Flora
Stevie Parle is returning to London’s Portobello Dock – once home to his Dock Kitchen restaurant – with al fresco restaurant Flora. The restaurant, aperitivo bar and farm shop serves seasonal British food with a daily changing menu, with dishes including red prawns, burned lemon, marjoram; whole or half lobster grilled with lardo and rosemary; and grilled courgettes, green wheat, roast tomatoes and tahini sauce.
Portobello Dock, 344 Ladbroke Grove, London
111 by Modou
Chef Nico Simeone has handed his debut restaurant, Glasgow's 111 by Nico, over to head chef Modou Diagne, in order to focus his time on further building the Six by Nico brand (which recently opened its first London site). Born in Senegal, Diagne was originally hired by 111 as a kitchen porter before being trained by Simeone on the fundamentals of working in a kitchen and rising through the ranks to become head chef. The restaurant will serve both a four course and six course 'seasonal' tasting menu, priced at between £30 and £35 per person. The 'Total Trust' concept, which Modou and his team were at the forefront of pioneering at 111 by Nico, will also remain and be served on Sundays. The 'Total Trust' concept features a five course tasting menu that's designed entirely by the chef's choice of ingredients available that day.
111 Cleveden Rd, Kelvinside, Glasgow G12 0JU
One Love
Andi Oliver and Fred Sirieix are taking over Clapton Country Club on 20 August for their month-long pop-up One Love. The venue, that encompasses the dining room, private space Opium Room and separate cocktail bar Department of Life, will serve Caribbean food, French pastries, French wines and rum cocktails.
Unit J2, The Tram Depot, 38-40 Upper Clapton Rd, Clapton, London
Larry's
The team behind popular London restaurants Salon in Brixton and Levan in Peckham have now properly launched their thrid south London venue (having only managed to open for a handful of days prior to the lockdown). Larry’s will be located right next door to Nicholas Balfe, Mark Gurney and Matt Bushnell's Levan and will take its cues from the corner bars, diners and cafes of New York. “Larry’s is somewhere we’d expect Larry Levan to go to after playing one of his sets”, says Balfe. “We’ve cherry-picked everything we love about eating in New York, and combined them into the kind of place we would want in our neighbourhood.” The restaurant’s interiors will pay homage to Larry Levan’s 1970s heyday with tables topped with orange laminate and reclaimed green Eames chairs. Open throughout the day, Larry’s is described as Levan’s ‘naughty little brother’.
Unit 5, 12-16 Blenheim Grove, Peckham, London
Purezza
Vegan pizza brand Purezza is to double the size of its estate in August with new openings in Hove and Bristol scheduled. The group - which already operates a flagship site in Brighton's Kemptown, as well as a location in London's Camden - has taken over the former Patisserie Valerie site near Palmeira Square in Hove for its third opening; and will will open its fourth restaurant at the former Pigsty site on Bristol's Gloucester Road. Purezza serves a fully vegan menu of sourdough pizzas made with plant-based mozzarella that’s produced inhouse. Signature pizzas include ‘Parmigiana Party’ topped with smoked mozzarella, aubergine parmigiana, crumbled vegan sausage; and a dusting of nutritional yeast; and an ‘nduja’ one with mozzarella, green chillies, roasted aubergines, baby sweetcorn, red peppers, sriracha sauce and chilli flakes.
86-87 Western Rd, Hove BN3 1JB // 79-81 Gloucester Rd, Bishopston, Bristol BS7 8AS
Seoul Bird
Following a delay caused by the Coronavirus lockdown, chef Judy Joo's Korean fried chicken restaurant Seoul Bird is set to open within the Westfield London shopping centre on 6 August. Known for being the host of Food Network's Korean Food Made Simple, Joo has created a menu ‘inspired by [her] Korean-American heritage’ with the help of former Jinjuu head chef Andrew Hales. Chicken wings, thighs and tenders will feature on the menu; coated in Joo’s secret seasoning, double fried ‘for extra crunch’, and served alongside an Asian slaw of red cabbage, daikon, onion and carrot, tossed in a citrus soy dressing. The menu will also include a Signature Seoul Burger consisting of a double-fried chicken fillet drizzled with a soy and gochujang glaze; bibimbap rice bowls with crunchy veg, pickled daikon, edamame beans, crispy onions and a soft poached egg; and sides of truffle-loaded seaweed tater tots, and kimchi mac and cheese.
The Balcony, Westfield London Shopping Centre, Ariel Way, London, W12 7GE
Tavolino
Giorgio Locatelli alumnus and former Bancone head chef Louis Korovilas have just opened their delayed Italian restaurant in London Bridge. Initially due to launch in April, the restaurant serves simple dishes cooked with Italian and British produce, with starters including grilled radicchio, ricotta and walnuts; fried mussels served with bagna cauda dip; with pasta dishes including tagliatelle, spicy ‘nduja and pork ragù; and potato gnocchi with tomato, basil and Barilotto cheese.
Unit 1, Riverside, 2 More London, London
The Athenian London Bridge
Greek street food player The Athenian is to open its eighth restaurant location later this month in London Bridge. The site, which was announced last summer, had been due to open earlier this year, but was delayed as a result of the Government-mandated lockdown of the hospitality sector caused by the Coronavirus pandemic. Continuing its tradition for naming each site after a vibrant Athens neighbourhood, the new London Bridge restaurant will be called 'Mikrolimano' after a district in Piraeus, and its 'distinctive design' will be inspired by a typical Greek urban market stall. The new site will operate in accordance with Government guidelines, and will include QR code digital menus and iPads; and be fully equipped with hand sanitiser and marked out social distancing areas.
59 St Thomas Street, London SE1 3QX
Really Happy Chicken
'Totally vegan' fried chicken concept Really Happy Chicken has landed in Brighton, featuring a plant-based menu of Southern American-style fast food staples. The core of the offering will be a range of seitan 'chicken' burgers, fried in a seasoned batter and topped with lettuce and vegan mayonnaise. There will also be a selection of sides available, including fires; as well as vegan buffalo chicken wings.
31 Preston St, Brighton BN1 2HP
Sugoi JPN
Japanese-Latin street food brand Sugoi JPN is to open its first two bricks-and-mortar sites this month, which will form the start of an ambitious plan to open 10 permanent locations over the next year. Having had to adapt their plans as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic, founders Felipe Preece and Veronica Silva have begun working on a 'franchise expansion initiative' to rapidly grow the Sugoi JPN brand across the capital. Two sites in London have already been secured with the first, in South Wimbledon, due to launch on 6 August. The second site, located in Palmers Green, is set to open three weeks later on 27 August. Inspired by the street food of both Tokyo and Latin America, Sugoi JPN started out life operating out of a dark kitchen site in Bethnal Green, as well as catering to a local pub via a food truck. The menu's signature dish is a hybrid between Japanese nori and the Mexican taco (fittingly named the NoriTaco), which features a crispy seaweed tempura shell shaped like a taco that's filled with sushi rice and Japanese-Latin toppings.
