With plenty of exciting launches constantly taking place across the Capital, we pick London’s best new restaurant openings taking place over the coming month.
Siren at The Goring – Belgravia
The first new restaurant to open at The Goring in over 109 years, Siren will join the Royal Warrant-appointed hotel’s flagship, Michelin-starred restaurant The Dining Room. A more casual dining option, with a prominent focus on seafood, inspired by the Goring family’s strong Cornish ties, Siren will be headed up by chef Nathan Outlaw, creating elegant dishes showcasing the best of Cornish produce.
Open daily for lunch and dinner, Siren’s menu will offer a range of dishes such as cured monkfish, ginger, fennel and yoghurt; and cuttlefish, black pudding, apple and kohlrabi. A concise list of mains will include the likes of herbed and battered turbot with warm tartare sauce; or red mullet with devilled shrimp butter, plus a selection of daily specials championing the freshest dish available direct from Cornwall each day. Desserts, on the other hand, will aim to reinvent nostalgic English flavours, including gooseberry pavlova with custard ice cream; and strawberry tart with yoghurt sorbet.
Coinciding with the launch of Siren, The Goring Bar will also re-launch this month, having been transformed into a chic, lively space offering a new collection of signature cocktails created by Bar Manager Tiago Mira.
Siren will open on Wednesday 12th June and can be found at The Goring Hotel, 15 Beeston Place, London, SW1W 0JW.
Allegra – Stratford
A new 42-storey skyscraper in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, Manhattan Loft Gardens is home to The Stratford hotel and Lofts, offering a mix of short and long-term stays, with three sky gardens, a brasserie, private club and destination restaurant – Allegra. On level seven, Allegra will aim to celebrate exuberant hospitality and inventive, seasonal cooking by Patrick Powell, former Head Chef of Chiltern Firehouse. With much of the restaurant’s produce sourced from Full Circle Farm in Kent, owned by the group behind this new development, the menu will include dishes such as mackerel tartare, salted cucumber, buttermilk and apple; smoked eel pie with parsley sauce; suckling pig with swede cake, peanut, mustard fruit and sage; plus confit sea trout with pickled radish and smoked broth. An eight-course tasting menu will also be on offer, featuring highlights from the kitchen.
On the launch of Allegra, developer Harry Handelsman said: “Manhattan Loft Gardens is my most ambitious project to date. Like many of my other developments, I want to put Stratford on the map. I chose a great architect to design a great building. Inspired by the River Café, I felt that Manhattan Loft Gardens needs a truly wonderful restaurant to make it a destination. I was looking for a chef that would understand this vision, and would fully commit to the project and make Allegra their own. Patrick, who I knew well from Chiltern Firehouse, I thought would fit the bill, and having collaborated with him over the past 18 months, that impression is fully justified. I look forward to seeing the space come alive with diners and guests.”
Allegra at The Stratford is set to open in June and can be found at Olympic Park, 20-22 International Way, London, E20 1GQ.
Three Uncles – Holloway
Specialising in Cantonese roasted meats (Siu Mei), Three Uncles is the product of childhood friends and chefs Cheong Yew (Uncle Lim), Put Sing Tsang (Uncle Sidney) and Mo Kwok (Uncle Mo). Taking over a 300 square-foot unit in the new food market at The Upper Place, the restaurant is inspired by the trio’s almost daily habit of spending hours in Siu Mei cafés whilst growing up in Hong Kong, during the 1970s. With extensively developed recipes and equipment sourced from Hong Kong, Three Uncles’ menu will include traditional, chopped-to-order Siu Mei such as roast duck, crispy pork belly and char siu pork. Elsewhere, the menu will also include the likes of Hainan chicken rice, Lo Mien noodles, and a selection of dim sum.
On the launch of Three Uncles, co-founder Mo Kwok said: “Siu Mei brings back treasured memories for us; growing up in Hong Kong in the ‘70s we would visit the famous roast meat cafes near Wan Chai market and watch the skilled chefs chopping delicious chunks of roast duck and char siu pork. Siu Mei remains one of the most popular types of food for everyday Hong Kongers but in London you can only really find it in restaurants in Chinatown so we look forward to bringing this food out to the streets to make it available to all as you would find across the Far East.”
Co-founder Put Sing Tsang added: “We’ve had techniques shared with us that have been passed down by Hong Kong sigh (roasting masters). The roast meats are the star of the show but the flavourful sauces, chillies as well as the cooking of the rice that accompanies the Siu Mei are just as important to the Cantonese”.
Three Uncles is set to open in June and can be found at The Upper Place at Nag’s Head Market, 22 Seven Sisters Road, London, N7 6AG.
Chucs Café – Kensington
Coinciding with the appointment of new Executive Chef Director, Simon Henbery (Fifteen London, Barbecoa, Ace Hotel Shoreditch), restaurant and café collection Chucs will launch its first foray into casual dining, under the direction of Graziano Arricale. Open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, Chucs Café Kensington will serve a full service café menu, alongside takeaway options such as paninis, salads, smoothies and coffee. On the breakfast menu, dishes will include fresh pastries and classics such as eggs benedict or smashed avocado with poached eggs and smoked chilli.
The all day offering, on the other hand, will include the likes of cobb salad, chicken Paillard and Milanese, plus pastas including tagliatelle with crab and Amalfi lemon, or Bogli cacio e pepe. During the evening, dishes will include burrata with flat peaches, chilli and mint; and fennel risotto with black olive pangrattato. Moreover, Difference Coffee will also be served here, sourcing the very highest grade coffees, working with Master Roasted Jonny England, one of only four fully-licensed Coffee Quality Graders in the world.
Chucs Café Kensington is set to open on Monday 10th June and can be found at 97 Old Brompton Road, London, SW7 3LD.
Maremma – Brixton
Inspired by private chef Alice Staple’s Italian travels – specifically Maremma in southern Tuscany – Maremma will open in the former Montego Inn site on the corner of Brixton Water Lane. Specifically championing the area’s produce – particularly famed for its salumi, seafood, olive groves and vineyards – head chef Dominique Goltinger has collaborated with founders Alice Staple and Dickie Bielenberg on a menu divided into four sections: antipasti, primi, secondi and dolci. Here, Tuscan classics will include the likes of la bistecca alla Fiorentina; wild boar prosciutto; Tortelli Maremmani (spinach and ricotta tortelli); and Acquacotta, a traditional Tuscan soup served with a poached hen’s egg. Lighter options will also be available from a ‘Spuntini’ menu, available with a classic Italian cocktail between Wednesday to Saturday, from 5:30pm. The restaurant’s wine list, on the other hand, focuses on small Tuscan producers, showcasing bottles available for the first time in the UK.
Co-founder Dickie Bielenberg said: “I’ve always dreamed about bringing a bit of the Maremma to Brixton. After countless visits, Alice and I have a shared love for this region, and were won over by its fine produce, fine wine and charm. We have been lucky to have met some wonderful people there, some of which are now going to be our suppliers.”
“We’ve sourced the very best produce and lesser known wines, and I can’t wait to showcase these in our little slice of the Maremma in Brixton,” adds Alice Staple.
Maremma is set to open on Friday 14th June and can be found at 36 Brixton Water Lane, London, SW2 1PE.
Kova Patisserie – Chinatown
One of numerous dessert-centric openings to join Chinatown’s Newport Court this month, Kova Patisserie will offer fine French patisseries embellished with Japanese twists. Embracing the Japanese tradition of incorporating and adapting elements from other cultures, whilst keeping its own unique identity, the patisserie will champion Japanese tea and fruit flavours, matched with French classics, using the finest natural ingredients. Elsewhere, a wide selection of hand-picked, organic teas from Japan will also be available.
On the launch of Kova Patisserie, co-founders Jon and Ben said: “We use only the best quality ingredients, such as ceremonial grade matcha, to seamlessly combine Western and Eastern patisserie making, fit for modern palates regardless of nationality”.
Kova Patisserie is set to open in June and can be found at 20a Newport Court, London, WC2H 7JS.
Sauce by The Langham – Marylebone
A fun, interactive, expert-led cookery school, Sauce by The Langham will launch this month. Within The Langham, London, Sauce’s top of the range kitchen will host a selection of classes which aim to “put the joy into cooking”, each inspired by the five-star hotel’s outlets including Palm Court, Roux at The Landau, The Wigmore and Artesian, led by the likes of Executive Chef Chris King and Michel Roux Jr. Here, courses will range from ‘building block’ classes to master core skills (knife skills, baking, making sauces, etc.) through to a range of premium classes exploring more complex kitchen techniques.
On the launch of Sauce by The Langham, Michel Roux Jr said: “The facilities for the new cookery school are exceptional. We’re going to have a perfect environment to share our passion for good food with like-minded home cooks at whatever their skill level. Cooking should be first and foremost enjoyable, and we’re looking forward to providing a real confidence boost so that everyone can be proud of what they achieve.”
Bob van den Oord, Managing Director of The Langham, London, added: “We have some of the most innovative and dynamic minds here within The Langham’s restaurants and bars, which makes our jobs engaging and exciting. We wanted to find a way to celebrate the talent of the team and Sauce by The Langham is a natural evolution of this idea – a place where we can share our trade secrets.”
Classes start at £150 and host up to 12 people per session. Sauce by The Langham can be found at 1c Portland Place, London, W1B 1JA.
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