The inaugural English Sparkling Wine Show will take place in Shoreditch at the end of May. It is organised by Fabio Adler, whose new venture Mousseux Anglais aims to champion Anglo sparklers. Guests at the show, to be held in the Apartment at the Hoxton on Wednesday May 31, will be able to taste wines from Digby, Herbert […]
Former Whatley Manor chef Martin Burge has joined the Farncombe Estate at Broadway in the Cotswolds, where he will preside over five restaurants in three hotels. Bristol-born Burge put Whatley Manor in Wiltshire on the culinary map during a multi-starred 14-year reign which ended with his departure last November. The Harden’s Survey praised his cooking […]
Piccadilly’s long-running Japan Centre is to move into salubrious new premises off Leicester Square in September. Based on the Japanese concept of a “depachika” – the basement food hall in a department store – it will feature a 100-seat dining courtyard, along with specialist rooms offering Japanese teas, sake and miso, the latter available direct from the […]
Former Danesford House head chef Adam Simmonds has opened a 12-month pop-up in Soho to test the market ahead of a permanent opening in the capital. Test Kitchen, near Ronnie Scott’s jazz club in Frith Street, will be just that – a counter where diners are expected to feed back to chefs on the dishes […]
Brighton’s Chilli Pickle has reached its £700,000 crowdfunding target to bankroll an expansion into four “affulent market towns” in southern England. The first new branch is expected to open this summer. Chef Alun Sperring and his wife Dawn opened the original Chilli Pickle, serving authentic regional Indian cuisine, in Brighton’s Lanes in 2007. Having twice outgrown its surroundings […]
 Simon Rogan has announced he will leave Fera, the restaurant he set up at Claridge’s in Mayfair three years ago, at the end of April. The restaurant’s current team will continue operating under head chef Matt Starling, a Rogan protégé. Meanwhile, Rogan is looking for permanent London premises to rehouse a revival of Roganic, the temporary restaurant […]
⦿ Jay Rayner of The Observer reviewed Claude Bosi at Bibendum, welcoming the former Hibiscus head honcho’s arrival at Sir Terence Conran’s light-filled 1987 classic. “What emerges is Bibendum redux, a restaurant with a profound understanding of the simple virtues; of a classical repertoire which is robust enough to take a little refinement.” “The starters list is full […]
Summer has arrived on Oxford Street, with the seventh opening this month of the Roof Deck Restaurant on Selfridges’ roof – this year with a Californian theme. The open-air deck is lined by timber beams and tropical palms – and, with all due respect to London weather, there is a retractable roof to protect diners from rain […]
MEATliquor, the rock’n’roll burger chain, is opening its 12th site inside the revamped Queens ice rink in Queensway on May 5. Queens Skate Bowl is the only ice rink in central London, and also has 12 bowling lanes. MEATliquor is moving in after a nine-month refurb, and includes a diner seating 80 and a large bar area […]
Chef-entrepreneur Atul Kocchar will open his first UK restaurant under the Not Real Indian (NRI) brand in Birmingham this September, serving cuisine developed by Indian cooks living abroad. Born in India and trained with the Oberoi group, Kocchar made him name at Tamarind in London and in 2003 opened his Mayfair flagship Benares. He launched NRI in Mumbai last year, and […]
