Chef Aaron Potter opens his debut restaurant, Wildflowers, today in Newson’s Yard, a former Pimlico timber yard converted into a new ‘design destination’. Billed as ‘Mediterranean-inspired’, with high-quality seasonal produce cooked over coals, Wildflowers has a separate wine bar upstairs serving cicchetti-style snacks. Most recently executive chef at Maria G’s, Aaron has previously worked for […]
Florentine comfort food concept Dez Amore opens its first permanent restaurant next week, on a corner site in Chelsea with a retro-modern look inspired by Italy in the 1970s. Launched by two friends from Florence, Leonardo Masi and Simone Parentini (pictured), Dez Amore lays claim to a ‘double soul’ that combines traditional Italian cooking with […]
Two very different hospitality businesses which share rustic-posh design values, a promise of locally sourced produce and a passion for the porcine are making their first forays into pub ownership. In the Cotswolds, the shabby-chic Pig hotel group founded by Robin Hutson will next month open The Village Pub in Barnsley, outside Cirencester, in the […]
Highly regarded chef Chris Denney is back in action, preparing to open a new restaurant called Fantomas on Chelsea’s King’s Road in early July. Chris made a big impact with his high-octane cooking at Fiend and before that 108 Garage, both off Portobello Road. He is backed on this new venture by George Bukhov-Weinstein and […]
Eyebrows were raised and heads were scratched when Alex Hunter announced that his hit seafood ‘chef’s table’ restaurant, The Sea The Sea in London’s East End, was to close down at the end of March. The stylish 14-seater chef’s table – which Alex describes as “a Bond villain’s lair” – will then turn into a venue for […]
The team behind Medlar in Chelsea are to launch their first follow-up restaurant this summer. Cornus will occupy the top floor with rooftop terrace of the Ice Factory, a repurposed early Victorian industrial building in Belgravia’s Eccleston Yards. Chef Joe Mercer Nairne and his co-owner David O’Connor opened Medlar in 2011, and it is one […]
Chef Claude Bosi is to open a new restaurant on Chelsea’s Fulham Road at the end of this month dedicated to the food of his native Lyons – and named in memory of his grandmother, Josephine. Serving French bistro classics alongside tradition Lyonnais specialities, Josephine is also Claude’s first joint business venture with his wife, Lucy. […]
An Italian steakhouse from Lecce in Puglia has opened a London branch in Chelsea – with little in the way of introduction or promotion. Tabisca has taken over a site near Sloane Square long occupied by Como Lario, and more recently by short-lived restaurants Liv and 1771. Tabisca’s menu showcases a selection of Italian raw and […]
Volta do Mar, which showcases food from the trade routes of the Portuguese-speaking world, has made the short voyage from Covent Garden to Chelsea, where it opened this week in Draycott Avenue. Launched four years ago by Salt Yard group founder Simon Mullins and his Portuguese-born wife, Isabel Almeida da Silva, the original restaurant closed […]
A new Mexican restaurant opening in Chelsea next week will focus on the flavours of Tulum on the Yucatan peninsular – with no hint of ‘Tex Mex’ cooking. Ixchel, named after the Mayan moon goddess, will offer an all-day tapas-style menu of dishes created by Mexican-born chef Ximena Gayosso Gonzalez (pictured), who has worked at […]
