Friday Five: the week's top news
- London-based fresh pasta restaurant Bancone will open its third site next month in the Borough Yards development. The launch, which is billed as Bancone’s ‘biggest opening yet’, will be the first since the group successfully raised more than £900,000 through an equity-based crowdfund late last year to help fuel its expansion plans. While details on the new Borough Yards restaurant remain thin, it has been confirmed the site will feature an open kitchen with counter-top dining, as well as a mezzanine space upstairs for private dining. Bancone executive chef Ben Waugh will oversee the menu, which will include signature dishes such as silk handkerchiefs with walnut butter and confit egg yolk; mafalde with spicy pork and nduja ragù; and cacio e pepe.
- High-profile Japanese sushi chef Shinji Kanesaka has opened a 13-seater omakase restaurant within Mayfair’s 45 Park Lane. Sushi Kanesaka officially launches on 1 July but is already in its soft launch phase. It marks the first restaurant outside the Asia Pacific for Kanesaka, who is best known for his Tokyo flagship - also called Sushi Kanesaka - which has held two Michelin stars since 2018. Housed behind a discreet doorway Sushi Kanesaka brings ‘the mastery of Edomae sushi in its most traditional, purest form’ to London ‘setting a new benchmark for omakase dining in the city’. Sushi Kanesaka is the latest in a flurry of low-cover/high-price omakase restaurants to setup shop in the capital and will carry the highest price tag, with set menus starting at £400 (paired sake costs £150 - £220).
- High-end Mayfair restaurant Amethyst has closed its doors little more than a year after launching following the departure of chef patron Carlo Scotto. In a statement it was confirmed that Scotto had left the Sackville Street restaurant due to differences with his business partners and would be taking a short break to consider his next role. Commenting on his departure, Scotto said: “The last 12 months has been an exciting, yet challenging journey and I’d like to thank my customers for their support. I am going to take short break whilst I consider my options to ensure my next role that allows me to continue to showcase my passion for fine dining and commitment to delivering some of the best food in the UK. Stay tuned, I am excited for the next chapter.”
- Scottish chef Nick Nairn will reopen his Bridge of Allan restaurant next month following a devastating fire in 2021. Nairn and his wife Julia have completely renovated the space that was once home to Nick’s on Henderson Street and plan to relaunch it as Nairn’s on 14 July. Working with Edinburgh-based interior designer Pat Renson, the couple have created a welcoming restaurant complete with an outdoor terrace on the bustling high street. The menus feature an ‘abundance of stunning local produce’ including herbs and vegetables grown in the polytunnels by Nick and Julia; a selection of Scottish seafood, and ‘carefully sourced’ game and grass-fed meats.
- Tao Group Hospitality will bring its Italian restaurant brand LAVO Ristorante to London next year. The international hospitality group behind brands including Hakkasan and Yauatcha has partnered with the owners of The BoTree hotel, which is slated to open just off Oxford Street on Marylebone Lane this summer. LAVO Ristorante serves coastal Italian cuisine and currently has a single restaurant in Los Angeles. The upscale Italian menu will feature the likes of Tagliatelle al Limone created with marjoram, sweet butter and kaluga caviar; meatballs made with wagyu topped with whipped ricotta; and salt-baked sea bass. It will be the first non-Asian restaurant Tao Group Hospitality has launched in the UK.
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