Keeping track of London’s new restaurant openings is enough to give any normal person a headache. But we’re not normal. And nor are you. You love finding the latest spot that you simply have to tell your friends about before anyone else does. So do we. That’s why we’ve put together this guide to all the new openings that have caught our eye. Just remember, this isn’t an endorsement, as we haven’t been to all of these places. It’s for you to go and find out what’s what for yourself, so fare forward voyagers.
Also check out our guide to the best new restaurants we've visited, The Hit List.
March 2023
photo credit: Justin DeSouza
The Parakeet
North London’s latest gastropub has arrived. The Parakeet’s dining room looks reassuringly warm and woody and, with a former Brat chef in the kitchen, the menu suitably inviting. Spider crab croquette and wood-roasted rabbit with kohlrabi and curry leaf jump out, and the celeriac wellington on the Sunday roast menu is something we’d like to try.
CheeMc, a popular Korean restaurant in Elephant and Castle, is opening in Soho. The new spot is on Great Windmill Street and like its first iteration will have lots of fried chicken and beer.
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A bakery, pastificio, and deli—Forno is covering all the important food groups with its new Hackney spot. Come to stuff yourself silly with stuffed pasta and sip strong Italian coffee by Regent’s Canal. Open 8am-5pm, Forno will take you from pastry to pizza, with stuffed focaccia sandwiches and daily changing soups in between.
photo credit: Johnny Stephens
Kibako
This new Japanese restaurant in Fitzrovia will have kibako, omakase-style boxes filled with sashimi and sushi, at the heart of its menu, as well as set menus with seared butterfish and à la carte options like hand-dived scallops. The dishes at Kibako will be served in an intimate dining room complete with sushi bar.
Esti has done what our travel agent couldn’t—combine a trip to Greece and Australia. The new restaurant will be coming to the Orangery at TT Liquor in Shoreditch for a six-month residency. It’ll serve a menu of Greek-inspired dishes with Australian hospitality and seasonings sprinkled in. Think twice-cooked lamb ribs, served sharing-style, and octopus in a spicy tomato sauce.
Rambutan
Rambutan will champion Sri Lankan cooking—with dishes like burnt cabbage varai and fried mutton rolls—in its dining room with furniture from independent designers and tiles by a Tamil ceramist. Expect an open kitchen at this Borough Market spot .
The Treats Club
We’ve had a bit of an on again, off again thing going on with this doughnut specialist. Partly because our dentist told us off, but mostly because The Treats Club has been popping up for months at a time in spaces like Netil Market, Seven Dials, and other food markets. So to say we’re buzzing for their first permanent dessert spot in Hackney is an understatement. Expect their signature doughnut sundaes, a doughnut X croissant collab, and that famous marshmallow fluff sold by the tub.
Forced to close in July 2022 due to a fire, The Ninth is finally reopening its doors. The Charlotte Street restaurant has a menu of French and Mediterranean-style sharing plates like osso buco croquettes, pork cheek tortellini, and pain perdu.
Angry Crab Shack
Angry Crab Shack is a seafood restaurant in Piccadilly Circus serving everything from clam chowder to a £125 seafood boil for two. Come for lobster tails, po boy sandwiches, and whole—hopefully not angry—snow crabs. And you should know that they sell melted butter by the pint.
This new all-day Indonesian spot in St James’s is serving all the classics—think chicken satay, gulai kambing, and their own twist on the nasi goreng—in the kind of laid-back dining room you could get cosy in.
From pop-ups in pubs to a permanent space in London Fields, the Hot 4 U chefs are living an east London dream. Their first restaurant, Papi, is likely to get fans of comedy Instagram @real_housewives_of_clapton going. There are small plates, of course. Oysters dressed with iced rhubarb, veal brain cacio e pepe. It’s the familiar meets funky equation thrown into a paired-back industrial room, and there’s a 14-seater cocktail bar downstairs.
Archway
££££
Arch 65, LondonNamed after its setting beneath a railway, not the area it’s in, Archway is a new Italian-ish pasta spot in Battersea. There’s an understated feeling to its Instagram aesthetic and the menu reads similarly—a crème fraîche, crab, and winter tomato flatbread, pappardelle with chicken livers, polenta doughnuts with honey mascarpone and rhubarb. The room looks suitably candlelit and dried flower-filled.
Soho’s latest addition comes in the form of Nessa, a British bistro on Brewer Street. It’s going to be below a new members’ club, so the feel is like if Heal’s decked out a gastropub. The menu is full of familiar-sounding things, like smoked haddock salad or wild mushroom ravioli, as well as a couple of enticing-looking outliers. Black pudding brioche and celeriac carbonara, we’re looking at you.
A Danish steakhouse has opened its first international location around the corner from Liverpool Street. KöD is defined by its self-described simplicity: perfectly cooked steaks—from fillet, to rib-eye, to wagyu—and sides like chilli garlic fries, caesar salad, and corn ribs.
FEBRUARY 2023
Your trip across the Iberian Peninsula might’ve inspired you to dump your partner and get a tattoo, but two Michelin-starred Henrique Sá Pessoa decided to open a restaurant instead. It’s on the 15th floor of Battersea Power Station, so expect amazing views with your octopus salad.
Lightroom is a new art centre in King’s Cross with exhibition spaces and a bar that’s been launched in collaboration with St. John. It’ll serve the iconic St. John doughnuts as well as madeleines and freshly baked snacks.
photo credit: F&B + Lifestyle
Kapara
This hedonistic Soho spot will serve Israeli-inspired dishes in a space which takes its cue from Tel Aviv’s rooftop bars. Downstairs there’s a luxurious basement and on the main floor there’s a stage for performances.
photo credit: Sim Canetty-Clarke
Zapote
Zapote is bringing traditional tortilla-making methods, heritage corn, and an open charcoal grill to its Mexican restaurant and bar in Shoreditch. The menu includes beef tartare tacos and wild mushroom quesadillas, while the bar serves snacks like pork skin with pico de gallo.
TBC (The Butter Club) is the first London restaurant from so-hot-right-now Dutch chefs Gabriël Verheij and Alexandre Scour. Head to their Notting Hill spot for milk bread lobster rolls, BBQ langoustine, and fried oyster mushroom bao. There are square croissants for dessert, filled with pecan praline and pickled blueberries.
Hawthorn
A European fine dining restaurant in Kew, Hawthorn has three-course set menus starting from £45 for a weekday lunch, to £65 in the evenings. You’ll find things like oxtail raviolo, roast veal rump, and rhubarb crumble soufflé.
Socca is a French-Mediterranean restaurant that wants to bring the flavours and feel of the Riviera to, erm, Mayfair. The bistro will serve slow-cooked lamb shoulder, grilled andouillette, and more French classics.
photo credit: Rebecca Dickson
La Gamba
This new Spanish-inspired tapas restaurant—from the team behind Applebee’s Fish—has opened on the Southbank riverside, with plenty of gambas on the menu. Expect jamon croquetas, patatas bravas, and views of the Thames.
photo credit: Sam Harris
The Counter
Chocolate babaganoush, pickle tzatziki, and chimichurri-topped lamb chops are all on the menu at this ‘contemporary ocakbasi’ on Golborne Road in Notting Hill. The Counter has got a whole exposed brick, open-fire thing going on and is the work of a Turkish chef opening for the first time in London.
A low-waste, plant-based spot in Hackney, EDIT has a “root-to-fruit” menu that includes borscht, lentil haggis, and hibiscus poached pear bread and butter pudding. Its full dinner menu is available Wednesday to Sunday, but you can check it out for lunch earlier in the week.
The Snapery East
What was once The Bread Station is now The Snapery East in London Fields. The bakery, cafe, and deli first opened in Bermondsey in 2014 and supplies spots all across London (from Llewelyn’s to Italo) with their brilliant bread, so it’s only natural they found an outpost in east London.
JANUARY 2023
A second location of the excellent Vietnamese lunch spot has opened in Farringdon. Expect phở, bún bowls, things on rice, and brilliant bánh mìs.
photo credit: Ronan Mangan
Donutelier by Roladin
Much-celebrated Tel Aviv bakery Roladin has opened its first London outpost in Charing Cross. Donutelier has everything from Nutella rugelach to a chocolate ganache and pretzel-topped doughnut.
photo credit: Karolina Wiercigroch
Darjeeling Express
We used to love Darjeeling Express’ original Soho spot, we were very into the creamy prawn curry at their Covent Garden location before it closed, and we expect to like the latest Kingly Court restaurant. At lunchtime, choose dishes from an à la carte menu, with things like a keema toastie and methi chicken. In the evening, there’s a £65 set menu with beef tamatar gosht and kala channa.
With bakeries and cafes across east London, Pavilion has opened its latest spot in Mentmore Studios in Walthamstow. It’s a canteen-like situation on weekdays where you can expect things like bagels (from Papo’s Bagels), warm sandwiches, and soups.
Before the original Kapihan closed, this Filipino bakery was somewhere we used to go for palawan honey lattes and cassava cakes. Now they’ve opened a new bakery, also in Battersea, where you can find their exciting pastries and specialty coffee worth travelling for.
Baggio Burger
This new Italian burger spot in Walthamstow—yes you heard that right, Italian burger—is serving interesting-sounding things like a beef burger with mozzarella, gorgonzola, and parmesan sauce, and bolognese fries. Plus, the beef is halal.
Mister Nice
Mister Nice is an art gallery turned white tablecloth French restaurant in Mayfair, and you can expect things like omelette baveuse, scallops carpaccio, and rigatoni à la vodka on the seasonal menu. Plus, they’ve promised live entertainment in the form of musicians and visual artists.
Siri, play The White Lotus theme music immediately because the Big Mamma group, of Ave Mario and Circolo Popolare fame, are opening another restaurant. Never low-key and always channelling Jennifer Coolidge, the latest place will be on High Street Kensington and draws inspiration from Venetian villas and anything with an excess of chandeliers, tiling, and foliage. There will be a courtyard for drinks and, of course, there will be food involved at some point too. Pastas, parmigiano, and silly puddings galore.
Mayfair’s latest addition is a restaurant led by a former chef at Endo at the Rotunda. Humo is a ‘wood-fired concept’ which may conjure Heinz-heavy meals of camping trips past, but is actually more like turbot with fish bone sauce or Highland ‘wagyu’ beef. The menu is divided into four sections, ‘Ignite’, ‘Smoke’, ‘Flame’, and ‘Embers’—thankfully Usher is nowhere near the kitchen—and the restaurant itself is a swish setup with counter seating and cushy looking booths.
Another new Notting Hill spot is opening in the shape of Vori, a neighbourhood restaurant that’s a celebration of all things Greek. There’s souvlaki, kalamari alongside Santorini fava pureé, and an entirely Greek wine list.
An 11-seater omakase restaurant in Marylebone, Mayha started in Beirut and has made its way to London’s Chiltern Street. There are two sittings each day, one at 6.30pm and one at 9pm—with an option for a vegetarian menu. Just know that you’ll have to pay the £220 per head when reserving.
The latest addition to Notting Hill’s always growing restaurant scene is this modern Palestinian spot on Uxbridge Street. The menu is filled with dishes like sea bass cured in Palestinian arak, freekeh risotto, and a sumac-heavy chicken mousakhan. And the interiors look like everything we saved on Pinterest when we had dreams of redecorating our shoddy flat.
NIU Taiwanese Beef Noodles
We’ve been walking past the closed doors of this tiny noodle spot in Covent Garden for months, eagerly waiting for it to open. Because anywhere where Taiwanese noodles are, you’ll find us not far behind. Finally opened and serving a very concise menu of beef noodles and fried chicken, we have a feeling this will be a popular spot.
One look at Sichuan Fry’s fried chicken sandos, and we’re already contemplating walking—no, running—to Westgate Street in Hackney. From the people behind Dumpling Shack, you’ll find dan dan noodles, shengjianbao, and wontons on the menu, as well as huge Sichuan peppercorn fried chicken sandwiches. It’s evening-only during the week, but you can get in on that daytime smacked cucumber marinade action from Friday to Saturday.
New things are good and all, but the return of an old friend is sometimes even better. Roti Joupa, the brilliant Trinidadian takeaway spot has, as reported by Eater, opened again in Clapham—this time on Grant Road by Clapham Junction. As per all their locations, there will be hot channa and curry goat to scoop and scoff with roti or paratha, as well as their irresistible hot doubles.
DECEMBER 2022
photo credit: Seyi Odeyemi
Jam Delish
Following their success as a ghost kitchen and market stall vendor, Jam Delish, a vegan Caribbean-inspired spot, has opened a permanent restaurant in Islington. Expect things like BBQ jerk plantain, “fish” tacos, and grilled lemon pepper tofu sticks.
Tozi Grand Cafe
Italian restaurant Tozi, which has an original location in Victoria, has opened a new spot in Battersea. The all-day menu includes everything from a lobster benedict and braised wild boar pappardelle, to an Italian take on afternoon tea.
A little, next door sibling to Llewelyn’s, Lulu’s is a deli and wine bar Herne Hill will be very happy to have. The daytime is for freshly made salads, pastries, and mortadella sandwiches, while in the evening the candles are lit and clams, gnocchi, and beef tartare on toast sidle out of the kitchen.
The inimitable fine dining restaurant with West African influences has moved to 180 Strand. It’s allowed for a larger dining room, an outdoor terrace space, and an open kitchen for a more interactive dining experience.
After a successful pop-up at The Hoxton in Holborn, Chet’s is opening a permanent spot at The Hoxton in Shepherd’s Bush. The Thai-American restaurant will continue its mash-up of flavours, and if their previous residency and a chilli-infused smashburger is anything to go by, it bodes well.
Bar Kroketa
Borough Market chorizo sandwich legend and London mainstay Brindisa has opened a brilliant-sounding croquetas spin-off on Beak Street in Soho. Fried delights on the menu include prawn and leek with prawn head alioli, and an enticing sweet chocolate and salted caramel creation.
Stack & Still
This new pancake spot in Chinatown claims to have 12 million different pancake combinations on its menu. While we’re huge pancake fans (cc: the pancake guide), that feels a little dramatic. Don’t be overwhelmed by that number because their menu is split into very manageable sweet and savoury sections, with options like a piri piri chicken stack which includes halal chicken tenders, as well as a peanut butter cup situation that we’d very much like to get involved in. You can also make your own combination if none of their suggestions speak to you.
Introducing Al Dente, a new handmade pasta restaurant in South Kensington that’s already a popular choice for anyone working or studying around their original Goodge Street location. The menu features reasonably priced fresh pastas, including a tonnarelli cacio e pepe number for £10, and ravioli filled with spinach, mushrooms, and ricotta cheese in a truffle and parmesan cheese sauce. Their latest SW7 spot has more seating and a concise wine list that you can order from by the glass.
Bouchon Racine
Celeriac rémoulade, rabbit with mustard sauce, and crème caramel all feature on the menu of Bouchon Racine—a new restaurant in Farringdon with a distinctly Lyonnaise flavour about it. The dining room is above a pub and has its own romantic balcony area, but if you’re looking for a hearty bowl of Toulouse sausages and lentils, The Three Compasses downstairs can also provide that.
Studio Frantzén
Despite sounding like a clothing brand trying to sell you a £200 pair of black socks, Studio Frantzén is actually a new hyped restaurant in Harrods. The reason for the hype is Björn Frantzén. We don’t know either. But, word is that his Stockholm restaurant is one of the World’s 50 Best, on a list sponsored by Pringles or something. Anyway, the restaurant’s massive, has a roof terrace, and mixes Swedish and Asian flavours.
photo credit: Alberto Blasetti
Berberè Pizzeria
The original London location of this sourdough pizzeria is in Clapham (there are also Berberè locations across Italy), but the second spot is very much north of the river over in Kentish Town. Expect classic pie combinations as well Berberè creations, like the vegan Orange Crush—a creamed butternut squash base with black olives, leeks, chilli, and… peanut butter.
NOVEMBER 2022
Club Mexicana, the Mexican Californian-inspired vegan spot, has opened a Spitalfields location, joining its outposts in Kingly Court and Seven Dials. The street food-style menu remains with dishes like birria tacos and beer-battered tofish tacos.
Maria G's Fulham
Maria G’s opened its first spot in July, serving a changing menu of Italian-inspired dishes. The menu at the new Fulham riverside location leans more seafood-heavy, with things like baked crab rice and squid ink linguini.
Bacchanalia
If Naomi Campbell isn’t at the opening party, we don’t want to know. Totally kidding, but seriously, Naomi Campbell was at the opening party of this OTT spot in Mayfair. The menu has everything from grilled Greek sausage to tagliolini truffle, and the walls are covered in marble-like unicorns and Roman-inspired statues. P.S. the cheapest thing on the menu is the bread basket which is £7.50.
Hicce Hart
This new pub in King’s Cross, from the same people behind Hicce, is serving dishes like cheese gougères, smoked mackerel rillette, and pig’s head terrine. They’re also part of the pub’s £12 lunch deal which includes a drink.
The Proof
Do you live in Dalston? Do you like cupcakes? Have you ever watched the profiterole challenge on Bake Off and thought choux pastry was your calling? If you answered yes to any of the above, then we would like to introduce you to The Proof. A bakery, coffee shop, and—ding ding ding—dessert bar, you can swing by for cake by the slice, coffee, or savoury options like sausage rolls. Plus, there’s a build-your-own profiterole bar where you can get crafty with a variety of sauces, fillings, and toppings. Hello sugar rush.
Officina 00 Fitzrovia
Some very wise people with excellent taste and truly fantastic hair once said that Officina 00 in Shoreditch "feels like it was dropped from the sky, fully-formed, and full of regulars, by some kind of higher intelligence, one that has a great deal of respect for linguine." It was us, obviously. Now Officina 00 has brought its creative handmade pastas and cold brew espresso martinis to Fitzrovia. You can expect the same laid-back industrial setting, alongside the must-order supersized ravioli bergese.
Miznon Notting Hill
This Israeli mini-chain started in Tel Aviv and has gone via Paris, New York, Melbourne, and Soho’s Broadwick Street, and has now landed in Notting Hill. Open seven days a week, the new Miznon location will still be repping fluffy pitas, including some fish and chip and cottage pie numbers. There’s also the new addition of a wine list curated by natural wine supplier, Oranj.
Deep Cuts
Mare Street has got itself a brand new aperitivo bar serving small plates like gambas al ajillo, chorizo au vin, and yakitori. The food will be cooked on a Kunro grill imported from Japan, and you can also expect plenty of wine, vermouth, and given the name, plenty of b-side music references over dinner.
A new affordable handmade pasta restaurant is opening in Piccadilly, with help from one of the chefs behind Bancone and Noci. Notto will serve pastas that start at £8, including classics like pappardelle ragu and squid ink spaghetti, as well snacks, starters, and a £7 negroni.
photo credit: Emily Schindler
Saltie Girl
Saltie Girl is a seafood restaurant, “that feels like a seaside cocktail party, with a menu that is a lot more interesting than your standard fried clams and boiled scrod spot”. At least, that’s how we describe the original spot in Boston. Now the glitzy lobster roll maker has opened in Mayfair and it looks like the kind of restaurant Ariel would hang out in once she became an under-the-sea influencer.
The owners of Escocesa—a charming tapas spot on Stoke Newington High Street—have opened another restaurant in Soho, in the shape of Maresco. The food will continue to focus on Scottish seafood with a Spanish flavour, split between a lively counter on the ground floor and a more sit-down dining room in the basement.
Lusin
An Armenian restaurant with branches in the UAE, Lusin serves cherry kebab, stuffed lamb, and plenty more traditional dishes. The first UK outpost is in Mayfair, meaning you can also expect an impressive dining room.
Straker's
TikTok-famous for his recipe videos and love for flavoured butter, Thomas Straker is opening a restaurant in Notting Hill. The menu is filled with delicious-sounding things like a scallop flatbread, girolles tagliolini, fresh doughnuts, and probably lots and lots of butter.
Our favourite cafes are the ones that serve wine and small plates come 6pm. Which is exactly what this new neighbourhood spot in Tottenham is promising. Coronation chicken sandwiches for lunch, and a cheeky pinot noir and some nibbles for dinner.
