Restaurant Radar December 2022

Furna​
The race to be the first chef in Brighton and Hove to win a star for decades intensifies as high-profile chef Dave Mothersill (pictured with his largely female senior team) launches an ambitious tasting menu-only restaurant within the former Oki-Nami site on New Road. Originally slated to launch in April but delayed due to various issues with the build, Furna will seat 26 in the main dining room and a further six covers in a subterranean PDR that will have its own kitchen and dedicated service team. The restaurant will be priced in line with other high-reaching restaurants in the city, offering a regularly-changing tasting menu for £90 with wine pairing priced at £65. Mothersill - who is best known in the city for overseeing the food across Razak Helalat’s Black Rock Restaurants Group and heading the kitchen at Ben Mckellar’s flagship restaurant The Gingerman - says the food will be modern British with some subtle Asian influences.
6 New Road, Brighton BN1 1UF​
www.furnarestaurant.co.uk​​

Ikoyi​
In what will arguably be 2022’s most high profile reboot, Ikoyi will launch at 180 The Strand later this month. Founders Jeremy Chan and Iré Hassan-Odukale have big plans for Ikoyi 2.0. The space is much larger but will have a comparable number of covers to the old Ikoyi in St James’ Market and the price of the tasting menu is increasing significantly to £300 per head. Launched in 2017, Ikoyi is one of London’s most ambitious and creative restaurants with chef Chan melding very high-quality British produce with spices sourced from all over the world but with a focus on sub-Saharan West Africa (the restaurant takes its name from a district in the Nigerian capital Lagos).
180 Strand, London WC2R 1EA​
www.ikoyilondon.com​​

Shiro​

Aqua Restaurant Group will bring its Hong Kong-based contemporary Japanese restaurant Shiro to The City’s Broadgate Circle development later this month. Located within the 100 Liverpool Street building, Shiro will be Aqua Group’s first London restaurant launch in 10 years, joining Aqua Shard and Hutong in London Bridge and Aqua Kyoto, Aqua Nueva and Aqua Spirit in Soho. Inspired by the Tokyo districts of Ginza, Shinjuku and Shibuya, Shiro offers a wide-ranging Japanese menu that majors on sushi and sashimi, tempura, grilled dishes and rice and noodle dishes. Shiro is notable for its modern take on sushi, having developed a ‘crystal sushi’ that sees ingredients wrapped in flavoured jellies.
Unit G04, 100 Broadgate, London EC2M 2AU​
www.shirosushi.co.uk​​

The Beckford Canteen​

Former Kitty Fisher’s and Cora Pearl chef George Barson has returned to the South West to launch a new restaurant in Bath city centre. The Beckford Canteen will be the second restaurant for the Beckford Group, which operates upscale pubs in Wiltshire and Somerset. The group’s latest project occupies a ‘small but perfectly formed site’, a former Georgian greenhouse, on Bartlett Street. There will be around 40 seats inside and a further 40 in the restaurant’s ‘hidden’ garden to the rear. The Beckford Canteen will be open from midday through to the evening, serving lunch and dinner as well as drinks and snacks between the hours of 4-6pm. The modern British menu will ‘centre around provenance and seasonality’ and include the likes of rarebit with beer pickled onions; sardines on toast; cured pig’s jowl; gurnard, shellfish sauce, sea beet; and black treacle and ginger sponge, brown butter ice cream.
11 - 12 Bartlett Street, Bath, Somerset BA1 2QZ​
www.beckfordcanteen.com​​

Mayha​​
Beirut-founded Japanese omakase restaurant Mayha is to launch a sister site in London’s Marylebone this month, marking the first opening on UK shores for the Lebanon-based Nothing But Love group. Housed on Chiltern Street, Mayha opens on 8 December and will be spread over two floors. With interiors designed by Beirutbased studio MARIAGROUP, the ground floor will be home to a curved stone counter restaurant serving the daily-changing tasting menu; while the lower ground floor will offer a Japanese raw bar and courtyard. At the helm of the kitchen will be head chefs Jurek Wasio and Yuichi Nakaya, who are relocating to London from Mayha Beirut. While dish details remain under wraps, Mayha promises to serve ‘meticulously-sourced seasonal ingredients from a range of local and Japanese suppliers’. Accompanying the menu will be a selection of sakes, rare spirits, fine wines and ‘niche’ beers.
43 Chiltern Street, Marylebone, London W1U 6LS​
www.mayhalondon.com​​​

Tozi Grand Café​

Venetian-inspired Italian restaurant and bar brand Tozi comes to the new art’otel London Battersea Power Station. Modelled on the grand cafes of Europe, the new all-day venue will open on 12 December serving a menu created by executive head chef Lee Streeton in partnership with Tozi Victoria’s head chef Maurilio Molteni. Breakfast dishes will include Italian takes on brunch such as baked eggs; spianata piccante; and puttanesca, with mains such as veal Milanese; and lobster linguine.
Electric Boulevard, Nine Elms, London, SW11 8BJ​
www.tozigrandcafe.co.uk​​

Akub​​

Franco-Palestinian chef Fadi Kattan opens his debut UK this month in London’s Notting Hill. Akub, which takes its name for the Arabic word for cardoon, will serve a menu split between salad and starter plates and larger options that will include focaccia available to order with red lentil moutabal; arak-cured sea bream; crunchy mansaf balls; and grape vine leaves stuffed with skate. The new restaurant joins Kattan’s Bethlehem venue, which opened in 2015.
27 Uxbridge St, London, W8 7TQ​​
www.akub-restaurant.com​​​

Cinder St John’s Wood​

St John’s Wood will be home to chef Jake Finn’s second neighbourhood-style restaurant Cinder. With 46 covers in its upstairs dining room, a 20-seat bar area and a 12 cover PDR it will be larger than the original Cinder in Belsize Village but will serve a similar menu of dishes inspired by Peru, Japan, Italy, France and Greece. Standouts will include cedar plank salmon with pickled cucumber and shallots; chicken thighs with confit lemon and garlic; and Mastelo cheese with a Kalamata olive glaze and oregano.
5 St John’s Wood High Street, London, NW8 7NG​
www.cinderrestaurant.co.uk​​

Climat​
The team behind Chester restaurant Covino open their wine-focused rooftop restaurant in Manchester at the start of the month. Climat will see executive chef Luke Richardson and head chef Simon Ulph serve a menu of wine-friendly food, with dishes on the launch menu to include raw mackerel, bbq carrots, and aged soy dressing; grilled leeks, butterbeans, hazelnut, and winter leaves; venison braised red cabbage with malted celeriac; brill, fennel choucroute, and chive butter sauce; and salted caramel custard tart. The restaurant, which takes its name for the French word for ‘climate’, in reference to its importance in the wine-making process, will have glass-fronted cellar of around 250 different wines, with a slight lean towards Burgundy.
8th Floor, Blackfriars House St Marys, Climat, Parsonage, Manchester, M3 2JA​
www.restaurantclimat.co.uk​​

Morty & Bobs Kensal Rise​

All-day restaurant, café and bar brand Morty & Bobs will open its third London site this month on 5 December on College Road in Kensal Rise. The 48-cover site is the group’s first opening since 2019 and will serve a menu of comfort food and American-influenced dishes as well as a range of lighter dishes created specifically for the Kensal Rise location. Menu items will include the everything bagel with smoked salmon, chive cream cheese, tomatoes, onions and capers; confit duck hash with mustard, a maple glaze and a fried egg; Bob’s burger and fries; a grain bowl with roasted greens, beet houmous, avocado, cashew and chilli oil; and chicken schnitzel with dill pickles and fired capers, chopped salad and harissa aioli.
118 College Rd, London NW10 5HD​
www.mortyandbobs.com​​

Chet’s​
Following a stint at Rondo La Cave earlier this year, Chet’s, the Thai/American restaurant brand developed in collaboration between Ennismore’s Carte Blanched concept group and LA-based chef Kris Yenbamroong will open at the newly-launched The Hoxton hotel in London’s Shepherd’s Bush on 12 December. Chet, which translates as ‘brother’ in Thai, takes inspiration from retro-style American diner comfort food and ‘the fragrant flavours and textures’ off Thai cuisine. Open from 7am each morning, the all-day menu will include a breakfast bodega sandwich with sai uah sausage, egg and cheese; chicken noodle salad at lunch; and skillet steak served with Thai chimichurri and French fries at dinner. It will also feature Chet’s signature smash burger – a popular dish at the Rondo La Cave pop-up that comes with American cheese, pickle, coriander and Chet’s ‘secret sauce’. As well as the restaurant space, Chet’s will also feature a bar area serving drip coffee and ‘spicy’ shakes by day and ‘rowdy’ cocktails by night.
65-69 Shepherd’s Bush Grn, London W12 8TX​
www.thehoxton.com​​

Stoke​
Paul Whitfield is to lead the kitchen at robata grill restaurant Stoke, which will launch at the Radisson RED Liverpool when the hotel opens later this month. Stoke will be located on the ground floor of the 10-storey Lime Street-based hotel, and is described as a ‘modern, barbecue restaurant specialising in seasonal dishes and small plates’. Whitfield‘s menu will feature an 800g 38-day dry aged and grass-fed ribeye; dover sole with seasonal herbs, salad and lemon; and whole roasted chicken. The menu will also offer vegetarian options such as sticky barbeque maitake mushrooms; and truffle arancini.
7 Lime Street, Liverpool, L1 1RD​
www.radissonhotels.com​​