Restaurant radar: November 2024

Row on Five

Jason Atherton will be looking to replicate the success of Dubai’s Row on 45, which was recently awarded two Michelin stars, when he opens Row on Five on Savile Row on 23 November. In the kitchen will be head chef Spencer Meztger, with the restaurant serving a 15-course menu served in three ‘acts’ to diners as they move through the two-storey space. Exact dishes are yet to be revealed but the tasting menu will be £198.50 and will be available for lunch and dinner.
5 Savile Row, London, W1S 3PB​
https://www.rowon5london.com/​​

Cantaloupe

Chefs Joshua Reed-Cooper, formerly of Where The Light Gets In, and Mike Thomas, ex head chef at Mary-Ellen McTague’s The Creameries and Campagna, open their new restaurant on Great Underbank in Stockport this month. Cantaloupe is described as a neighbourhood restaurant serving a ‘mostly Mediterranean’ menu that celebrates the regional cooking of Europe while the wine list will feature wines from small European producers. The restaurant is due to open on 6 November.
71 Great Underbank, Stockport, SK1 1PE​
https://www.cantaloupedining.com/​​

Vatavaran

Kutir and Manthan chef patron Rohit Ghai is opening his third London restaurant this month. Meaning ‘atmosphere’ in Sanskrit, Vatavaran will be set over four floors, each one designed to symbolise an element of the Himalayan landscape, and will serve a menu that promises the ‘essence’ of the Himalayas.
14-15 Beauchamp Place, London, SW3 1NQ​
https://vatavaran.uk/​​

AngloThai

The wait is finally over. More than three years after husband and wife team John and Desiree Chantarasak announced they would be opening their debut restaurant it is finally being brought to life. Located on Marylebone’s Seymour Place, AngloThai is a partnership with MJMK restaurants and will be a 50-cover restaurant serving Thai-British cuisine. Dishes will make use of seasonal ingredients sourced within the British Isles but will draw inspiration from John’s Thai and British heritage as well as his time working in Thai restaurants including Som Saa in London and Nahm in Bangkok. A full interview with the pair will be published next week.
22-24 Seymour Place, London, W1H 7NL​
https://anglothai.co.uk/​​

The Georgian

Former Holborn Dining Room chef and self-styled pie master Calum Franklin is returning to London to oversee the evening menu at Harrods’ The Georgian restaurant when it relaunches later this month. The Georgian’s new evening menu will ‘celebrate British ingredients and classic cooking’, with an emphasis on Franklin’s signature pies. As well as pies, the wider evening menu will celebrate the 120 years of history and heritage of the restaurant, with recipes inspired from the Harrods archive that have been updated with a ‘contemporary focus’. In the daytime, the 164-cover Art Deco space - which has been lavishly overhauled by David Collins Studio - will offer an afternoon tea menu overseen by executive pastry chef Markus Bohr and the Harrods in-house pâtisserie team.
Fourth Floor, Harrods, 87-135 Brompton Road, London SW1X 7XL​

Hotori Yakitori

Opening in London’s Holborn, Japanese yakitori restaurant Hotori Yakitori describes itself as serving a ‘beak to tail’ menu that makes use of practically every part of chicken. The menu will feature 17 different types of yakitori, all cooked on the restaurant’s custom 1.4 metre hibachi grill, with options that will include engawa (belly); soriresu (chicken oyster); bonjiri (tail meat); kashiwa (thigh); tebamoto (wing); tsukune (chicken meatball); nankotsu (cartilage); sunagimo (gizzard); and hatsu (heart). Meat and fish skewers will also be available alongside a full ‘beak to tail’ menu featuring all 17 chicken yakitori and five vegetable skewers.
1 New Fetter Lane, London, EC4A 1AN​

Silva

First-time restaurateur Daria Grebenyuk has chosen Mayfair’s Bruton Place for her debut all-day venture. Silva will be led in the kitchen by head chef Slawomir Sawicki and will serve a menu that takes inspiration from across the Mediterranean. Expect dishes such as potato waffle topped with beef tartare and winter truffle; salmon with crunchy rice, ponzu and shisho; line-caught robata cooked turbot with a wakame beurre blanc; and chateaubriand with wild mushrooms. The 91-cover dining room will be split across two floors, with the first floor housing an intimate snug bar and private dining room.
26-28 Bruton place, London, W1J 6NG​

Nipotina

Restaurateur Samyukta Nair is continuing her steady takeover of Mayfair’s dining scene with a new Italian concept. Called Nipotina, the restaurant takes its name from the Italian word for ‘granddaughter’ and will be the first in Nair’s portfolio to serve breakfast. Turin-born chef Somaia Hammad will head the kitchen and will serve a menu of homestyle dishes such as salad of rocket, fennel, orange, fava, aged pecorino and Calabrian chillies; wild Scottish langoustines roasted with garlic and parsley; and chopped chicken livers, balsamic nectar and pancetta as well as pastas and grilled meat and fish. The all-Italian wine list is being curated by Luca Dusi of Shoreditch-based Passione Vino so expect some classics and a few surprises. It opens on 4 November.
49 South Audley Street, London, W1K 2QD​
https://lslcapital.com/nipotina-italian-restaurant-mayfair-london/​​

Café Mondo

Following success with South East London pub residencies, Jack Macrae and Viggo Blegvadare turning their Mondo Sando sandwich brand into a permanent fixture with a site on Camberwell’s Peckham Road. The venture is billed as a ‘fast-slingin sandwich joint by day’ and a ‘magic little dive with unserious and always affordable drinks, snacks and plates by night. Lunchtime options at Mondo Sando’s permanent site will include the Mondo Frango; BLT; and a fish finger sandwich while evening small plates will ‘draw on deli classics’ with options including chicken schnitzel; patty melt; aubergine fritti; and deep-fried treacle tart.
42 Peckham Road, London, SE5 8PX​

Bottarga

Pachamama Group will open a Mediterranean restaurant in Chelsea later this month on the former site of its Peruvian restaurant Chicama. Billed as a younger and more casual sibling to its Aegean islands-inspired Notting Hill restaurant Zēphyr, Bottarga is a collaboration between the group’s original opening chef Adam Rawson and its Greek-born executive chef Tzoulio Loulai. The ‘produce-led’ menu will include a riff on Greek salad; whole grilled day-boat fish finished with chilli butter; UK ex-dairy ribeyes on-the-bone grilled over charcoal and served with a bone marrow stifado jus; cep mushroom pastichio topped with shavings of thyme Graviera cheese and black truffle; and the namesake bottarga orzo. Zēphyr will bring the group up to a total of four London restaurants.
383 King’s Road, London SW10 0LP​
https://bottarga.london/​​

Delamina Townhouse

Delamina owners Limor and Amir Chen will launch a third London early this month. The 110-cover Delamina Townhouse is set to open on 28 October on Covent Garden’s Tavistock Street and will join Delamina in Marylebone and Delamina East in Shoreditch. Limor is billed as the creative force behind the restaurants’ menu, drawing ‘eclectic heritage to deliver a menu that combines bold Eastern Mediterranean flavours with a health-conscious approach, and a focus on grilling and roasting complemented by the fragrant herbs and spices of the region’. Set in a Grade-II listed Georgian townhouse, the restaurant will comprise multiple dining areas, including a generous dining bar, two drawing rooms with fireplaces, and several private dining spaces, as well as a small outdoor terrace.

13-15 Tavistock Street, London WC2E 7PS​
www.delaminakitchen.co.uk​​ 

La Bellezza

French-owned Italian restaurant group Big Mamma is venturing outside of London for the first time this month with the launch of its first regional UK site in Birmingham. La Bellezza will open on Chamberlain Square in the site previously occupied by Vinoteca and hold 150 covers. Never known for subtlety, the group’s design will be inspired by ‘a wild, overgrown courtyard in Perugia’ and feature 5,000 vintage bottles on the walls, seven-metre-long tapestry curtains, handmade Murano glass chandeliers and a white and green Italian marble floor. The menu too will be suitably indulgent and include Big Mamma’s signature Il Gran Carbonara that comes served from 8kg pecorino wheel; and its Insta-famous lemon meringue pie that stands six inches tall.
2 Chamberlain Square, Birmingham B3 3AX​
https://www.bigmammagroup.com/en/accueil​​

Santo Remedio Casona & Cantina

London-based Mexican restaurant group Santo Remedio is to open a third site in the capital this month in Marylebone. Launching on 12 November, Santo Remedio Casona & Cantina
will focus on regional Mexican dishes. Founders Edson and Natalie Diaz-Fuentes have taken over site on Thayer Street that was once home to Carlo Scotto’s Xier and most recently housed Peruvian izakaya concept Nakanojo. They say the new restaurant will showcase ‘the best of Mexican flavours, cooking techniques and ingredients’. Alongside that will be a drinks menu of speciality cocktails featuring a range of tequilas and mezcals.
13-14 Thayer Street, London W1U 3JR​
https://www.santoremedio.co.uk/​​

Buster’s

The founders of London’s cult fried chicken brand Other Side Fried are to relaunch their restaurant in London’s Brixton this month under a new burger concept. Buster’s Hamburger Bar will showcase a streamlined menu featuring burgers made with Welsh wagyu beef sourced from Alternative Meats, served alongside a drinks menu featuring pet nat by the glass and locally brewed beers. Burgers will be cooked medium and served in a potato roll that has been developed in-house. Hospitality duo Matt Harris and Tommy Kempton, who also own Clapham restaurant Ploussard, describe the move as a ‘confident progression’ for their business. The pair originally debuted the Buster’s concept to friends and family during the pandemic. Other Side Fried will continue to operate as a delivery-only brand and also appear as a pop up at festivals and private events.
3 Atlantic Road, Brixton, London SW9 8HX​

Bun House Disco

Husband-and-wife team Alex Peffly and Z He are to taking their Cantonese steamed bun brand Bun House to Shoreditch for a new London restaurant that will be inspired by ‘the hedonistic era of 1980’s Hong Kong’. Bun House Disco will take over the Glass House site on Bethnal Green Road where the Peffly and He previously operated a bar and café. The Shoreditch restaurant will feature Bun House’s signature steamed buns alongside a new wonton menu and cocktail selection. The interiors, meanwhile, are described as being reminiscent of downtown Hong Kong’s drinking dens and will feature a maroon-tiled bar stretching the length of the space; an open kitchen; disco balls; and retro striped booths.
118 Bethnal Green Road, London, E2 7EE ​
https://bun.house/​​

Artusi Soho

The team behind Peckham-based restaurant Artusi and Marcella in Deptford is opening a second, more central Artusi later this month. Located at theatre and live events space Underbelly Boulevard Soho in the space that was previously Cafe Kitty in Soho, Artusi Soho will serve seasonal dishes including fresh pasta and Italian wines with a regularly changing menu. The restaurant will sit on the first floor of the venue and be open to everyone, not just ticket holders, and will offer a pre-theatre menu of two courses for £25 and three for £30.
6 Walker’s Court, Soho, London, W1F 0BT​
https://artusi.co.uk/​​

The Bat and Ball

The Bat and Ball pub in Cuddesdon, Oxfordshire, is to relaunch this month having been acquired by newly launched pub group The Montgomery Group. Publican Ben Moss, who also owns The Lamb Inn in nearby Little Milton, has taken on the village pub after it was put up for sale by owners Admiral Taverns last year. Nat Berney, who previously cooked at Raymond Blanc’s Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons and is now head chef at The Lamb Inn, will lead the kitchen at The Bat and Ball. The menu will feature classic pub dishes with ingredients sourced from local suppliers including third-generation butcher The Calnan Brothers, Flying Fish Seafood, and Somerset’s Longman’s Cheese. Open for lunch and dinner, seven days a week, the dining space will accommodate 48 seated covers and additional standing space for 10. The pub will also host five guest rooms including three king suites, one king, and one double.
28 High St, Cuddesdon, Oxford OX44 9HJ​