottenham High Road in London. Promoted as ‘the world’s first Nigerian tapas restaurant’, it’s the brainchild of sibling founders Ifeyinwa and Emeka Frederick. Serving authentic cuisine against a backdrop of Nigerian afrobeats and contemporary art, the pair have labelled Chuku’s dining experience as “chop, chat, chill”. As well as a number of popular dishes from past pop ups, the menu is set to include Sinasir and Miyan Taushe, a rice pancake topped with a pumpkin and peanut sauce that’s inspired by Emeka’s recent travels to Kano in Northern Nigeria.
274 High Road, Tottenham, London, N15 4RR
www.chukuslondon.co.uk
Sarap
Although already on soft launch, Ferdinand ‘Budgie’ Montoya’s Filipino barbecue and lechon concept Sarap is to open properly this week in Brixton Village. Featuring a menu predominately comprised of sharing plates, Sarap’s signature dish will be a take on Cebu lechon that consists of rolled and stuffed slow-roasted pork belly, served with liver sauce, spiced coconut vinegar and atchara pickle. Initially operating as a six-month residency, Montoya hopes the opening will help establish a permanent for Sarap in due course.
14D Market Row, Brixton, London SW9 8LB
www.saraplondon.com/
