Quirky North London Nigerian tapas bar Chuku’s has won an £8,000 grant and – possibly more valuable in the long term – endorsement from the world’s biggest name in entertainment, Beyoncé. The Tottenham restaurant was one of 10 London businesses chosen to receive a grant from the singer’s BeyGOOD foundation, which has pledged to donate $1 million […]
“Mostly vegan” chef Rishim Sachdeva is converting his highly praised pop-up Tendril into a permanent restaurant this summer – without changing address. Tendril, in Princes Street just off Regent Street, will close next month for a complete overhaul before opening later this summer on a permanent basis, funded by a successful crowdfunding campaign last winter. The […]
Lake District chef Simon Rogan has extended his tiny ‘chef’s table’ London outpost – Aulis, off Dean Street in Soho – so it now seats 12 guests at a time, up from eight. The venue reopens next Tuesday, 30 May, with a new lounge for pre- and post-dinner drinks as well as a new natural stone counter. […]
The Criterion in Piccadilly Circus, one of the West End’s most famous and lavish restaurant sites, is to re-open next month as a branch of the Indian restaurant Masala Zone. Designed by architect Thomas Verity in the Neo Byzantine style, the glittering, Grade II-listed Criterion opened in 1873 and hosted the movers and shakers of […]
Jason Atherton has slashed prices at his London restaurants to encourage customers to dine out more often, saying people were feeling “alienated” by price rises at a time of economic tightening. The cost of a three-course set lunch at Pollen Street Social (pictured below), his Mayfair flagship, is cut from £75 to £49.50 (or two […]
Markus Thesleff, founder of Notting Hill Mexican/Japanese hybrid Los Mochis, has acquired veteran Knightsbridge trattoria Sale e Pepe, which celebrates its half centenary next year. The unlikely-sounding deal brings together the Finnish-born restaurant innovator, who coined the label ‘Baja-Nihon’ to describe the tacos served with Japanese precision at Los Mochis, with Italian dining of the […]
Celebrity chef Mark Hix is to make a come-back in the capital as food & beverage director of the Groucho Club – two years after losing his HIX London restaurant group to the pandemic and retreating to his native Dorset. The new appointment would seem to be a marriage made in heaven. Mark has been a […]
London’s thriving Nigerian restaurant scene received a double boost this week with the news that hit Brixton restaurant Chishuru is looking for bigger premises while an ambitious new dining and entertainment venue will open near Smithfield Market in Farringdon. The Patio is taking over the former site of Bird of Smithfield, a five-storey building that […]
The Ledbury, London’s dominant restaurant of the last decade, is to reopen next month after being mothballed for almost two years through the pandemic. While it was no secret that some sort of revival was on the cards, his legion of fans will be relieved to learn that chef-proprietor Brett Graham plans to carry on […]
A prominent Chelsea pub formerly owned by father-and-son football legends Frank Lampard and Frank Lampard senior was relaunched last week as the first hospitality venture from furniture designer Timothy Oulton. The Chelsea Pig, formerly the Pig’s Ear, on the corner of Old Church Street and Poulton Street, is believed to be the oldest pub in […]
