Restaurant and Bar News

Two branches of Burger & Lobster planned this year

22 MAY 2012: Burger & Lobster, the recession-busting offshoot of Goodman steakhouse, has announced its purchase of the capital’s two Bistro du Vin sites, in Clerkenwell and Soho. Goodman hopes to turn its Soho acquisition around in time for the Olympics, while the Clerkenwell venue will be launched later this year. What’s more, it is understood that both venues are considering taking some bookings.

Wahaca to launch temporary restaurant at Southbank Centre

16 MAY 2012: Wahaca will open its eighth venture at London’s Southbank Centre this June to coincide with the Festival of the World, which will see the venue transformed into a bustling port city filled with street art and installations. The two-storey, temporary restaurant will be built from recycled shipping containers, with a 130-seater dining room, plus a bar and terrace.

The Cube by Electrolux comes to London

8 MAY 2012: Following successful outings in Brussels and Milan, The Cube by Electrolux concept is preparing for a four-month residency atop the Royal Festival Hall from 1 June. Six of the UK’s top chefs, including Sat Bains, Claude Bosi, and Tom Kitchin, will cook a minimum of five courses for 18 guests, who will see them at work in the open-plan kitchen. Expect fantastic views and mind-blowing food at another London event that’s bound to sell out quickly.

Noma celebrates hat-trick at World’s 50 Best awards 2012

1 MAY 2012: Noma was last night crowned the World’s Best Restaurant for a third year in a row at the S. Pellegrino 50 Best Awards. The judges praised the Copenhagen restaurant, saying: 'Noma has changed diners’ perceptions of Nordic cuisine and created a maelstrom in the culinary world. It’s a restaurant of extraordinary pedigree, where passion and honesty are reflected in every mouthful.’

StreetSmart 2011 raises £760,000 for the homeless

26 APRIL 2012: Homelessness charity StreetSmart broke its own record on Monday night when it announced that its 2011 campaign raised a total of £760,000. The record-breaking sum was celebrated by the charity’s supporters and trustees at a star-studded bash at London’s Groucho Club.

Noma comes to Claridge's

24 APRIL 2012: It’s set to be the hottest gastronomic event of 2012: Claridge’s have announced that it will be playing host to world-beating chef René Redzepi (pictured) for 10 days during the London Olympics.

USA’s Thomas Keller and Spain’s Elena Arzák honoured at S.Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Awards 2012

23 APRIL 2012: Heavyweight chefs Thomas Keller (The French Laundry, Per Se) and Elena Arzák (Arzák; pictured) will receive prestigious gongs at the S. Pellegrino World’s 50 Best awards on 30 April.

Spaghetti House launches new-look boutique venue

APRIL 2012: Long-standing London chain Spaghetti House has launched a ‘boutique’ version of its family-friendly Italian restaurants in Kensington, to update its offering for diners’ changing expectations.

A rush of blood to the head chefs

APRIL 2012: In March, fearless chefs Tom Aikens and Jason Atherton joined 1,200 other contenders for the fourth annual Vertical Rush, a tower run in aid of housing charity Shelter.

Lucky Chip to open permanent slider restaurant

APRIL 2012: Street-food sensation Lucky Chip, whose burgers (named after the Hollywood glitterati) have proved a hit both at Hackney’s Netil Market and nearby boozer The Sebright Arms, is opening a permanent restaurant, called Slider Bar, in Soho very soon.

Marco Pierre White hunts for Britain’s best restaurateurs

APRIL 2012: Although it seems unlikely that there are any restaurateurs out there who haven’t yet had their 15 minutes of fame on programmes from Raymond Blanc’s The Restaurant and MasterChef: The Professionals to Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares, Marco Pierre White has gone and got himself some volunteers for a new show that aims to find the UK’s best specimens.

Fourth venue for Terroirs team

MARCH 2012: Serial small-plates restaurateurs Ed Wilson and Oli Barker (pictured, left and right) – the brains behind Terroirs, Brawn and Soif – are launching a fourth site later this year. The Covent Garden venue, called the Green Man & French Horn will open in September and will offer food and wine of France’s Loire region, with an emphasis on fish and seafood.

Feng Sushi wins Sustainable City award for most sustainable restaurant

MARCH 2012: Sushi chain Feng Sushi has won the award for Sustainable Food at the 2012 Sustainable City Awards. This year, the Sustainable Food category focused on fish and was judged by pioneering Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons chef-patron Raymond Blanc, who is passionate about the issue. Feng Sushi’s managing director Silla Bjerrum (pictured) accepted the ‘green gong’ on behalf of the chain at the awards ceremony, held in the City.

Sonny’s to be relaunched by Kitchen W8 team

MARCH 2012: The Square’s Philip Howard has teamed up with restaurateur Rebecca Mascarenhas for a second time to launch a restaurant in Barnes – their local patch. The duo’s first professional venture together was with smart neighbourhood locale Kitchen W8, which they opened in Kensington in 2009 and which won a Michelin star last year. Now, the pair are relaunching Sonny’s, which Mascarenhas has owned for 26 years. Howard is a long-standing regular at the Church Road restaurant; when the new-look version – to be called Sonny’s Kitchen – opens in May, he will oversee the kitchen and menus.

Up-and-coming chef launches new restaurant at Sanctum On The Green

MARCH 2012: Teenage chef Luke Thomas has launched a new restaurant at Berkshire’s Sanctum On The Green (formerly Inn On The Green), called Luke’s Dining Room, which opens today.

Twenty Michelin-starred chefs cook charity dinner for the highest bidder

MARCH 2012: On Monday 5 March, 20 chefs from London’s hottest restaurants, including Pollen Street Social, Zuma and Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, cooked at an exclusive dinner that raised £330,000 for Leuka, a charity that funds scientists working towards a cure for leukaemia and other blood cancers.

The Fat Duck starts diners’ culinary experience with online animation

MARCH 2012: The Fat Duck has launched an animated online experience to whet the appetite of people who manage to secure a booking at the world-renowned restaurant in the three months leading up to their reservation.

Diners have their say at UK’s first ‘interactive’ restaurant

MARCH 2012: TV chefs Jonathon Davies (winner of ITV’s Britain’s Best Dish 2010) and John Burton-Race (best known for his appearances on the BBC’s Ready Steady Cook) are launching the world’s first ‘interactive’ restaurant – a restaurant funded and ‘run’ by the public.

Vinoteca to open Soho branch

FEBRUARY 2012: Vinoteca, which has branches in Clerkenwell and Marylebone, is launching a third site this April, on Soho’s Beak Street.

Martin Creed to unveil a new look for The Gallery at Sketch

Turner Prize-winning artist Martin Creed, who is known for his acclaimed installations, sculpture, music, dance and film, will transform Sketch’s Gallery restaurant as part of a year-long artistic project for the venue that coincides with its 10th anniversary.

Eyre Brothers chef records his life story for British Library food archive

FEBRUARY 2012: David Eyre, executive chef of Eyre Brothers, has been interviewed by the British Library as part of its archive of recordings to document the changing nature of food production, manufacture and consumption in 20th-century Britain. Eyre’s interview is one of 300 that have been conducted over a 10-year period. Other high-profile chefs who have contributed to the project include Albert Roux, Prue Leith, Fergus Henderson and Antonio Carluccio.

Bristol’s sherry brand launches tapas bar

FEBRUARY 2012: Harveys Cellars – of Harveys Bristol Cream fame – has relaunched as a bar-restaurant serving a range of sherry options, including Harveys’ VORS collection and sherry flights, with tapas pairings.

No need to queue at London’s first self-service pub

FEBRUARY 2012: Long waits to order drinks might be a thing of the past if the concept behind The Thirsty Bear, London’s first self-service pub, takes off. The Blackfriars pub, formerly the Stamford Arms, opened at the end of January and boasts beer taps on every table – all controlled by iPads.

Exmouth Market sees Medcalf revamped

JANUARY 2012: Nearly a decade after opening in Clerkenwell, Medcalf has treated itself to a swish refurbishment. The beige colour scheme, battered leather armchairs and rustic woods have been replaced by smart violet banquettes and slate-grey walls – although the low-hanging filament bulbs and eclectic abstract artwork remain. The restaurant has also launched two new menus in addition to their signature daily offerings of refined but gutsy British dishes. Saturday brunch (available 10am-4pm) includes no-nonsense plates such as Arbroath smokie with lemon butter and brown bread, or roast Blythburgh ham with fried eggs and chips, while the bar menu boasts Trealy Farm charcuterie platters and Welsh rarebit.

Seniors wins best chip-shop crown

JANUARY 2012 Congratulations to Seniors, in Lancashire, which was named Best British Fish and Chip Shop 2012 at the 24th annual National Fish and Chip Awards, held in London. Richard Corrigan presented owners Alastair and Dominic Horabin (pictured) with the title. Alastair Horabin (far left) said: ‘This is an honour beyond our wildest dreams. I'm overjoyed for the whole team and I'm proud to be their boss.’ Second place went to Hanbury’s in Devon, while Quayside, in Whitby, came third. The finalist for London and the South-East was Seafare, in Guildford.

Square Meal’s 2011 restaurant survey

JANUARY 2012: Nearly half of all London diners’ gripes about the restaurant experience relate to service – or lack of it – according to Square Meal’s annual survey of complaints. Nicky Evans reveals the gory details…

London restaurant trends to look out for in 2012

JANUARY 2012: Square Meal is predicting big things for 2012, from a South American invasion to headline-grabbing openings from Corbin & King (of The Wolseley and The Delaunay fame) and Richard Caring’s Caprice Holdings. Plus, trends that were starting to emerge at the tail-end of 2011 are really establishing themselves in 2012 – expect to see increasing numbers of iPad wine lists, plus budget-tastic gourmet lunches with wine included. Want to be in the loop when it comes to developments on the London dining scene? Read on for the low-down.

Mark Hix to open Hix Belgravia with Thompson Hotels

NOVEMBER 2011: Gold-fingered chef and restaurateur Mark Hix is to work with another hotel – this time American group Thompson – when it launches its first UK venture in January. The hotel will offer a Belgravian branch of Hix’s eponymous restaurant in Soho, with a fun menu that’s more ‘off-piste’ than the chef’s usual true-Brit cooking style. A second version of super-cool cocktail destination Mark’s Bar is also in the pipeline, with a cigar garden thrown in for good measure. With words like ‘edgy’ and ‘bohemian’ being bandied about, Hix #2 looks set to be anything but a staid hotel dining room.

‘Wandering bar’ The Fourth Wall comes to London

OCTOBER 2011: A pop-up version of basement mixology den Bourne & Hollingsworth, in Fitzrovia, The Fourth Wall is a new bar that pitches up at a different, secret location every weekend. The interiors replicate the 1920s’ living-room feel of its older sibling, with flowered wallpaper and tablecloths and mismatched, wartime furniture – but, like a stage set, this bar is dismantled at the end of the weekend, to reappear elsewhere. Contact The Fourth Wall to find out about its next location: as the weeks progress, finding it promises to be increasingly challenging.

Hey, good looking... round-up of restaurant revamps

OCTOBER 2011: Having spent the summer pounding London’s pavements in order to update our restaurant reviews, we couldn’t help noticing exciting changes afoot at some of the city’s restaurants, many of which have closed their doors in order to re-emerge in autumn with a shiny new look, such as Odette's (pictured). Here’s a list of ones to watch.

Restaurants to look out for in autumn

SEPTEMBER 2011: September means back to school, and not just for pupils: restaurant launches will be back in full swing from tomorrow, with the opening of Wolfgang Puck’s Cut at 45 Park Lane (pictured). After that, hold onto your hats, as big-ticket restaurants will be coming to London thick and fast. Here’s a selection of the biggest upcoming openings in London this autumn.

Polpo founder spreads his tentacles further

AUGUST 2011: Russell Norman will launch the fifth version of his hugely successful small-plates empire in November. Mishkin’s – which will take its inspiration from Jewish delis of New York’s Lower East Side, with a pinch of Brick Lane thrown in for good measure – is to be located on Catherine Street, and will continue the restaurateur’s move into Covent Garden, which started with da Polpo. There’s more good news for those put off by the no-bookings policy operated at Mishkins’ older siblings Polpo and Sputino: this joint will take bookings.

The French Laundry comes to London

AUGUST 2011: American chef Thomas Keller’s three-Michelin-starred restaurant The French Laundry is to pop up in Harrods this autumn. The Napa Valley institution – which was named World’s Best Restaurant in 2003 and again in 2004 – will be recreated in the store from 1 October for 10 days only, in the Georgian Restaurant on the fourth floor.

Jason Atherton spills the beans about Ramsay split

JULY 2011: With spells at some of the world’s top restaurants under his belt, Skegness-born Jason Atherton struck out on his own earlier this year with Pollen Street Social, one of the most talked-about restaurants of 2011. He spoke to Square Meal about the venture – and revealed all about his bust-up with Gordon Ramsay.

New dining area and 'motel room' hit Mahiki

JULY 2011: This Sloane-meets-tiki playground for the famous and the wannabes has added a ‘motel room’ to the mix, complete with karaoke machine for the lyrically inclined. Join the models, OK! faces, Chelsea hoorays, flash Ferraris and the occasional Windsor in the Polynesian Lanai bar and order mini Mahiki burgers or other American diner classics in its new dining area, before continuing the party downstairs.

River Cottage to open in Plymouth

JUNE 2011: Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall will launch a new branch of his River Cottage restaurant in Plymouth later this year. The restaurant will be located in the city’s Brewhouse development, a converted Grade-I listed building containing restaurants, shops, and apartments. The TV chef plans to source 90% of the kitchen’s ingredients from within 50 miles of Plymouth, and to make the most of the city’s natural resources, including sustainable fish from the Devon coast.

Tom Aikens to cook for the British Olympic Ball

JUNE 2011: On 7 October, Michelin-starred chef Tom Aikens will take to the kitchen of Kensington Olympia’s Grand Hall for the annual British Olympic Ball, a dinner attended by sporting celebrities, forthcoming Olympic competitors and royalty. After the meal, diners will be entertained by singer Tom Jones, before bidding for prizes at an auction to raise funds for Team GB.

José opens in Southwark

JUNE 2011: José Pizarro’s dashing tapas and sherry bar fits assuredly among the hip eateries of Bermondsey Street, displaying the same easy charm as its owner. Pizarro’s food is the real deal: quality ingredients with few surprises. Daily market specials are displayed in glass cabinets, while Spain’s greatest hits, including top-notch charcuterie and tortilla, are chalked up on the board above the bar. The menu proper boasts rich ham croquetas, lamb meatballs with thick tomato sauce, and ever-popular Padrón peppers.

Som tam specialist arrives in Covent Garden

MAY 2011: This autumn, St Martin’s Courtyard will welcome Thai newcomer Suda to its coterie of dining destinations. The restaurant will feature all-day dining options and a bar ‘dedicated’ to som tam – a salad of green papaya, peanuts, eye-popping birds’-eye chillies, tomatoes and green beans that’s just one of the country’s many delicacies. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it’s the first of its kind in London.

Courtyard at 51 Buckingham Gate opens for summer

MAY 2011: With the sunny weather set to continue through May, the Courtyard at 51 Buckingham Gate has chosen a perfect time to open its doors. Located down a cobbled mews, head along to the quaint open-air garden and terrace for some barbecued Middle Eastern food, washed down perhaps by a summertime cocktail or two.

Noma crowned World’s Best Restaurant for second year running

APRIL 2011: René Redzepi’s Noma has been crowned the World’s Best Restaurant for the second year running. The Copenhagen restaurant, whose team of foraging chefs steadfastly uses only ingredients native to Scandinavia, was praised by the judges for its ‘meticulous attention to detail, fastidious approach to service, wicked sense of humour and unrivalled creativity’, all of which results in an ‘emotive, intense, liberating way of eating, unlike any other’.

The Playboy Club set to open in London

FEBRUARY 2011: After a 30-year absence, the Playboy Club – once a destination of choice in the Swinging Sixties – returns to London on Saturday 4 June. The private members’ club will include a casino, a nightclub called the Cottontail Lounge, a cocktail bar from mixologist Salvatore Calabrese and a restaurant. In preparation for the launch, we caught up with executive chef, and star of Iron Chef UK, Judy Joo to talk about the food, the feel and those 'demure' Playboy bunnies.

Hotel du Vin to open London bistros

FEBRUARY 2011: Boutique hotel group Hotel du Vin is to open a number of London bistros, called Bistro du Vin. The first Bistro du Vin will be opened in Clerkenwell in April, to be followed by a further site in Kensington later in the year. The menus will be identical to those found in each Hotel du Vin, with wines selected by wine and spirits director Ronan Sayburn MS.

Dinner by Heston Blumenthal opens its doors

JANUARY 2011: The hugely anticipated launch of Dinner at The Mandarin Oriental has now opened. Check out the funky interior, from which guests will be able to see into the state-of-the-art kitchen and watch the 45-strong team of chefs at work. Sadly, this is as close as all but a lucky few will get to Dinner for the time being. The booking lines for each new calendar month open three months beforehand, so get dialling.

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Ex-Tapas Brindisa chef José Pizarro to launch solo sherry bar

JANUARY 2011: Spanish chef José Pizarro, co-founder and former executive chef of Tapas Brindisa, is preparing to launch his first solo venture on nearby Bermondsey Street in April. Called José, the newcomer will be inspired by the tapas joints of Barcelona’s bustling Boquería market in style and decor, with limited, informal seating and a focus on the freshest ingredients. The menu will change daily but will stick to simple and traditional tapas, with sherry a speciality of the wine list.

Ice cream while you wait at Dinner

JANUARY 2011: Heston Blumenthal’s hotly anticipated Mayfair restaurant, Dinner at the Mandarin Oriental, will feature a Victorian-style ice cream trolley that makes ice cream for diners on the spot, the chef’s right-hand man has revealed. Ashley Palmer-Watts, who has developed Dinner’s concept and menus with Heston for the past two years, and who will head up the kitchen when it opens its doors on 31 January, expects the machine to be a ‘real showstopper’.

Even odds for Restaurant Gordon Ramsay to lose a Michelin star

JANUARY 2011: William Hill has given even-money odds on Restaurant Gordon Ramsay losing one of its three Michelin stars when the 2011 Great Britain & Ireland guide is published next week.