The Mandarin Oriental in Knightsbridge is replacing pimped-up New York-style burgers with a hyper-trendy oriental import with today’s opening of The Aubrey in the space formerly occupied by Bar Boulud. Named after the decadent fin de siècle artist Aubrey Beardsley, the Aubrey pitches itself as an “eccentric Japanese izakaya experience”, offering upmarket food and cocktails […]
A Japanese restaurant that follows a 500-year-old culinary tradition opens in London’s Marylebone next week, complete with a bespoke interior shipped over from Kyoto where it was hand-made by craftsman in century-old hinoki wood. Roketsu, in New Quebec Street, lunches on Tuesday 7 December, and will serve only a ten-course kaiseki menu which changes with […]
Japanese restaurant chain Curry House Coco Ichibanya has opened its first London restaurant. The launch follows Filipino fried chicken giant Jolibee and Taiwanese dumpling house Din Tai Fung. Coco Ichibanya has more than 1,000 restaurants in Japan and another 150 throughout South East Asia and the US. The site opened on December 12 on Great […]
Ross Shonhan adds to his portfolio of rock ‘n’ roll ramen bars and izakayas (which includes Bone Daddies and Shackfuyu) with an offshoot of Flesh & Buns opening in Fitzrovia in late-June this year. The original opened in Covent Garden in 2013 and has won consistent praise among our reporters for food that’s “a taste […]
The team behind Dalston’s yakitori specialist Jidori have announced they will be bringing their Japanese small plates restaurant to Covent Garden on 27 February 2018. Occupying a terraced building on Catherine Street, the 50-cover restaurant is spread over the ground and first floor. The lower ground floor offers guests their very own private dining karaoke room, available for […]
Noodle purveyors Tonkotsu are taking over their sibling restaurant in Piccadilly with a two month ramen residency – and to celebrate they’ll be knocking 50% off the food bill for the first four days. Catch this special offer at Anzu St James’s Market, Norris Street, from Thursday 4 – Sunday 7 January. The chefs behind Tonkotsu will be […]
When Grace Dent reviewed The Langham’s new ‘pub’ The Wigmore, she decided she never, ever wanted to go there again. We would hazard a guess that The Guardian’s Marina O’Loughlin would be quite happy to go back any time…“Silly? A bit. Delicious? Oh yes.” “Creative cocktails in their own weeny tankards… pies and roasts and toasties… reimagined […]
Jason Atherton has announced plans to relocate Sosharu to either Mayfair or Soho in hopes of increasing lunch trade. The izakaya-style restaurant is currently housed at 64 Turnmill Street in Clerkenwell (formerly Turnmills nightclub) but the chef and restaurateur says the concept is not working at the site. Atherton told Caterer that although Sosharu is […]
A high-end hybrid Oriental restaurant combining Chinese and Japanese cuisines will open next month in the new Four Seasons hotel at Ten Trinity Square in the City of London. Mei Ume, a name bringing together the Chinese and Japanese words for “plum”, launches on June 9, joining star French chef Anne-Sophie Pic’s La Dame de Pic […]
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 […]