8 New Restaurants To Book Now

Chameleon, Marylebone

This month sees the launch of Chameleon, a new multi-experiential space inside Grade I-listed One Marylebone. Launching on 23rd April, Chameleon will offer a Tel Avivian sharing-style menu in its outdoor restaurant, which is split between the garden and nine individually styled private greenhouses, with the largest able to host 30 guests. Famed Israeli chef Elior Balbul will head up the kitchen, offering a menu that will include dishes such as Yemen brioche challah, deconstructed falafel, aubergine carpaccio, shrimp shish barak, Moroccan octopus and charcoal-grilled lamb sirloin with cabbage gratin. On the west side of the building, guests will find ‘God’s Garden’, a flower market created by Jason Poole & Alexandra Watson, the duo behind Artistically Twisted. Past this, and through a speakeasy entrance that leads into the garden, guests will find an outdoor lounge which splits al fresco dining between lounge seating and dining tables. Here, the focus will be on cocktails and mezze plates also created by Elior’s team. Later in the year, a club, wedding space, gallery, cinema experience, fitness studio and more will also launch in the space.

1 Marylebone Road, Marylebone, NW1 4AQ

Visit Chameleon.London

Maru, Mayfair

Sushi expert Taiji Maruyama is set to open Maru in Shepherd Market. The second restaurant from the team behind Taka, which opened in Marylebone in 2020, Maru will offer diners an immersive experience, serving a 20-course farm-to-table tasting menu, presented omakase style (a Japanese tradition of letting the chef take control of your meal), to guests seated around an intimate counter accommodating 10. Maruyama previously worked in Tokyo, as well as at Nobu, Beaverbrook and Taka, and hopes to introduce his guests to a new way of eating at Maru: the omakase principle will be taken to the next level with the chefs behind the counter serving all aspects of the meal to their guests, including the drinks, which they will also make. The menu will combine British ingredients with classical training and techniques and will change daily, with dishes influenced by what Maruyama decides to serve and by what ingredients are seasonally and locally available. Whatever you’re served, expect to sample refined, but sustainably sourced ingredients, such as Perigord truffle, wagyu and caviar.  

18 Shepherd Market, Mayfair, W1J 7QH 

Visit TakaLondon.com

Imad’s Syrian Kitchen, Soho

After a series of hugely successful charity events, popular supper clubs and pop-ups, Imad Alarnab is bringing a taste of Syrian cuisine to Carnaby via his first permanent restaurant in the UK. A successful restaurateur in Damascus, Imad's restaurants were destroyed in the war, and he was forced to flee the country in search of safety for his family. At Imad’s Syrian Kitchen, the menu will pay homage to his homeland and some of its most celebrated dishes. A sharing menu at its core, the menu will consist of a selection of mezza, main courses and desserts – we love the sound of crispy baby aubergine stuffed with lamb and topped with flatbread and garlic cumin. A concise wine list of lower-intervention wines from Eastern Europe and the Levant will complement the Syrian menu, with a list showcasing a selection of Greek, Croatian, Georgian and Lebanese wines. Once open, Imad will continue to support refugees need by donating £1 from every bill to refugee charity Choose Love. 

Kingly Court, Soho, W1B 5PW

Visit ImadsSyrianKitchen.co.uk

Nebula, Hackney

Nebula is a new spot on Hackney Road that’s part bar and part pizza joint. When it opens next month, drinks – such as craft beers, wine from Bethnal Green’s Renegade Winery and gin from the East London Liquor Company in Mile End – will be served from a speckled pink bar top made with ocean recycled plastics and glass. Five minutes from Colombia Road and Broadway Market, it aims to be an ideal pit-stop for east London locals. Pizza fans can dine in the garden, bar or opt to take away. Pizzas are made with overnight fermented bases, using a blend of wholemeal and 00 flours, and toppings range from vegan options and seasonal offerings, such as brie, caramelised onions and rocket. Playlists and DJ nights will be curated by Dante Gabriel – aka Tenoshi – a lifelong music enthusiast and record collector who has made records and played records for over 30 years, holding DJ residencies on Glastonbury’s Other Stage and at The Eden Project’s Eden Sessions.

455 Hackney Road, Hackney, E2 9DY

Visit NebulaBar.com

Kraft Dalston, Dalston

Kraft Dalston is a forthcoming concept that brings together three brands: Germany’s Kraft Brewery, sustainable urban gin distillery Jim and Tonic, and modern kebab house Le Bab. Housed in apart-hotel Kingsland Locke, the space will house a sustainably managed microbrewery and gin distillery and will see the much-loved Le Bab group expanding east for the first time, serving new slider-sized kebabs cooked on a wood-fired robata and served with homemade sourdough flatbreads. Kebabs on offer will include the team’s signature paneer kebab: spiced paneer with beetroot and coconut puree, pickled cucumber, crispy onions, curry mayo and coriander. Set across two floors, the interiors have been designed by local studio Red Deer, taking design inspiration from the surrounding area. A DJ booth, looking out over the dining room, is in place for when the venue is able to host DJ nights on Friday and Saturday nights. The hotel will also be home to 124 studio apartments, a complimentary co-working space, workout studio and coffee shop.

130 Kingsland High Street, Hackney Downs, E8 2LQ

Visit KraftDalston.com