Sure, the temperature is finally dropping – but we aren’t ready for hibernation just yet. Instead, we’re visiting the raft of new restaurants, bars, bakeries and cafes that have opened across London lately. From a sky-high restaurant where food is art to a spot bringing Eastern European fare to a crypt, add these to your November hitlist.
• A Mayfair crypt is now an Eastern European restaurant, where staples like open rye sandwiches (with slabs of butter and a thick layer of caviar), vodka and pickles take centre stage.
• The Sloane Club in Chelsea has launched Bistro 1922 – and while the members’ club itself remains private, the restaurant and its seasonal British fare is open to all.
• Ascend to the 11th floor of the new St Clement hotel for Lunette, Florence Knight’s first venture since departing Sessions Arts Club, where the food is vibrant and artfully plated.
• Landmark Pimlico Chinese restaurant A Wong has reopened after a refurb with a new menu that digs into contemporary and ancient Chinese dishes.
• Your favourite restaurant’s favourite wine importer has opened its first wine bar and shop in Dalston, where offbeat drops are paired with dishes by chefs in residence.
• It’s late-night live music, DJs and cocktails at new Leytonstone bar Altar – and it’s also doing film screenings and talks with the likes of Louis Theroux.
• A Desi pub has opened in Shepherd’s Bush with a menu of regional Indian dishes and cocktails inflected with Indian spices.
• A new queer pub has opened in Hackney – and it’s channelling the spirit of an old one: The Joiners Arms, a raucous Shoreditch nightspot forced to shut in 2015 after being snapped up by property developers.
• Bianca’s in Stoke Newington has closed and been replaced with Da Pino, which is doing Italian dishes that weave in broader Mediterranean and Asian influences.
• This new restaurant on the 19th floor of a Canary Wharf tower – by the group behind Lina Stores and Kricket – wants to lure diners to the financial district.
• Filipino-inspired pastries, pizzas and pastas have arrived in north London with the launch of Bunso, by the founder of Mamasons, Belly and Bintang.
• Cloth on Cornhill is a revival of centuries-old chophouse Simpson’s Tavern, with an upstairs restaurant and an impressive bar snack menu.
• Quince Bakery’s Anna Higham has opened Clementine, an all-day cafe with British bakes and dishes, including tattie scones with square sausage and a Scottish seafood soup rarely seen in London.
• Endo Kazutoshi continues his run as one of the capital’s most singular Japanese chefs with the opening of a 10-seat omakase counter in Chelsea.
• Pioneering listening bar Spiritland has a follow-up – and it’s in the Barbican.
• Alina Kosichkina couldn’t find a burger she liked in Notting Hill, where she relocated from Kyiv a few years ago. So the restaurateur and her business/life partner Dima Zakhodiakin have opened Milk Burger.
• Norman’s co-founder Elliott Kaye’s next move? A neighbourhood bar inspired by New York institutions like the Odeon, that’s doing Martinis and drinking-friendly food like devilled crab rarebit and juicy cheeseburgers.
