Diners can help alleviate homelessness by donating £1 per table at more than 540 restaurants, pubs and hotels around the UK between now and the end of the year in the charity StreetSmart’s annual fundraising drive. Chef and StreetSmart ambassador Monica Galetti (pictured), of restaurant Mere in Fitzrovia, is among the volunteers who provide daily […]
Peter Sanchez-Iglesias is relaunching his flagship restaurant Casamia – this time as an Italian restaurant called simply Casa. The new venture opens on 16 November, next-door to his Spanish tapas bar Paco Tapas in the harbourside former Bristol General Hospital building. The new Casa is to some extent a reimagining of the original Casamia, a family […]
Our weekly summary of what the national and local restaurant critics were writing about in the two weeks ending 30 October 2022 – sorry for the enforced break, the editors were busy putting the finishing touches to our UK guide. We hope you enjoy this double issue! ***** The Sunday Times Marina O’Loughlin surprised and […]
A permanent pop-up ‘incubator space’ has opened in London’s Chinatown to promote new east and southeast Asian restaurants. The first to occupy the site, at 15a Little Newport Street, is independent Taiwanese concept Dragon Cat Café, which specialises in bubble tea and snacks. At the new space, it will focus on freshly made fluffy Taiwanese […]
Highly rated Nottingham Indian restaurant Masala Junction is to reopen on Monday, 31 October, less than three weeks after closing down – apparently for good. The surprise reprieve came about when the owner of another prominent Indian restaurant in the city, Amita Sawhney of MemSaab, came forward with a rescue offer. Naj Aziz, who founded the […]
Star chef Phil Howard will launch a specialist pasta bar in the heart of the West End next week. Notto opens on Thursday 3 November at 199 Piccadilly, a few doors along from the Royal Academy. It is the first pitch at the mid-market for a chef associated with the heights of fine dining, having […]
Chef/entrepreneur Gary Usher of Cheshire-based Elite Bistros is launching another crowdfunding campaign next week – after admitting defeat in his most ambitious fundraiser yet, an attempt to sell shares in the company to help bankroll a suite of projects. Gary will return to familiar – and highly successful – ground in next week’s new launch, aimed at raising […]
Chef Henry Harris is reviving his much-missed French restaurant Racine, seven years after it closed in Knightsbridge. The new Bouchon Racine opens in November upstairs at the Three Compasses pub in Cowcross Street, Farringdon. Henry has joined forces with former Goodman and Rockfish director Dave Strauss in the new project, which will consist of a […]
Spurred on by Tottenham’s dearth of good local restaurants, former Quality Chop House staffer Genevieve Sparrow (left in picture), who has lived in the North London area for several years, is opening a new neighbourhood spot on West Green Road next week. Pasero, which started out as a supper club, will launch on Thursday (27 […]
An upmarket Armenian restaurant is set to launch in Mayfair later this month. Lusin, meaning ‘moon’, opens its doors in Hay Hill on 31 October and will accommodate up to 100 diners on two floors. The restaurant originated in Riyadh in 2011, and now has three further branches in Saudi Arabia; this will be its […]