Chef Gordon Ker is opening an offshoot of his hip Soho chophouse Blacklock in the City of London next month.

Blacklock wins praise in the latest Harden’s Survey for “the best chops in London”. The new, bigger venue will have an extended version of the same menu, featuring char-grilled meat from Cornish farmer-butcher Philip Warren, served on flatbread, with a range of cocktails at £5 each.

The only complaint from Harden’s respondents was that the no-reservations policy is “a hassle”. Perhaps Ker’s team was listening – perhaps the backlash against queuing for your supper has started. Either way, the new Blacklock will take reservations for lunch and dinner from the day it opens, on March 20.

The new branch is in a former electricity substation in the basement of a Grade II-listed building on the site of a medieval meat market off Eastcheap – which makes it a step up on the Soho original, which is housed in a former brothel.

Ker and other members of his team used to work for the Hawksmoor group.