Jamie Oliver is closing his last Union Jacks restaurant, in Covent Garden plaza, bringing an end to the his flatbreads-and-British-comfort-food hybrid after five years. The announcement follows the closure in January of six branches of the celebrity chef’s under-performing Jamie’s Italian chain. The other three Union Jacks branches closed in January 2014. A company spokesman said: […]
A Syrian refugee chef who escaped to Britain is to open a two-week pop-up in Bethnal Green this month, in the hope of re-launching his career. Imad Alarnab had two restaurants in Damascus before Syria’s civil war, but more recently has catered for hundreds of fellow refugees. Imad’s Syrian Kitchen will run from Thursday March 9 to Friday […]
Richard Caring’s Ivy Collection is planning to open an all-day brasserie in Manchester later this year – the fast-expanding group’s first foray into northern England. The company confirmed it has applied for planning permission for a site in the Pavillion, in Byrom Street, Spinningfields. The original Ivy, long a celebrity haunt in London’s Theatreland, celebrates […]
⦿ Jay Rayner of The Observer reviewed Bundobust in Manchester, a “vibrant and cheap” combination of Indian veggie streetfood and craft beer that opened in December — and “by God, it works“. “Right now, the large, echoey basement space off the city’s Piccadilly feels like a big fat link in a chain, only one that hasn’t quite been […]
Dabbous, the Fitzrovia restaurant that opened to rapturous acclaim five years ago, is to close this summer as chef Ollie Dabbous (right in picture) and his business partner Oskar Kinberg, who runs the basement bar, prepare their next venture. No details have yet been released for what Dabbous says will be a “major undertaking” with […]
Allan Pickett, whose well-regarded Fitzrovia restaurant Piquet closed last year after just 12 months in business, has been hired as executive chef by the Swan at Shakespeare’s Globe theatre overlooking the Thames in Southwark. The Swan, a couple of minutes’ walk from the Borough Market foodies hub, was refurbished a year ago and has wonderful views across the river to the […]
A Thai-based company is opening Hot Pot, an Asian communal cooking restaurant in Chinatown next month, with meals structured around five fresh-made house broths. The broths range from the spicy Sichuan or tom yum to the more comforting chicken or mushroom with soy milk to the ultra-healthy-sounding ginger, spring onion and Chinese dates. Diners then choose from 60 […]
Former MasterChef: The Professionals winner Steven Edwards is to open his first restaurant, Etch, in Hove next month, with a focus on local Sussex produce. Edwards, 30, trained under Raymond Blanc at Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons near Oxford and spent six years at The Pass restaurant in South Lodge Hotel near Horsham, winning MasterChef in […]
Modern Chinese restaurant Shikumen is to open its fourth branch in late April, in the new Dorsett City Hotel next to Aldgate station. Since making made its debut at the Dorsett Hotel in Shepherd’s Bush, Chinese-owned Shikumen followed up with branches in Ealing and Finchley – so the new venue will be its first in central London. […]
Chef, singer, broadcaster and supper club host Andi Oliver is to open her first restaurant next month in Stoke Newington – her home turf. Andi’s will serve brunch classics by day – baked eggs, French toast bacon sandwiches and Reubens with home-cured salt-beef – and transform into a more formal brasserie in the evening. She will be […]
