Restaurant radar: August 2024
Marceline
Chef Robert Aikens is overseeing the menu of this huge new French-inspired brasserie, which is set to open on 5 August on one of Wood Wharf’s floating pavilions in London’s Canary Wharf. Called Marceline, the restaurant will be inspired by Parisian and New York brasseries. Aikens, who spent 15 years cooking in New York, has created a classical menu of rustic French dishes such as steak tartare with hazelnuts, watercress, mint and artichoke chips; and skate Kiev with pomme purée. Desserts will include Aikens’ signature apple tarte. The restaurant’s interiors, overseen by designers Hurlé & Martín, will include double ceilings, floor-to-ceiling windows, and brass mirrors reminiscent of Parisian brasseries, complemented by modern banquette seating, sculptural light fixtures and soft leathers.
Wood Wharf, 10 Water St, London, E14 5GX
marceline.london
Ambassadors Clubhouse
JKS Restaurants will open its latest London venture this month, celebrating food from Punjab. Ambassadors Clubhouse, named after JKS founders Jyotin, Karam, and Sunaina Sethi's maternal grandfather, who was a former Indian ambassador, and will take inspiration from his summer house in Dalhousie (formerly part of Punjab) and north India’s abandoned party mansions. The menu will focus on the cuisine of undivided Punjab with a menu showcasing rare regional recipes such as karahi saufiyan langoustines; and haryali rara rabbit keema. This will be complemented by a drinks list focused on tequila and mezcal cocktails blended with regional produce. The restaurant will be split across two floors, featuring a 40-cover outdoor heated verandah and three private dining spaces: The Raja Rani Room, seating up to 14 guests; The Jungli Room, seating up to six guests; and The Tamasha Room, seating up to 10 guests.
25 Heddon Street, London W1B 4BQ
ambassadorsclubhouse.com
Lussmanns Highgate
Sustainable seafood restaurant Lussmanns is returning to the expansion trail next month with a new opening in Highgate that will also mark the brand’s return to the London after two decades. The group has acquired the former Côte Brasserie on Highgate High Street for what will be its first opening since 2021. The restaurant will hold 130 covers inside and a further 30 in a walled exterior garden, and will serve a wide selection of sustainable seafood including Marine Stewardship Council-certified fishcake with spinach, capers and a butter sauce; and South Coast crab linguine.
2 Highgate High St, London N6 5JL
lussmanns.com/restaurants/highgate
Starling
Following his recent departure from Tom Kerridge’s restaurant group, Nick Beardshaw will open his debut restaurant in his hometown of Esher, Surrey, at the end of the month. Called Starling, the 40-seater restaurant will be located on Esher's high street and will serve a concise menu of seasonal British cooking, with no more than five dishes to choose from at each course. Its opening menu will celebrate Beardshaw’s success on Great British Menu and include his winning fish starter A Moon Shaped Pool, and his Balloon Girl dessert. The wine list has been put together by James Shaw who joins Starling as general manager from Restaurant Gordon Ramsay where he was assistant head sommelier. The list will comprise 10 reds and 10 whites, half of which will be available by the glass, including sparkling wine from Sussex.
Mary's
It’s all change at Jason Atherton’s Pollen Street Social. Following the closure of the Michelin-starred Mayfair restaurant last month, the site will relaunch as a grill-focused bar and restaurant called Mary’s on 16 August; initially operating as a pop up before a more permanent change in the new year. The site will house a version of Atherton’s The Blind Pig bar at the front of the restaurant, with Pollen Street Social’s chef’s counter being transformed into a burger bar and the remainder of the space becoming Mary’s, named after a customer called Mary who Atherton says was a regular at Pollen Street Social before the pandemic. The kitchen will be led by Alex Parker, executive chef at Social Eating House. The 10-seat counter, called Burgers Only, will serve just one smashed burger for £14. It won’t take bookings, but diners will be able to wait in the Blind Pig bar for a seat to become available. The restaurant will run in this way until 31 December when it will close for four months for a full refit. The downstairs area of the restaurant will then become a smashed burger bar and speakeasy concept called Meat and Two Veg, which will serve a plant-based burger alongside the smashed burger.
8-10 Pollen St, London W1S 1NQ
Lolo
José Pizarro is to open a new restaurant later this month close to his eponymous London tapas bar José on Bermondsey Street. Called Lolo, a reference to the Spanish chef's middle name, Manuel, the new restaurant will serve a menu of dishes developed by Pizarro to reflect his love of both the UK and Spain. The all-day breakfast section of the menu will feature a range of sandwiches including a ‘bikini’ sandwich with cheese, jamón 5J and truffle; a range of pastries; and eggs cooked ‘as-you-like’. The lunch and dinner menu will offer fresh salads of octopus, roast tomato, and blackeye bean; snacks such as crisps with mussels in escabeche and black salt; and an extensive range of tinned fish. Alongside a succinct wine list and cocktail list, the drinks offering will include a range of Bloody Marys such as one with pickled anchovies, and another with Andalusian gordal olives. The restaurant will take on a new look for the José Pizarro brand, with a Mediterranean feel that transforms from a light and airy cafe in the day to a low-lit, intimate wine bar at night.
102 Bermondsey Street, London SE1 3UB
josepizarro.com/venues/lolo
Kricket Canary Wharf
Rik Campbell and Will Bowlby will launch a fourth restaurant under their modern-Indian brand Kricket this month in London’s Canary Wharf’s North Dock, alongside a second iteration of their SOMA bar concept. Running a month-long soft launch before officially opening in September, the restaurant ‘s menu will be split into five sections covering both small and large plates and feature a number of Kricket classics alongside new dishes including day-boat squid stuffed with a squid and Goan sausage biryani; and baida roti, a handkerchief thin bread wrapped around rabbit keema and fried in ghee. A special menu will run on Sundays will see a celebrating the Mughal dish of Murg mussallam; a whole stuffed chicken cooked over charcoal and served with chicken mince seekh kebabs, chicken and barberry pulao, roomali rotis and a black garlic and chilli raita. Head of beverage Will Rogers will lead the drinks programme at both Kricket and SOMA, featuring seasonal cocktails, a concise wine selection, and collaboration beers.
Frobisher Passage, Canary Wharf, London, E14 4EE
https://kricket.co.uk/
Eat Momo
Sisters Trishna and Dipa Chamling will launch their first restaurant site this month, which is described as ‘a tribute to their childhood in Nepal and their passion for bringing the tradition and rituals of Momo-making to London’. Billed as a canteen and ‘momo factory’, Eat Momo will be part of the Borough Yards development and will feature a grab-and-go hatch. The eponymous steamed dumplings will be prepared in an open kitchen drawing inspiration from regional recipes found across Nepal. Chicken, pork and beef momo will be flavoured with coriander and spices, while vegetable Momo will be flavoured with ginger. All will be served with tomato chutney and spicy chilli pickle. A playlist of traditional Nepalese folk songs, curated by their father, Drip Chamling, will accompany the dining experience. The restaurant’s interior is a collaboration between architect Roberta Colombo and the Chamling sisters. Design features will include polished concrete floors, Formica tables, simple wooden stools and small riverside terrace.
1 Bank End, London SE1 9BU
eatmomo.uk
The Schelly/Workshop at the Old Stamp House
Following the closure of Kysty, his casual neighbourhood restaurant located in Cheapside, Ambleside, Ryan Blackburn is set to open two new ventures in the Cumbrian town later this month, both located next to his Michelin-starred flagship restaurant, the Old Stamp House. The first will be a small plates casual dining restaurant called The Schelly. Named after a rare freshwater fish, found exclusively in Brothers Water, Haweswater, Red Tarn and Ullswater, it will be located directly above Old Stamp House, and will seat up to 24 walk-in guests, with the option of being able to host an additional six guests at a bookable table located close to the pass. The Schelly will serve 'a relaxed menu' using the very best locally sourced produce and wines from a range of small-scale growers. The second project will be a private dining space and development kitchen called the Workshop at the Old Stamp House. Located in the Old Stamp House courtyard, the space will be housed in a former tailor’s workshop and will seat up to eight guests at a bespoke dining table with guests able to fully interact with the chefs who will cook and serve them.
Church St, Ambleside LA22 0BU
Cornus
15 years after their first launch in the capital, the team behind Medlar in Chelsea, David O’Connor and Joe Mercer-Nairne, will open a second venture on 6 August in Belgravia. Called Cornus, the rooftop restaurant will open at the Ice Factory at Eccleston Yards and takes its name from the botanical appellation for the native dogwood shrub. O’Connor and Mercer-Nairne have brought in Gary Foulkes, former head chef at the Michelin-starred Angler, to lead the kitchen, offering a regularly changing menu of larger, sharing style dishes, designed for group dining, with an emphasis on British and European seasonal produce. Melania Battiston (former head sommelier at Medlar) will lead the wine offering, taking guests through a selection of bottles chosen for their individual stories and the impression that they have left on the team. The 70-cover restaurant will feature an interior scheme that takes inspiration from the orange and red autumn stems, and white summer flowers, of the restaurant’s namesake.
27c Eccleston Place, SW1W 9NF
Alley Cats Pizza Chelsea
New York-style pizza restaurant Alley Cats is set to open its second London site this month on the King’s Road in Chelsea. Looking to build on the success of the group’s first site, which opened in Marylebone in December 2023, Alley Cats Chelsea will celebrate New York’s pizza scene using ingredients from southern Italy. Head Chef Francesco Macri has developed a range of 14-inch, thin and crispy style pizzas that combine recipes passed down from his grandmother and techniques honed throughout his career working in restaurants in both Rome and London. Menu highlights will include starters of meatballs of beef and pork in slow cooked tomato sauce with ages parmesan and basil; and candied bacon, and pizza options such as vodka sauce with aged mozzarella and buffalo mozzarella; smoked pepperoni, jalapeno and honey; and the white based wild mushroom, with taleggio cheese, aged mozzarella, red onion jam and fried sage.
342 King’s Road, Chelsea, SW3 5UR
alleycatspizza.co.uk
Oriole
The team behind acclaimed cocktail bars Nightjar and Bar Swift are to open a second iteration of their speakeasy concept Oriole at The Yards in London’s Covent Garden. Due to launch on 28 August, the new Oriole will draw on the success of the team’s research and development pop-up, Prelude by Oriole, and operate as both a bar and restaurant. The two-story venue will feature a ground floor bar, and a plush restaurant space in the basement that’s reminiscent of the original Oriole in Smithfield Market that closed in 2022. The menu will draw on chef director Gustavo Giallionardo’s Argentinian heritage, taking inspiration from Nikkei (Peruvian-Japanese), Argentine-Italian and regional Mexican traditions. Drinks will play on distinctive imbibing traditions from around the world. As with the original Oriole, dinners will be soundtracked by live jazz, cabaret and world music, with diners able to book the show in advance alongside a set three-course menu.
7-9 Slingsby Pl, London WC2E 9AB
oriolebar.com
