12 London Openings To Have On Your Radar
HOTELS
*1 Hotel Mayfair, Mayfair*
On Berkeley Street, overlooking Green Park, this nine-storey hotel is right in the middle of all London’s best bits, from Oxford Street to royal parks. Guests can choose from 137 rooms and 44 suites, including an eye-catching one-bed penthouse with incredible views. The hotel is also home to Dovetale, a ground-floor restaurant from two-Michelin-starred chef Tom Sellers (Restaurant Story), and a wellness area on the first floor, where guests can work out in an uplifting space and relax with treatments from Bamford Wellness Spa. The hotel aims to set a new benchmark for lower-impact luxury in the capital. Through biophilia-inspired design and practices, nature is at the core of everything: there’s a 500sq m living green-trellised exterior wall; all bedrooms feature moss walls, British oak flooring and Welsh slate bathroom vanities; and there are more than 200 plant species and 1,300 individual plants across the property.
Visit 1Hotels.com
*Ruby Zoe, Notting Hill*
Ruby Zoe can be found just across the road from Notting Hill Gate. The hotel’s design was inspired by the area’s history and its Caribbean heritage, with a particular focus on the 1970s. With glass fronts on three sides, the hotel’s ground floor is open to all and includes a shop and record store. On the accommodation front, each room features an open washstand and glass rain shower, lots of fresh white and wall panelling made of cherry wood. Extra charm is added by the artwork above the bed, which picks up on the colourful houses in Notting Hill. For those visiting London in a tourist capacity, the hotel is within walking distance of Kensington Palace, Hyde Park and all the antiques and vintage fashion of Portobello Market.
Visit Ruby-Hotels.com
*Brama, Bromley*
Brama is Bromley’s only boutique hotel. With 23 beautifully designed rooms, the property draws inspiration from its surroundings and is part of the major renovation of Bromley Old Town Hall. Steeped in history, the building opened in 1907, and has since played host to the wedding of David Bowie, been the local seat of government, and even provided shelter in the event of a nuclear fallout during World War II. The building’s original art-deco details still run throughout and the hotel interiors subtly nod to the era – think 1930s-inspired headboards and lots of rich green in the bedrooms. Brama is joined by flexible workspace Clockwise and all-day restaurant Dorothy and Marshall, meaning guests can book a desk for their working day or a table for dinner. The latter is in the former courthouse and pays homage to the building’s history with beautiful soaring ceilings and windows that bathe the room in natural light. On the menu, expect the likes of beer-battered cod cheeks with anchovy tartare sauce; and whole baby chicken with pressed cream garlic potato and shallot French beans.
Visit BramaHotels.com
RESTAURANTS
*Mountain, Soho*
Mountain must be the hottest restaurant in London right now. On Beak Street in Soho, the latest spot from Brat’s Tomos Parry and his team is a wood grill and wine bar, reflecting Tomos's favourite meals from journeys across Spain over recent years. Inspiration is drawn from long lunches around BBQs in friends’ vineyards, small plates of raw prawns in fish markets and braises of shellfish. As at Brat, Tomos's cooking is guided by long-standing relationships with the fishermen and farmers in Wales and Cornwall – the opening menu includes pink bream served whole, split and gently roasted on the plancha, a plate of wood-grilled lamb chops and an aromatic braised dish of whole Anglesey lobster caldereta. Once ordered, the traditional Menorcan caldereta is brought from the grill to the tables in steaming ceramic pots for two to three people to share. Given Mountain’s huge popularity just two weeks in, if you want a table, you’ll need to book immediately.
Visit MountainBeakStreet.com
*The Portrait Restaurant, West End*
Irish chef and restaurateur Richard Corrigan has opened his latest spot at the National Portrait Gallery – just the place to book if you’re having a cultural day out in the capital. On the corner of Trafalgar Square – offering views over the square and towards the Houses of Parliament – The Portrait Restaurant pays homage to the great dishes of Corrigan’s career, while welcoming new classics to his repertoire in celebration of the gallery’s multimillion-pound transformation. Dishes on our must-try list include whole artichoke with crab mayo and kombu; Cornish plaice with coastal herbs and buttered vegetables; and Huntsham’s Farm pork with barigoule of fennel and apricot mostarda. It wouldn’t be a Corrigan restaurant without his beloved oysters, and here the dressed Carlingfords come with ginger, lime and coriander. The bar focuses on a concise wine list available by the glass and classic cocktails such as a ‘Summer Peach Tea’ (English peaches, earl grey tea and champagne). Alongside bold aperitifs, the bar also serves an all-day snack menu, which promises a fun twist on Scampi Fries.
*Empire Empire, Notting Hill*
Empire Empire is the latest venture from Harneet Baweja of Michelin Bib Gourmand restaurant Gunpowder. Here he takes inspiration from India in the late 1970s, welcoming diners into an old-school curry house with art, music and traditional dishes from the empires of India – there’s even a custom-made original Rocket jukebox whose Bollywood bangers soundtrack each service. The 40-cover restaurant is lined on one side with tables, dressed with crisp white linen covered with paper cloths, reminiscent of India’s traditional curry houses. On the other side of the restaurant, guests will find a bar stocked with natural wines, beers and ciders from 40ft Brewery, alongside a concise selection of pre-batched cocktails and a considered wine list curated by Mattia Bianchi of Berber & Q and Carmel. The menu at Empire Empire is predominantly inspired by the north-western cuisines stretching across the old Punjab Empire – look forward the likes of Lasooni Tangdi kebab, Malai methi matar, made with whole garden peas, and the showpiece signature of lobster dum biryani, complete with the crustacean’s head emerging from the pastry lid.
Visit Empire-Empire.Restaurant
*Manzi’s, Soho*
This long-awaited restaurant from The Wolseley Hospitality Group has officially opened in Soho. The new iteration of Manzi’s pays homage to the much-loved original, a restaurant which famously served Londoners off Leicester Square for more than half a century. In OTT style, guests will be welcomed into the lobby where white-washed walls feature a mural from Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea plus a full-size wall-mounted marlin taxidermy. In a nod to Manzi’s original dishes, the menu features everything from moules marinière to a wide range of crustacea, a ‘catch of the day’ and classic Dover sole. We love the sound of the monkfish wellington, designed to be shared between two or four people, served with a prawn mousse and dill beurre blanc, and the Cioppino fish stew – lightly poached fish and calamari in a tomato sauce served on a decadent platter with grilled sourdough and rouille for mopping up the sauce at the end. The playful ‘Retros Revisited’ cocktail list will see Manzi’s classics brought back to life, including the ‘Old Cuban’ with aged rum, lime juice, sugar, angostura bitters and champagne, as well as a ‘White Negroni’, featuring gin, Italicus bergamot and suze.
Visit Manzis.co.uk
*Pavyllon, Mayfair*
Pavyllon is the first London restaurant from Yannick Alléno, one of the world's most awarded chefs. Inside the Four Seasons Hotel London at Park Lane, the restaurant offers a British interpretation of Alléno’s signature modern French dishes. Alléno is renowned for his belief in the importance of sauce and the menus here are built on the idea of sauces as a foundation – think beurre blanc with caviar and crispy flat oysters; a ‘Not-So-Classic Prawn Cocktail’ of fennel and cucumber with dill, trout roe and parmesan; and tomato seed soup with mussel ice-cream. In the same space, Bar Antoine celebrates gastronomy in a light-hearted way. Here you’ll find an innovative, culinary-led cocktail list (including a ‘Mushroom Foam Espresso Martini’) plus nostalgic bar snacks and mains, such as the signature Antoine's Burger.
Visit FourSeasons.com
BARS & BEYOND
*Arcade, Battersea Power Station*
This week, Arcade Battersea will open inside Battersea Power Station. With seating for 500, the space uses the same direct-to-table ordering system seen at the original Arcade off Tottenham Court Road, eliminating the need to queue at stands. All food brands in Arcade Battersea have been developed via Arcade Create, a programme that helps new and exciting food talent launch a brand. Four new concepts feature on the menu – all exclusive to Arcade Battersea – including Flat Bread by Thomas Straker; Siu Siu Cantonese comfort food inspired by roast meat shops in Hong Kong; and Phed Power, serving fiery food from Issan, Thailand. Designed by award-winning architects Red Deer, the interiors take inspiration from the two eras the power station was built in, merging the glamour of the 1920s with Brutalist 1950s mid-century style. We love the reclaimed items from the original power station, such as the light fittings and reused oak timber flooring. When it opens this week, we expect queues for Thomas’s burnt chilli mussel butter flatbread.
Visit ArcadeFoodHall.com
*Corner At Tate Modern, Bankside*
Tate Modern has launched Corner, an all-day café and bar which opens onto an outdoor summer terrace. For the first time, Corner offers Tate Modern visitors a place for an evening drink. For both design and food, the team has worked with some outstanding suppliers such as Goldfinger, a furniture maker based in the Trellick Tower that creates its wares from local felled trees; and tabletops and cake stands made from Tate Coffee grounds by Spared. On the drinks front, there’s a dynamic selection of seasonal craft beer and cider featuring three artist-inspired collaborations from Verdant, The Drop Project and Deya, plus biodynamic wines and themed cocktails, including Kusama's ‘CosmopoliTEAn’, Hilma af Klint's ‘Adulthood’, and Mondrian's ‘Composition with Raspberry’.
Visit Tate.org.uk
*Maroto, Marylebone*
Maroto is a vibrant late-night bar and lounge club between Marylebone and Mayfair. It’s a sister venue to the recently opened Brazilian restaurant Bossa, which is located above it and run by two-Michelin-starred chef Alberto Landgraf. In great news for the London clubbing scene, the space will be open every Thursday until 3am, and on Fridays and Saturdays until 5am. Shane Mac, the venue’s musical director who has worked with industry greats from Calvin Harris to Beyoncé, has curated an exceptional line-up of DJs in conjunction with DOC Records Brazil, including performances by Vintage Culture Mochakk, Gui Boratto and Coppola. On the food menu, guests can enjoy deep-sea mussels from Cornwall and raw four-rib dairy beef with shiitake confit, mustard mayonnaise, dried yeast and summer truffles served with toasted sourdough crackers. Other Brazilian specialities include crab pastel with açaí dip and pan-fried scallops with tucupi sauce from the Amazon, which is fermented for seven days.
Visit Maroto.London
*Octo, Mayfair*
Amazónico, the Latin-American restaurant in Berkeley Square, has launched Octo, a dedicated cocktail lounge and late-night bar. Hidden beyond a gold staircase, Octo has a distinct design inspired by the South American cenotes beneath the Amazon river. On the cocktail front, bar signatures include ‘The Ritual’ with Zacapa XO Rum, Mancino Chinato, Pussanga with notes of coffee and Brazilian bitters, and ‘El Tulipan’, made with Hendrick’s Neptunia gin, kumquat liqueur, passion fruit kombucha and sea flower blossom. Guests can order a range of dishes from exec chef Vitelio Reyes, such as snack-sized arepas, maki and langoustine pibil until 11pm every evening. From 8pm until late, the bar’s resident DJs mix electro-tropical beats with laid-back house and an energetic mix of deep tech house and nu-disco.
Visit AmazonicoRestaurant.com
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