Cotswolds-based MasterChef finalist and former banker Andrew Kojima is opening his first restaurant, Koj, in Cheltenham next week on the back of successful pop-up and crowd-funding campaigns. He trialled the venture – and the Regent Street venue – as a pop-up in the run-up to Christmas, generating enough interest to raise £55,000 from more than 200 backers. […]
Brighton grill specialist The Coal Shed is to open a branch in London at the new One Tower Bridge development on the south bank of the Thames later this year. It will be the first foray into the capital for restaurateur Raz Helatat, six years after he launched the original Coal Shed – described by this year’s […]
⦿ In the Observer, Jay Rayner reviewed Skosh, in York, which he found “the ideal of what an ambitious, independent restaurant should be”. “Neil Bentinck, formerly the head chef of Van Zeller in Harrogate, is a modern British cook who also manages to riff on the flavours of Japan and the Middle East without confusing either […]
French-Swiss chef Jérôme Henry, for seven years head chef at Anton Mosimann’s Belgravia dining club, is to open his first venture, Le Roi Fou, in Edinburgh next month. The restaurant, in the New Town’s Forth Street, will be open in the evenings from Wednesday to Saturday and lunchtimes Friday to Sunday, serving classic dishes using […]
MEATliquor has launched its first delivery-only kitchen in Canary Wharf, serving nearby homes and businesses in partnership with Deliveroo. High-flying bankers in high-rise offices can now order in a Tower Block Burger (fried chicken with cheese, hash browns, jalapeños, slaw, onions and Russian dressing, pictured) to eat at their desks. Scott Collins and Yianni Papoutsis founded MEATliquor from a […]
⦿ 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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
⦿ The Observer’s Jay Rayner reviewed Chop Chop in Edinburgh, which confirmed his view that dumplings are the ultimate comfort food – “While you are eating dumplings nothing bad can happen.” Opened in 2006 by Jian Wang, from Dongbei in northeast China, Chop Chop excels in its dumplings, although its other dishes were more variable […]
The Brighton-based Giggling Squid group of Thai restaurants has announced its first London opening, in Wimbledon village this summer. The group plans to expand rapidly in the capital, having taken a £6.4million investment to accelerate growth plans. The Wimbledon venue will seat 110, with potential to double in size by extending upstairs. It launched a branch […]
