LDNGuide
London’s New Restaurant Openings
photo credit: @melissarjphoto
If you tried to keep track of every new restaurant and bar in London, your head might spin. So just read this list instead. These are the openings that seem like they have the most potential. Although, keep in mind, we make no promises about the places we haven't visited yet. Go forth and be a pioneer—or just keep up with our Hit List to see which new restaurants we checked out and loved.
April 2024
photo credit: Karolina Wiercigroch
Yard Sale Pizza Tufnell Park
Yard Sale does some of the best pizza in London, and their city-wide domination shows no signs of slowing down. The latest spot is in Tufnell Park, bringing them to a total of 12 pizzerias.
Caldesi is a new Italian restaurant in Belsize Village from celebrity chef Giancarlo Caldesi. There’ll be family-style sharing plates, pizzas topped with truffle, lobster fettuccine, and charcoal-grilled meats.
After the March arrival of Agora, Oma is now opening above its sister spot in Borough Market. If downstairs is all about being at one with the chaos of the market, upstairs is slightly more formal and serene. It’s where to go for chic, white-washed interiors and Greek dishes like brown crab borek.
From the same group behind Claridge’s and The Berkeley, The Emory is a new hotel in Knightsbridge and ABC Kitchens is its new restaurant. Expect global dishes—pretzel-crusted calamari, chipotle chicken tacos, ricotta ravioli—in a dining room that has sweeping views of Hyde Park and is decorated with Damien Hirsts.
20 Berkeley Street is doing a Taylor Swift and entering a whole new era. After launching as a British brasserie nine months ago, it’s now relaunching as Nijū, a Japanese grill and sushi bar. Endo Kazutoshi—of Endo At The Rotunda—is the culinary director and you can expect katei ryouri dishes—Japanese home-cooked food—like wagyu sukiyaki and chicken katsu, as well as nigiri and sashimi. The Nipperkin bar will remain downstairs.
BAM Karaoke Box is less dingy basement where you go to croon along to Bruce Springsteen, and more lavish wannabe pop star palace in Victoria. There are 22 private rooms, a plush bar area, terrace, and a French-inspired menu including mini croque monsieurs and merguez sausage hot dogs.
After delivering breakfast baps to the egg and sausage-obsessed residents of east London, Bangers are opening a permanent location in Shoreditch. They’ll still deliver, but you can now pop in too. There are the same fillings—smashed sausage patties, eggs, cheese, a choice of homemade sauces—served on Spence Bakery brioche buns and English muffins. The sides sound good too: hash browns and cheesy baked beans, plus bottles of virgin marys.
With the amount of Lina Stores around, Londoners can now live on pasta and negronis alone. The Italian chain's latest spot is in South Kensington and has the same formula of pastel green interiors, truffled scrambled eggs for breakfast, and handmade pastas for lunch and dinner.
Los Mochis’ new spot is making us forget about the rain—for now. There’s a huge, summery rooftop terrace, a gold bar dripping with foliage, and tuna poke tostaditos on the menu. The Mexican-Japanese restaurant already has a Notting Hill location and an omakase counter, Juno, but this outpost looks to be their most glamorous yet.
Flat Iron’s London takeover shows no signs of slowing down. This Hammersmith spot will be the steak chain's 13th location. Much like the others, there’ll be signature Flat Iron steaks on the menu as well as blackboard specials, sides, and cocktails. The interiors take inspiration from Hammersmith’s blacksmith history, so expect lots of exposed ironwork, forged brackets, and moody tones.
Hotel restaurants get a bad rep, but we were fans of this chef's last spot—Aqua Kyoto—so have high hopes for Uba, which will be taking over the kitchen at Hart Shoreditch Hotel. The pan-Asian menu is separated into sashimi, sushi, robata, and teppanyaki dishes, plus dim sum, ramen, hirata buns, and tacos. There’s also matcha tiramisu for dessert.
These two siblings would cost a lot on the Monopoly board—Carmel now has a Fitzrovia spot to go with its original Queen’s Park location. The eastern Mediterranean restaurant will be open from brunch through to dinner. And if their sister spot is anything to go by, you can expect more rose syrup french toast, live-fire and wood-roasted dishes, like lamb shank shawarma and miso harissa slow-roasted chicken.
March 2024
Agora is one half of a new pair of Greek restaurants in Borough Market. It sits below its sister spot, Oma (which opens mid-April), and is the more relaxed one. The restaurant is inspired by markets in Athens and has a huge two-metre souvla rotisserie and wood-burning ovens. It’s walk-in only and those lucky to nab a table can expect garlic flatbreads, spit-roasted chicken, pork belly with cannellini beans, and lamb skewers.
Even though spring has officially sprung, Liu Xiaomian understands that Londoners need numbing spice and soothing dishes all year round. The chongqing noodle spot has opened a new location in Carnaby Street’s Kingly Court. The menu is full of numbing pork wontons, spicy pig fat noodles, and braised beef chongqing.
We’re big fans of the original Best Broasted in Willesden Green, so much so it made our list of the best fried chicken in London. Now Ealing locals can get their hands on this excellent Syrian spot’s chicken too. The menu is much the same as the OG location, with the signature broasted chicken and ridged chips taking centre stage.
Darling’s can clearly see into our soul—firstly, because ‘darlings’ is how we refer to the pasta in our cupboard, and secondly because pasta and wine is the way to our heart. This new Italian spot in Hackney Wick is open Thursday, Friday, and Saturday for dinner and lunch on Fridays and Saturdays. Expect fresh pasta, pasta-making classes, and the kind of interiors that’ll make you stare hatefully at your IKEA table.
If you like your sandwiches to double as dinner, you’ll be interested in Gerry’s Subs, a new Exmouth Market spot from the founder of BBQ restaurant Bodean’s. These loaded hoagies are stuffed with buffalo chicken, pulled pork, and BBQ brisket. But we’re most excited about the Philly cheesesteak that comes with a house gravy dip. That, and the poutine sides.
Hot chocolate and churros is the offering from Mexican churreria, Aguamiel. The Covent Garden spot serves a comforting combination of cinnamon-dusted churros with spiced hot chocolates. You can choose between dulce de leche, chocolate, and condensed milk dips, and there'll be churro ice cream sandwiches too.
From the people behind Bar Crispin and Bistro Freddie, this modern European spot in Clapham Common has a focus on seasonal produce and is serving things like Welsh rarebit and slip sole with creamed spinach. It’s inside minimalist gallery space Studio Voltaire so expect a cool, artsy dining room.
The south of France has come to Regent Street in the form of Mimosa, inside The Langham hotel. It’s the first outpost outside of Paris, and the menu is a mix of things like caviar eggs, côte de boeuf Angus, and gratinated taglioni with béchamel.
This new Mediterranean spot in Marylebone, from the team behind Burger & Lobster, is all about live fire cooking and high-quality ingredients. On the menu you’ll find things like limousin veal sweetbread and a whole Cornish turbot, as well as a carefully selected wine list.
Neapolitan-style pizzas, Italian wine, and an art exhibition going on in the background, is what you’ll find at this new pizzeria in Hackney Wick. Think burrata-topped pizza with tiramisu to finish.
There are hour-long queues at this popular all-day cafe’s original Covent Garden location, and this second spot in Marylebone has the same menu of decadent brunch and lunch dishes like truffle scrambled eggs and red velvet pancakes.
From the team behind Spaghetti House—every unassuming tourist’s go-to pasta spot in the city—comes this new Italian restaurant in Earl’s Court. The menu is straightforward with things like cacio e pepe and margherita pizza.
From the same people behind The Wolseley and Brasserie Zédel, Arlington is a modern European spot in St. James’s with a history of feeding famous faces in its previous life as Le Caprice. This sceney spot, with its rattan chairs and artsy black-and-white portraits dotted around, will serve things like blueberry cheesecake waffles for brunch, and equally tempting shepherd’s pie for dinner.
We recently checked out Arlington. Read our first thoughts here.
This Mayfair spot specialises on what it says on the shiny gold tin—caviar. But as well as that, you’ll find other fish dishes, like smoked salmon platters and poached hake. Just be prepared for a lot of gold detailing and ocean-blue floors.
We know a thing or two about Guinness, and the pints at this Irish pub in Shoreditch could very well make it on the list. You’ll find some fun Irish takes on classic cocktails like Barry’s Pornstar—a mashup between the classic pornstar martini and an East 8 Hold Up—as well as a food menu that changes depending on which chef is in the kitchen. Currently BocaChica are bringing Dominican flavours with pulled beef palmeritas and papitas fritas.
The team behind La Mia Mamma—potentially London’s most famous mammas—have opened a seafood aperitivo bar in Notting Hill. On the agenda are things like panini di mare, fish sharing boards, and Italian champagne.
Arguably the most exciting Hollywood export to have hit London in recent years. Trejo’s Tacos—that’s Danny Trejo of Machete, Heat, and Breaking Bad fame—is finally opening in Notting Hill. The much-anticipated Mexican restaurant has a huge menu that includes chilaquiles, steak asada tacos, carnitas bowls, churros, and cocktails from its “illicit underground speakeasy”.
We recently checked out Trejo’s Tacos. Read our first thoughts here.
We ranked the best smashburgers in London—and Bun & Sum was our champion. Put it this way, Ronald McDonald would approve of these LA-style burgers. The pickles are thick and ridged, the cheese is perfectly melted, the patty is thin, and the all-important sauce is creamy, tangy, and slightly sweet. And now you can get them from Hackney as well as Mile End.
Veg & Tings serves comforting-sounding vegetarian Caribbean food like Trinadadian doubles, curried mango with stewed vegetables, and corn soup. It’s from the same people as Fish, Wings & Tings, a cheerful Caribbean spot next door with a great patio for hanging out with your mates when the sun shines. Expect the same outdoor seating setup at the new spot, as well as a regular crowd of Brixton locals.
We recently checked out Veg & Tings. Read our first thoughts here.
Like our commitment to high-waisted jeans, the people behind Cinnamon Club and Cinnamon Kitchen have found something that works, and they’re sticking to it. Their newest restaurant, Cinnamon Bazaar in Richmond, has a similar pan-Indian menu and takes inspiration from street food dishes. As well as chaat, expect takes on full English breakfasts, a lamb rogan josh shepherd’s pie, and a “naughty dreamy paneer” on the all-day menu.
Mexican restaurant Azteca is hopping over the river and giving its original Chelsea spot a Battersea sibling, Azteca Öme. The new south London restaurant will be a little different, with an added Japanese influence in some of the dishes—like the miso cod and maitake mushroom tacos. There’ll also be a late night bar and a small terrace for rare sunny days.
Everything about Josephine Bouchon sounds charming. It’s run by a husband and wife team, Claude and Lucy Bosi. It’s named after Claude’s grandmother. And it’s perched on a picturesque corner of Fulham Road in Chelsea. Inside it looks like the setting of a French bistro romance, with linen curtains embroidered with the name of the restaurant, white tablecloths, and classic dishes—tartare, soufflés, rabbit, choux pastry—delivered to tables by waiters in crisp white shirts.
We checked out Josephine Bouchon and added it to the Hit List.
There’s something reminiscent of an ominous movie poster about Yum Bug’s announcement that “this time, the bugs are back for good”. What started as a Shoreditch pop-up championing the use of insects in cooking has now become a permanent restaurant in Finsbury Park. The menu includes burrata with golden beetroot cricket and peanut XO sauce, as well as pulled cricket taco, with mole and rhubarb hot sauce.
February 2024
The menu at Chapel Market Kitchen is entirely dictated by what’s on sale at its namesake Islington market. So it’s just like your midnight dash to Tesco for a meal deal, but instead they have their pick of fresh, juicy vegetables and seasonal produce. The seafood spot will serve up oysters, changing glasses of wine, and its signature kingfish dish.
Detroit Pizza’s original Spitalfields location serves some of our favourite pizza in London. So we’re excited to see them expanding to a bigger spot in Islington, with a bigger menu. Expect the same pillowy, deep dish pizza, plus Italian-American dishes like spaghetti alla vodka, boulder-sized meatballs, and a deep dish lasagna we’ve been eyeing ever since they teased this new opening.
We recently checked out Detroit Pizza Islington. Read our first thoughts here.
If its other two sibling spots are anything to go by—Xi’an Impression and Master Wei—Dream Xi’an is going to be excellent. There’ll be hand-pulled noodles on the menu, Xi’anese street food dishes like wontons in broth, as well as specials like kung pao chicken. It’s also right opposite the Tower Of London which feels handy for escaping the crowds/tourists/pigeons.
We checked out Dream Xi'an and added it to the Hit List.
This is a St James’s restaurant we’re keen not to Google again in public. If their Instagram is anything to go by, Mistress Of Mayfair will be all red velvet fringing, lobsters, and champagne trolleys. Expect a Parisian-inspired menu which reads like an overdraft warning: wagyu tomahawks, oysters, fillet mignon, and a late-night lounge where you can try and forget all the money you’ve spent.
Nothing says welcoming in spring like a bowl of Sicilian seafood stew. Morchella is a new Mediterranean restaurant in Exmouth Market that specialises in holiday-sounding sharing plates, like salt-baked poussin and octopus dishes. There’ll be a separate wine bar next door for pre and post-meal drinks and snacks.
We checked out Morchella and added it to the Hit List.
Does London need another place to get almond croissants and oat milk flat whites? Anna Highman—previously of Flor and The River Café—thinks not. Her new Islington bakery, Quince Bakery, will focus on British baking traditions. Think rustic baguettes, country loaves, sourdough, and handmade pies, as well as a small grocery selection of honeys, chutneys, and cheeses.
We recently checked out Quince Bakery. Read our first thoughts here.
Sager + Wilde and Sager + Wilde Paradise Row have a new sibling: Bruno. The new wine bar will serve filled pretzels inspired by the owner's Swiss heritage. Housed in a converted stable in Victoria Park Village, the space is decorated with reclaimed furniture, restored teak countertops, and architectural salvage—which sounds like the title of a Channel 5 show we’d watch.
Singapulah is a hulking four-story Singaporean restaurant on Shaftesbury Avenue. The restaurateur behind it, Ellen Chew, is responsible for spots like Arôme, Rasa Sayang, Mrs Chew’s Chinese Kitchen, and Shan Hui. Her latest launch sees her team up with the Singapore government and tourist board to serve classic dishes, but also sell souvenirs and the ingredients used on the menu.
We recently checked out Singapulah. Read our first thoughts here.
Nico’s is a neighbourhood spot in Haggerston that’s a deli by day and an Italian restaurant by night. There’s a short menu made up of crowd-pleasers—garlic butter knots, penne alla vodka, cannolo—and for a £10 corkage fee you can BYOB.
Self-proclaimed “purveyors of Scottish scran”, Auld Hag, have opened their first permanent spot in Angel. The Shoap will be stocked with smoked fish from East Neuk, Bare Bones chocolate from Glasgow, pork from Leith, and more. There’ll be morning rolls filled with square sausage and coffee from beans roasted on the Isle of Skye, plus cans of Tennent’s and mince on toast in the evening.
Camille is a Stoney Street restaurant that will be great for hiding from the Borough Market crowds while eating burnt milk tart. The founders of Ducksoup and an ex-107 Wine Shop & Bar chef are behind the French bistro. Its menu includes lemon sole and snail butter, cured pig’s cheek and walnut, and crab toast—using ingredients from the market where possible. There’ll be a daily specials board and a weekly changing list of bottles from small independent winemakers.
We checked out Camille and added it to the Hit List.
Yuki Bar is a stripped-back little wine bar in London Fields, tucked away underneath a railway arch. It opened without much fanfare and the low-key, walk-in only spot currently serves snacks and wine, with the view to adding a Japanese menu over the coming weeks.
The menu inspiration at Bellazul reminds us of how we plan a February holiday: Italy, Greece, Morocco—just get us somewhere where we might see the sun. The Mediterranean food flits from lobster spaghetti to tagine, and the dining room has a similarly sun-kissed look with lots of natural light and airy decor. We’re particularly excited about the signature martini made with focaccia-infused gin.
January 2024
Grasso is a family-run, Italian-American restaurant that’s taken over a two-floor space on Dean Street. The spot is serving a menu that reflects the family's journey from Sicily to New York—with dishes like spaghetti al pomodoro, penne alla vodka, chicken parm, and The Big Caesar. The bar will serve creative cocktails like a Cherry Coke long island iced tea, and there’s a DJ booth for weekend Italo disco and New York house sets.
We checked out Grasso and added it to the Hit List.
Farm Shop, a deli in Mayfair, has just opened most people’s dream basement. The wine bar beneath their shop serves platters of cheese (of the Swiss and cider rind-washed cow’s milk variety), glasses of wine starting at £5.50, and half rotisserie chickens. It sounds like the best bits of a fancy picnic, but in a sexily lit basement rather than a soggy field.
Yiqi Pan Asian Cuisine’s dining room is decked out in natural wood and rattan, and its photogenic food looks just as inviting. The Chinatown spot’s pan-Asian menu ranges from a cordyceps flower chicken soup, to sous vide lamb chops, and their signature bamboo tube rice filled with pork trotters and seafood.
Clap has made its way from Dubai to Knightsbridge, and the description of the restaurant as a “sensory” experience feels like low-hanging fruit. This Japanese fine dining spot will serve à la carte and omakase menus in a glamorous setting. Expect decadent-sounding dishes like wagyu beef tartare and foie gras gyozas. The restaurant will be spread over two floors, with a rooftop terrace and robata counters.
Philippe Conticini is filling an oversized croissant-shaped hole in the lives of Islington residents. The coffee spot and patisserie specialises in XXL croissants, the sort that fill tables and TikTok feeds. Much like the South Kensington and Camden spots, this location will have French breads, cakes, and regular-sized pastries too.
There’s nothing like kicking off the new year with a scrummage for restaurant bookings. Juno Omakase is a tiny omakase restaurant with 15 courses, no menu, and just six seats. It’s above Los Mochis in Notting Hill and all the food will be nut and gluten-free.
If your idea of a big night usually involves a creeping sense of beer fear and a lukewarm McDonald’s, this new yakitori izakaya-inspired restaurant can change that. The Hackney spot promises food that’s “simple, loud, and fun”. There’ll be big communal tables, things like lamb's heart, squash, and pork cooked on skewers over charcoal grills, and banoffee crème tea caramel for dessert.
Not so much a new opening as a very hefty facelift. Restaurant Story, the Bermondsey restaurant from Tom Sellers, is opening after being closed for nine months. That’s enough time to grow a baby or drop a cool £2.5 million on a refurbishment project to ring in a restaurant’s 10th anniversary. Whose to say which is more magical? Expect a modern, fine dining European menu, a chef’s table with 12 seats, a bigger wine menu, and a whole new floor.
Kebabs come in all different shapes and sizes. Well they certainly do at this three-storey restaurant in Soho where you can get kebab burgers, rice bowls, and the good old wrap. It’s a loud and proud kind of place where you’ll also find foosball and arcade games to keep you entertained.
Handmade pasta places are always welcome in our eyes. And the people behind this new spot on Baker Street have a reputation for making some pretty decent Italian comfort food.
Formally a Netil Market stall with a fanbase that spans way further than E8, Pockets has finally opened a permanent spot on Mentmore Terrace in London Fields. Expect their signature, filled-to-the-brim pitas and long lunchtime queues.
