Soho restaurateur Nima Safaei opens his third venue in the district next week – a quick-service pasta bar that will not take bookings. Like its sibling Italian restaurants – 40 Dean Street, Nima’s original venue, opened in 2010, and 64 Old Compton Street, which followed last year – the new venue takes the name of its address: 27 […]
Giorgio Locatelli is to open a new restaurant at the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square this summer, five months after closing his famous Locanda Locatelli in Marylebone. The new all-day restaurant, to be called simply Locatelli, is on the mezzanine of the gallery’s Sainsbury Wing, which reopens on May 10 after a two-and-a-half-year refurbish. He […]
Veteran Japanese restaurant Yoshino is to reopen following a three-year search for new premises after losing its long-term perch in an alleyway off Piccadilly Circus. It will move to St James’s, a few minutes walk away, taking over the premises until recently occupied by Al Duca in Duke of York Street. The family-run Italian restaurant […]
Café Britaly, the hybrid British caff/Italian comfort food restaurant that opened to critical acclaim in Packham last year, has closed down after just eight months. Co-owners Richard Crampton-Platt (left in picture) and Alex Purdie (right) say they were unable to build enough momentum to generate sustainable revenue in the face of “challenging trading conditions, which were […]
Giorgio Locatelli has closed his Marylebone flagship after 23 years, indicating that the decision was forced on him and that he has no plans to quit the London restaurant scene. The tousle-haired Italian chef and his wife Plaxy opened Locanda Locatelli 23 years ago in the Hyatt Regency – Churchill hotel, off Portman Square. The […]
Marylebone Peruvian restaurant Pachamama is to close after 10 years, and will be replaced by a new Italian venture as its owner repositions the group. Fans of Pachamama’s “incredible sticky aubergine”, recommended in the new 2025 Harden’s guide, will still be able to find it at the Shoreditch branch in Great Eastern Street. The move […]
Veteran celeb chef Aldo Zilli makes his return to the London restaurant scene next week with the launch on Tuesday (10 December) of Undercroft in Mayfair, a dramatic new dining venue set in the crypt of historic St George’s church off Hanover Square. The venue was heavily trailed earlier this year as the site where […]
Babbo, the former Mayfair Italian restaurant with footballing connections, completes its transfer to St John’s Wood next week, while its fellow glossy Italian Bocconcino opens a seafood spinoff in the Strand called Osteria del Mare (pictured). Launching on Monday, Osteria del Mare takes inspiration from the Tuscan coastal resort of Forte dei Marmi, with ex-Barrafina […]
Sardinian chef Achille Pinna is to open a new self-named restaurant by the entrance to Shepherd Market in Mayfair next week. Pinna is backed by prolific restaurateurs George Bukhov-Weinstein and Ilya Demichev, the duo behind Burger & Lobster and Goodman, who earlier this month launched Fantomas in Chelsea. Achille is a former executive chef at […]
Hip Shoreditch wine bar/restaurant Leroy has closed while the nearby Clove Club – heavyweight kingpin of the East London dining scene for the past decade – has separated from its Italian sister restaurant Luca as the founding team announces a splitting of assets. Leroy lost its Michelin star in March, but earned its customary high ratings in […]
